IP.Board & The Forum Will Be Dead Within 5 Years

[bfarber]

This is why I really want rid of the mobile skin. It looks bland and uninviting. People get an impression on what the forum is based on the mobile skin and it's detrimental.

But I've tried several times to disable it, yet when I visit the site the mobile skin still pops up. The average user won't be clicking 'full version'.

Edit - Oh, cos the truth is most smart phones can handle the standard skin now..... and when 4G becomes more widespread I can't see the mobile skins serving much purpose.

What would be more practical in the long run is just a thinner version of the standard. Virtually the same but without a user having to zoom in.

Edit 2 - The above would require a lot of thought obviously.

Mobile skins aren't used as much for bandwidth reduction (as they were previously), but rather more so to tailor the experience to a smaller viewport (ala the "thinner version" you mention).

The mobile skin is editable in the ACP if you wish to change how it looks.

[SpaceoutMedia]

Although I don't have any opinion of what social media sites may die when or how (I really don't care)...I do agree with the original poster as far as at least having the option of making the social media links far more prominent within IPB. I agree that the way it is now is a fairly huge setback for some of us who use social media extensively.

[Matt]

Isn't there some irony in that you chose to tell everyone that forums will be dead soon via a forum? And the topic itself has over 8,000 views with 177 replies?

[Guest]

Three points:

• Facebook does not allow you to be anonymous. Not everyone wants to associate themselves publicly with the subject matters that they are interested in privately.
• If you host a forum, you own it. What about Facebook?
• Ever do a Google search for something very specific and wind up on a forum with very relevant information... presented chronologically... with pictures, attachments, etc all in one place?
  

[Rimi]

Incidentally I don't think I've ever googled something and ended up on a facebook page.

[Lase]

Isn't there some irony in that you chose to tell everyone that forums will be dead soon via a forum? And the topic itself has over 8,000 views with 177 replies?

Possibly. And frankly I wish I hadn't labelled the title in such a way because I'm sick of seeing it. I'm also conscious of the impression it might give to someone new which makes me a bit uncomfortable.

I didn't expect the thread to hang around as long or get that many views.

However, if there's a chance that improvements are made on the back of it, it has to be good in the long term and that's better for all of us.

“We’re trying to prove you can do interesting things with brain waves,” said Intel researcher Dean Pomerleau. “Eventually people may be willing to be more committed … to brain implants. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts.”

Like the video says, Google is only scratching at the surface of this technology. Kurzweil says that “By 2020 we’ll routinely have pop ups in our visual field of view that give us background about the people and places that we’re looking at.” Your memory and the vast information bank of the internet will be one at all times.

Google has officially pulled back the curtain on what they have come to call

Project Glass

— a pair of augmented reality glasses that seek to provide users real-time information right in front of their eyes.

The above would be catastrophic with the assortment of sadists, psychopaths and egomaniacs using governments to further "the 'great' work" we currently suffer, but I honestly don't think it would involve implants. Advancement accelerates exponentially. The chip'll be in the glasses.

Contemporary neuroscience suggests the existence of fundamental algorithms by which all sensory transduction is translated into the intrinsic, brain-specific code. Direct stimulation of these codes within the human temporal or limbic cortices by applied electromagnetic patterns may require energy levels which are within the range of both geomagnetic activity and contemporary communication networks. A process which is coupled to the narrow band of brain temperature could allow all normal human brains to be affected by a sub harmonic whose frequency range at about 10 Hz would only vary by 0.1 Hz

2020's seven years.


What might be more Ironic, is the format of that Tech Crunch news article page. Why are websites incorporating a posting platform that isn't as good as IP.B?

Cross platform. What if a user registers with IP, and can then post on any IP.Board?* This is where you need to be.



* At the discretion of the Administrator.

[Robulosity2]

I do remember Myspace, I was using it at the time. What they did was completely overhaul the layout though in one fell swoop. The changes made it much more difficult to use. Youtube would probably have a similar outcome now but it's so huge, and it caters for the users ego so well. It's also ran behind the Google worldwide engine so it could probably never suffer the same fate.

You mean like time line?

[Lase]

I feel like I've got to reinstate my points yet again about LinkedIn.

Ages ago I set up a group there. The groups are based around a forum type structure. I never really bothered with it. A few people joined, posted, did some likes. I payed it no attention. Throughout I've been busy posting / Tweeting / trying to encourage people to join and post on my IP.Board with difficulty. The LinkedIn group and my forum are essentially the same thing; a platform for professionals to post and network.

So today, I go back to this group because I've got a submission there, and think "Might as well send out invites to my contacts".

That was 5 minutes ago. 3 topics have been posted.

... and "18 people have joined the group, including..." etc etc

The 18 people are people outside of the invites. They're joining because on each of the members who accepted the invite a comment is posted subsequently to all of their respective contacts letting them know that this person has joined said group.

[z1000-forum.de]

oh, what a funny topic here. we disabled facebook and friends and we are going well with this. member accounts and posting activity rises like it did in the last years. there are so much people happy to be not on facebook, that forums always will keep their place in the web communities. others divide clearly between forums and fb. fb is for everything, forums is for special interests.

[Jinkler]

fb is for everything, forums is for special interests.

Nailed it on the head right there. :)

I challenge anyone to visit TalkFord.com and tell me that it could be built on Facebook :D

[CallieJo]

I strongly believe that FB has affected forums in many ways. Why wouldn't it? It caters to end-users on a personal level so much better than forum communities do. And everyone is telling everyone else to join it like it's the only thing worth joining. However, it's like any other SN, it grows tiresome after a while. Even people I personally know who use to post hourly on FB are no longer doing so. Some only log on because they have no other means to stay updated with some businesses, events, & websites (yeah, crazy!). While others only have internet access on their cell phones and FB offers a superior app.

FB has so much drama attached to it. To me, it's worse than forum drama. I have seen personal nasty attacks (incl. threats of physical violence) on people and FB does nothing. Even our state police here say that they can't do anything if posted on FB, but would do something if it was said on a phone. I have seen FB give businesses a huge run around when they report infringements. They seriously don't take care of reported issues properly at all. Maybe that's why so many people like FB. They practically get away with anything. Sure there are the occassional closed accounts from reports. I have seen accounts closed for petty crap compared to the ones who are attacking others and infringing. To me, FB is a circus. Almost cult like. You are nobody if you are not on FB. And those who worship FB are the ones who jump all over anyone else who says they don't. Childish! Promoting someone else's company and shutting up anyone else who disagrees.

IMHO- Businesses & Communities should be posting their content on their own websites. Using SN's to gain exposure is fine. However, your content should be in your own hands on your own website. Don't give away the goods and leave nothing to be gained by visiting/joining your own site. And don't make users have to use FB/Twitter/etc. to get your updates! Especially when you are a community website.

Are forums dying? Some do, some don't, and some won't. If you look around you will see that many other platforms are so similar to forums. The bigger ones are just better at giving end-users what they want on a more personal level.

[CheersnGears]

Facebook has peaked... it is only downhill for them from here.

[miraclesun]

Isn't there some irony in that you chose to tell everyone that forums will be dead soon via a forum? And the topic itself has over 8,000 views with 177 replies?

I came back into this thread to say EXACTLY this! :lol:

[Rimi]

Wonder how many "likes" we can get on a facebook page that says that forums will be dead in 5 years. That's the facebook equivalent of posts and views in a thread right?

[Luis_angel]

There is also some social network scripts like phpfox and socialengine that adds forum functionality. Still not as sophisticated like ip.board

[tenaki]

Just my opinion but if you look at fb it is full of photos or images that are passed round and round with little or no conversation attached apart from what is written on the image, aside from that games seem to be the next most popular thing followed by invites to causes and such that most of us have never heard of. Twitter is better and I use it a lot but of late it has become a series of links from people plugging their own sites and less comment and real chat.

At first I was really worried about the impact of fb and still am to a certain extent but has it got longevity? I am not sure it has. Something else will come along and lets face it, twitter has already stormed ahead in some areas. How many times do you hear it on tv for example, fb very rarely now.

I don't think providing big social network buttons and share stuff is the answer, all they do is send your content off your site with little or no return traffic, long live forums in whatever form they take over the next few years and long live properly formatted conversations and topics because I certainly don't want a forum full of games and "like this or that cause"

Personally I am going to keep developing my niche and hope that over the next few years members and new members see the benefit