What annoys you most in forums?

Hi all,

In my free time I develop a small forum software. I want it to be instantly recognisable as a forum which uses the core ideas of the older, more established and popular software (like vB, IPB et al.) yet is also fresh, involving new ideas and revamps of fundamental areas of a forum.

Thus, I'd like to know what bugs you most in forum software (any of them available)? Have you any suggestions as to how it can be ameliorated? Have you got any features which you haven't seen anywhere? Conversely, what are the features which you really do like in present softwares?

For example, I was thinking about this last night. I had an idea that instead of having a report button on each post, which involves typing a reason etc, maybe it would be easier just to "flag" it up (one click on a flag button using AJAX)? No reason necessary: if the post is spam the moderator would be able to see it's spam. Obviously this isn't a major thing, and nor is it one of the bigger ideas I had, but it's an example of the workflows that I think should be at least looked at again, and most probably updated.

Any feedback would be very appreciated!

Thanks,
Gareth

I can't think of anything about forum software that annoys me, its the management that gets annoying. Open source software and their competitors are dictated by what people want so annoyances are often weeded out.

Also, if you think you have the free time enough to build a forum like vb or IPB, you either have too much free time or don't know how long these things take to build.

Originally Posted by Village Genius I can't think of anything about forum software that annoys me, its the management that gets annoying. Open source software and their competitors are dictated by what people want so annoyances are often weeded out. Also, if you think you have the free time enough to build a forum like vb or IPB, you either have too much free time or don't know how long these things take to build.

Thanks VG.

Regarding your second comment, it is definitely not my plan to build anything nearly as large as IPB or vB, don't get me wrong! This is a small project that I do in my free moments (which are rare as I have a job and a degree to do plus a whole variety of musical commitments) and by nature it won't be able to encapsulate everything the aforementioned forum software. But I think that such vastness and diversity of features that they provide is also a weakness. Popular CMSs don't always offer everything out of the box (think of Wordpress), but it is their implementation and the potential to expand from the basic software that is often a measure of their worth..

Originally Posted by Village Genius I can't think of anything about forum software that annoys me, its the management that gets annoying. Open source software and their competitors are dictated by what people want so annoyances are often weeded out. Also, if you think you have the free time enough to build a forum like vb or IPB, you either have too much free time or don't know how long these things take to build.

I thought when I clicked on the thread that I can finally complain about all these highly ANNOYING spam posts! They log in... post all over the forums about their fake designer goodies and then do not come back anymore. And this is for many forums not just talkfreelance.

That is actually the only thing I do not like when I go to different forums....oh and slow moderators that take forever to delete the posts.

Originally Posted by SpellItOut I thought when I clicked on the thread that I can finally complain about all these highly ANNOYING spam posts! They log in... post all over the forums about their fake designer goodies and then do not come back anymore. And this is for many forums not just talkfreelance.

If you want a change of policies, contact Artashes.

Originally Posted by SpellItOut That is actually the only thing I do not like when I go to different forums....oh and slow moderators that take forever to delete the posts.

They are volunteers helping on their free time, a thanks might be in order.

Originally Posted by Gaz Thanks VG. Regarding your second comment, it is definitely not my plan to build anything nearly as large as IPB or vB, don't get me wrong! This is a small project that I do in my free moments (which are rare as I have a job and a degree to do plus a whole variety of musical commitments) and by nature it won't be able to encapsulate everything the aforementioned forum software. But I think that such vastness and diversity of features that they provide is also a weakness. Popular CMSs don't always offer everything out of the box (think of Wordpress), but it is their implementation and the potential to expand from the basic software that is often a measure of their worth..

I think that should be a big plus in your forum software. Maybe i'm the only one but I hate Wordpress. To me its trash. Why? The administration interface is trash, its slow, and like you mentioned way to big for its own good. The code also seems like its written by a bunch of babies. No particular pattern. Just a mash-up of things the dev team thought would be good.

I think a good product is something you can expand on not via a plugin system, although sometimes that is good, but because of the programming model. It's adaptable and the core is well written. With that said, I think the core should be very basic even as basic as just a blog-based discussion type of deal. Yet it should be expandable and adaptable into various software.

I'm a huge practitioner of this idea and a product i'm currently working on works in the same fashion.

Here are some of the things that i'd like to see built into forum software like vB:

1) Ajax login
2) Ability to ban users right in the post deletion area
3) Notification when two(or more) users share the same IP


@v-a-l-o-r

I think you may be on a slow server, Wordpress Admin is SUPER fast on my end.

Originally Posted by Fez Here are some of the things that i'd like to see built into forum software like vB: 1) Ajax login 2) Ability to ban users right in the post deletion area 3) Notification when two(or more) users share the same IP @v-a-l-o-r I think you may be on a slow server, Wordpress Admin is SUPER fast on my end.

I've tried it on many different servers and just looking at the administrative interface pisses me off. It's a complete mess! I've tried Wordpress on many different servers and machines and the end result is always the same.

Despite the fact that I hate it, people love it and I still develop for it.

Originally Posted by Village Genius If you want a change of policies, contact Artashes.

I was not referring to THIS particular forum but some forums that I have visited in the past. The reason why I like it here is because spammers are not exactly welcome.

Originally Posted by Village Genius They are volunteers helping on their free time, a thanks might be in order.

As I said... it was for spams in OTHER forums where the mods are slow. I know they are volunteers. I am a mod for a forum myself and I know that my life is NOT just the forum hehehehe... just the same...here is my shout-out to all the mods of talkfreelance ---- MANY MANY THANKS FOR DOING THE BEST THAT YOU CAN IN KEEPING THIS FORUM IN ORDER!

Wooot!

Originally Posted by SpellItOut I was not referring to THIS particular forum but some forums that I have visited in the past. The reason why I like it here is because spammers are not exactly welcome. As I said... it was for spams in OTHER forums where the mods are slow. I know they are volunteers. I am a mod for a forum myself and I know that my life is NOT just the forum hehehehe... just the same...here is my shout-out to all the mods of talkfreelance ---- MANY MANY THANKS FOR DOING THE BEST THAT YOU CAN IN KEEPING THIS FORUM IN ORDER! Wooot!

Sorry, misunderstood your post.