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Mook

Mr. Manager
Staff member
Admin
May 23, 2007
206,715
117,602
Elgin
Real Name
Mike
So we're coming up on 10 years here pretty quick and while yes, traffic and member engagement is declining, we still have a good community. I aim to keep you guys happy most of the time and while a lot of you are moving away from forums, the forum is still the bread and butter of TCG.

Because of that, I am considering in making an investment and updating our software to something much more modern and user friendly.

I'm looking to upgrade us to xenforo. There is a one time cost of entry (no big deal) and it already has most of the features I've had to hack into VB, built in. One of the best features is the ability to register using FB, something not available to me using our current VB software. I'd also be looking to move away from VB if I were to update us.

There is also a more robust and dedicate mobile setup for those who browse solely on their phone (not cobbled together like our current mobile design). And for those who love tapatalk, that would remain unchanged.

I guess my question to you guys is (since a lot of you do not like when I shake things up), would you be ok with changing the game so to speak? It would definitely be a big change, from a visual especially, and some things would be new and take a bit of getting used to but the overall functionality would remain the same.

So those are my thoughts.
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
2,764
2,430
Bolingbrook IL
Coming from someone who use to run a pretty large forum I say go for it, keeping up with newer software is worth it just for security purposes, add in better features and integrations sounds like a win/win.

I know some people don't like change so there will always be grief regardless of what you do or don't do.

As for this to gain additional membership I don't see this being a large successful driver to that means. There are other reasons for membership decline.
 

Mook

Mr. Manager
Staff member
Admin
May 23, 2007
206,715
117,602
Elgin
Real Name
Mike
Coming from someone who use to run a pretty large forum I say go for it, keeping up with newer software is worth it just for security purposes, add in better features and integrations sounds like a win/win.

I know some people don't like change so there will always be grief regardless of what you do or don't do.

As for this to gain additional membership I don't see this being a large successful driver to that means. There are other reasons for membership decline.

I'm not expecting a huge swing in member registration. Thats not going to happen on matter what I do. Forums are dying, national and local. Nothing to be done about that.

But at the least, having FB integration will allow an extremely quick way to join the site, especially when I spam links on FB.

That happened to SVTP and boy did that fuck things up. Still having nothing but problems with their switch over made months ago.

I am open to the change and will still stick around no matter what Mook.

[MENTION=288]Jack[/MENTION], thoughts on that? :)
 

Dasfinc

Ready for the EVlution
Sep 28, 2007
20,919
1,321
Wheaton, IL
I love how the forum is to be honest; the site has been fantastic, and I'd actually rather not have a dramatic change on the general site itself. Granted I know I'm a bit of an old-timer as far as the forum goes, which is why I'd rather the site not change much. Also, I wouldn't suddenly become less active if there was a site change either :dunno:.

I'd rather you put money toward more events. I miss having more 'engaging' meets. The Tour was fantastic last year; and I plan on going again. But I have the impression that things like Dyno Days, Track Days, BIG meets, have generally declined also over the past few years. I look back at Cordova, and the Dyno Day at Deans, the Fast and Furious showings and Lukes as some of my foundest memories of TCG outside of the Tour this past year. We went to 2 meets last year; both were very small, but that was actively by choice due to what ended up happening with Lukes.

Its a fine line I suppose to want to continue to 'grow' the forum, but with a caution about what Lukes turned into.
 

Mook

Mr. Manager
Staff member
Admin
May 23, 2007
206,715
117,602
Elgin
Real Name
Mike
I love how the forum is to be honest; the site has been fantastic, and I'd actually rather not have a dramatic change on the general site itself. Granted I know I'm a bit of an old-timer as far as the forum goes, which is why I'd rather the site not change much. Also, I wouldn't suddenly become less active if there was a site change either :dunno:.

I'd rather you put money toward more events. I miss having more 'engaging' meets. The Tour was fantastic last year; and I plan on going again. But I have the impression that things like Dyno Days, Track Days, BIG meets, have generally declined also over the past few years. I look back at Cordova, and the Dyno Day at Deans, the Fast and Furious showings and Lukes as some of my foundest memories of TCG outside of the Tour this past year. We went to 2 meets last year; both were very small, but that was actively by choice due to what ended up happening with Lukes.

Its a fine line I suppose to want to continue to 'grow' the forum, but with a caution about what Lukes turned into.

I'm with you. I like how the forum is setup currently, but we are extremely limited on some things and as Google changes how sites are ranked, show up in searches, etc etc...its becoming more and more a necessity do look into updates.

The whole meets discussion is for another day, but its become harder and harder to put stuff together. But I'm going to make a sincere effort to get those going again this season.

do you have another forum that uses that style to see how the flow is?

*not that you own, but can you provide an example*

I'll do a quick search.
 

Grabber

Oh Hai
Dec 11, 2007
4,363
860
Wheeling, IL
I'm not expecting a huge swing in member registration. Thats not going to happen on matter what I do. Forums are dying, national and local. Nothing to be done about that.

But at the least, having FB integration will allow an extremely quick way to join the site, especially when I spam links on FB.



[MENTION=288]Jack[/MENTION], thoughts on that? :)

They also use ZenForo.

A lot of the issues people had are as follows:

The layout is different.
The categorization of sub-forums is crazy. For certain areas, like the Market, you have to click on the "market" section, then another 2-3 sections to get to the one you want. Prior to this, it was individualized for cars, parts and misc items.

Same with the topic discussions of certain cars. Say for the 2011+ 5.0's, there was one general section and then a list of sub-forums. Now, there are multiple sub-sections, and then you still need to continue to click to enter specific sections past that. Navigation is more difficult now.

In addition, I still cannot get the site to remember my login on my work computer or home computer. No matter what I do, I always have to type in my info. Gets frustrating.
 

Blownbyyou

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Mar 27, 2008
3,879
3,988
I know I am not the most active member, but here are my .02 cents...

Honestly speaking the layout/format doesn't bother me about this site so no matter what you do it really wont affect how often I lurk/post. I only come on to see some of the drama (sickmint and his polls), bs/find out abnout new cars, or just pass the time at work.

So if you think its financially worth it to invest in the club than by all means do it!
 

Mook

Mr. Manager
Staff member
Admin
May 23, 2007
206,715
117,602
Elgin
Real Name
Mike
They also use ZenForo.

A lot of the issues people had are as follows:

The layout is different.
The categorization of sub-forums is crazy. For certain areas, like the Market, you have to click on the "market" section, then another 2-3 sections to get to the one you want. Prior to this, it was individualized for cars, parts and misc items.

Same with the topic discussions of certain cars. Say for the 2011+ 5.0's, there was one general section and then a list of sub-forums. Now, there are multiple sub-sections, and then you still need to continue to click to enter specific sections past that. Navigation is more difficult now.

In addition, I still cannot get the site to remember my login on my work computer or home computer. No matter what I do, I always have to type in my info. Gets frustrating.

Oh I'm well aware they're on xen.

For those who want an example, just go to SVTP. https://www.svtperformance.com/forums/

Take in mind, layouts and all that can be changed. They are a much larger site with a much much larger reach so organization would be far simpler on our site.
 

Dasfinc

Ready for the EVlution
Sep 28, 2007
20,919
1,321
Wheaton, IL
The whole meets discussion is for another day, but its become harder and harder to put stuff together. But I'm going to make a sincere effort to get those going again this season.

Organizing events is a huge challenge; that's definitely under-appreciated, and sometimes has a level of risk that people may not realize (especially for larger events).
 

Grabber

Oh Hai
Dec 11, 2007
4,363
860
Wheeling, IL
Oh I'm well aware they're on xen.

For those who want an example, just go to SVTP. https://www.svtperformance.com/forums/

Take in mind, layouts and all that can be changed. They are a much larger site with a much much larger reach so organization would be far simpler on our site.

Fair point on that.

The layout is visually appealing to me, but, their site is hard to navigate.

Do you think there would be login issues on TCG after the switch? It seems Zenforo is known for that from what I've seen from people posting online.
 

Chester Copperpot

Unvaxxed Untermensch
TCG Premium
May 7, 2010
39,411
40,188
Blanco el Norte
I think it's worth a go. The FB integration could be a positive because as you said, no need for the lengthy sign-in for the FB addicted. It would also be better/easier to share things to/from FB/TCG because of the integration I'm assuming?

IMO anything that allows the FB crowd to more easily view/register/shitpost on the forum, the better because although most traffic will stay on FB, it's at least easier to switch between both.

I say do it.
 

boostedguy05

not well known
TCG Premium
Dec 18, 2010
34,181
25,511
is there a forum style background change availabe?

i like normal on my phone, but like worksafe, well at work.

i understand a lot of the catagories and layout in general will be suited for our needs.

that site does look more "modern" and any real change wont send me packing, but may limit time spent on here if all that is availabe is a black background screen. WS currently kinda blends in with my work systems so semi hideable.
 

Mook

Mr. Manager
Staff member
Admin
May 23, 2007
206,715
117,602
Elgin
Real Name
Mike
is there a forum style background change availabe?

i like normal on my phone, but like worksafe, well at work.

i understand a lot of the catagories and layout in general will be suited for our needs.

that site does look more "modern" and any real change wont send me packing, but may limit time spent on here if all that is availabe is a black background screen. WS currently kinda blends in with my work systems so semi hideable.

Its no different than VB. Can do any color scheme I want.
 

VenomInside

Just Grazing
Jul 16, 2004
25,992
3,816
SAC/DEN/SFO/CHI/SEA/PDX
I love how the forum is to be honest; the site has been fantastic, and I'd actually rather not have a dramatic change on the general site itself. Granted I know I'm a bit of an old-timer as far as the forum goes, which is why I'd rather the site not change much. Also, I wouldn't suddenly become less active if there was a site change either :dunno:.

I'd rather you put money toward more events.

Its a fine line I suppose to want to continue to 'grow' the forum, but with a caution about what Lukes turned into.

This.
 
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