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Excellent community

Discussion in 'Introductions' started by TheHoff, Jun 25, 2004.

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  1. #1
    Hello to the Digital Point community.. I'm glad to be here as you have a good atmosphere and knowledgable users. I'm an ex-WMW supporter and I found I wasn't getting as much out of it as I once had.

    I run a forum service business: http://www.vbmechanic.com -- specializing in community-integrated site development and design. I've been using the Keyword tracker for a few weeks and it was the 'latest forum post' pulls on that page that got me here to register.

    I've been working with vBulletin since version 1.1 and with bulletin boards since 1-line dialups and C-64s. In the past, I've run my own large community (~100k members) and I currently work for a few dozen others.

    Thanks for the warm welcome so far.
     
    TheHoff, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  2. Foxy

    Foxy Chief Natural Foodie

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    #2
    Welcome - nice to have you here
     
    Foxy, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  3. digitalpoint

    digitalpoint Overlord of no one Staff

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    #3
    Welcome to the forum... Good to have more vB coders. ;)
     
    digitalpoint, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  4. TheHoff

    TheHoff Peon

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    #4
    Thanks!

    I was about to ask about your cool homepage thumbnail hack in the profile, but then I looked at the image properties ;)
     
    TheHoff, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  5. digitalpoint

    digitalpoint Overlord of no one Staff

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    #5
    Yeah, nothing too exciting there... :)

    vBulletin is pretty good out of the box, so really doesn't need much hacking (although I think some people like to hack it just to hack it rather than for true usefulness). :)

    The biggest thing I did (which really wasn't that big, and entirely done within templates, so works on an upgrade without redoing it), is the revenue sharing thing:

    http://forums.digitalpoint.com/faq.php?faq=revenue_sharing
     
    digitalpoint, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  6. TheHoff

    TheHoff Peon

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    #6
    >>Yeah, nothing too exciting there...

    Not true.. I've seen lots of vBulletins and that made me do a double-take. I was imagining a fancy image-fetching routine that put a site thumbnail in the DB ala Alexa.

    >>I think some people like to hack it just to hack it rather than for true usefulness

    No doubt there! I had a prospective client recently who couldn't understand why it was a bad idea to install his 28 absolute favorite hacks on his new forum.

    >>The biggest thing I did (which really wasn't that big, and entirely done within templates, so works on an upgrade without redoing it), is the revenue sharing thing

    Very cool. I saw another post where you said you were only doing template mods for easy upgrades. That is a good policy as you can do almost anything you need nowadays with the conditionals and the phpinclude template.

    Only negative I see to the site is the default colors / look, but that's easy to change ;) I think you have a good start here.
     
    TheHoff, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  7. digitalpoint

    digitalpoint Overlord of no one Staff

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    #7
    Yeah... I hate doing HTML/design stuff, so I haven't bothered changing the default CSS or graphics yet. Maybe someday if the forum is big enough someone will volunteer to come up with a new color scheme. :)
     
    digitalpoint, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  8. anthonycea

    anthonycea Banned

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    #8
    Shawn, I knew I was in the company of greatness, but now I have two of you, damm, I should just get out now while I am ahead of the game.

    I am sure that would please you :D
     
    anthonycea, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  9. North Carolina SEO

    North Carolina SEO Well-Known Member

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    #9
    Welcome vBMechanic. It is great to add knowledgeable people like yourself. I look forward to reading your posts.
     
    North Carolina SEO, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  10. Nitin M

    Nitin M White/Gray/Black Hat

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    #10
    Welcome aboard vBMechanic!

    I visited your website just now and took a quick tour ... WOW! Great stuff. I'm sure you'll be a tremendous asset to the community.
     
    Nitin M, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  11. TheHoff

    TheHoff Peon

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    #11
    Thank you for the warm welcome, Anthony & Virginians!

    I'd be glad to donate one of my skins to Digital Point but I don't think any of the three I have for re-sale give the professional look that you want. Give me some time and I can send you a few mockups of what DP could look like. Send links of forum designs you like if you want me to base it off of some existing ideas.
     
    TheHoff, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  12. digitalpoint

    digitalpoint Overlord of no one Staff

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    #12
    Truthfully, I haven't seen many forum designs (actually any that I can think of) that would have the general professional look I want. Ultimately I'll probably leave the general look/feel, and just alter the colors via CSS and graphics.

    Unless I end up seeing something I really like. :)
     
    digitalpoint, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  13. TheHoff

    TheHoff Peon

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    #13
    I'm thinking you might enjoy something like.....

    http://www.designworldwide.com/forum/

    *(minus the garish colors, I'm referring to the cleaned up layout)

    I also have a Pocket PC / PDA skin that I've done and not released that you might like for mobile browsers.
     
    TheHoff, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  14. digitalpoint

    digitalpoint Overlord of no one Staff

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    #14
    I like it, but also have to keep in mind that user's attention span is about 1.5 seconds. So if it looks different than what they are used to they may not revisit. I actually find that I do that myself sometimes. It's so irritating when a forum is completely changed around to what I'm used to. Unless that's the only forum you use, it becomes a whole new learning curve simply because it's different.
     
    digitalpoint, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  15. Bernard

    Bernard Well-Known Member

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    #15
    Hi vBMechanic, welcome to DP. The designworldwide forum you reference uses text that is too small IMO. It's hard to read.
     
    Bernard, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  16. schlottke

    schlottke Peon

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    #16
    Yeah- it is hard to read. Looks good though.
     
    schlottke, Jun 25, 2004 IP
  17. Foxy

    Foxy Chief Natural Foodie

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    #17
    Amen....... :)
     
    Foxy, Jun 26, 2004 IP
  18. North Carolina SEO

    North Carolina SEO Well-Known Member

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    #18
    Maybe open a topic for ideas and suggestions? It surely would be better than constantly chatting about SP*M all the time!!! :eek:
     
    North Carolina SEO, Jun 26, 2004 IP
  19. anthonycea

    anthonycea Banned

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    #19
    You are at SEOGUY, what are you talking about?
     
    anthonycea, Jun 26, 2004 IP
  20. anthonycea

    anthonycea Banned

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    #20
    What Topic? This late at night we are all drunk? :(
     
    anthonycea, Jun 26, 2004 IP
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