[SlickSpencer8]

This has probably been mentioned a few times but I really think you guys should convert to zetaboards. The reason behind that and if you guys have had a little experience with it, that it's user friendly perhaps and it has other really handy features include ability to have sub-forums, in sub-forums, join-able groups, avatar galleries, a much better name change system, an advanced messaging system and it also has a blog feature

And you can put people as somewhat with admin cp with certain areas and overall has better admin and moderator access and a lot of people are moving over to it.

[Butters 2011]

Personally, I'm more of a fan of Zetaboards than Invision, but I think it's rather pointless at the moment to convert over the software. For starters, the amount of work they have put into coding specific 'hacks' etc to make this forum what it is today would all be lost. Everything else that Zetaboards has to offer, apart from certain 'gimmicks', is just not necessary for this forum, and yes, the Sub-Sub-Forums are great, but again, do we really need them? The forum is set up perfectly as it is. You then have to take into account that the staff on this forum are all accustomed to this software now, and how everything runs, especially in the ACP, and whilst Zetaboards is not too different software, it would still mean that the staff have to get used to another type of software, and one mistake could see everything becoming f*cked up, or prone to some type of abuse.

So, to sum it all up, yes, Zetaboards is great software, but just isn't worth it.

[Ryan]

This isn't one of those free forums, so moving over to Zetaboards isn't even an option.

EDIT: Plus what Waddy said.

This post has been edited by Ryan on Thursday, May 24 2012, 22:18

[Waddy]

Why? Why should we move?
Our little 2001 invision board may be a little broken, it may not have snazzy social feeds or a chat facility, it dosent even have a name change facility, you cant even tell who has visited your profile!!! OMG!
But...we get more members joining here in a day than other fan sites get in a month, we have by far the busiest GTA forum in the world. Our broken forums are still by FAR the best GTA forums around.
Why change? What we have here must work. If we did change to a new software or a different forum I think the numbers would go down. Its good as it is, its a forum, make a topic and discuss...its what a forum is.

[SlickSpencer8]

@Waddy - Well what you said here didn't have much points to it. But, I understand that it's a forum and it's there to discuss but there is better fourms out there then invisionfree. And in Zetboards you have awesome HTML for whoever knows how to use it. And if anything, your going to get more members cause of the good looking forums. And your not going to lose members or any post since it's put over there. Everyone's passwords and usernames will be the same.

@Ryan - Incorrect, zetaboards doesn't cost. But it does cost for the url which I am sure there is people on this forum can help pay.


@Butters 2011 - Well for starters, coding isn't "impossible" what it sounds like what you are putting. If you get the right people which you guys have thousands of members that are good with coding then you guys should be fine in less then a year. And you can do the same thing with the 'hacks' and put them in here as well. And then again at some point if something happens to this forum it's much harder for someone to do bad stuff on there since it's more protected. And if anything does happen then there is the invisonfree/zetaboards support forum and you got a support ticket which you can send in. And with that like I said, zetaboards is more user friendly and you can fix any errors on it. And it only took me a week or less to get used to the new forum. I mean it's so much simpler and everything is right there and they have a forum to teach you how to do everything.

And with that, I am sure you guys could get better graphics on the forum and better rewards and such. And with that, it's why you guys bother having this suggestion box up since most of you guys don't like change? It's on a very rare occasion...

This post has been edited by SlickSpencer8 on Thursday, May 24 2012, 23:15

[Suction Testicle Man]

Zetaboards/Invisionfree/Proboards/etc aren't really software - they're services (and people who can't make this differentiation are their prime targets). They're doing what we do (operating servers), using software that anyone could develop. The deal is they retain rights to your content and all the advertising space, and you don't pay for the server costs and get whatever features they advertise. They want you to think this is a fair deal - and it isn't hard to convince most people, since they don't care/know about rights and consider features to be valuable (ooh shiny, etc). In reality features are worthless and rights are everything. I'm taking the time to write this response primarily because I feel their business model is inherently dishonest and unethical - designed to take advantage of people's naivety.

Our software does need some upgrades (and we're in the process of developing them ourselves), but using something like Zetaboards is like trading your soul for a sandwich.

[Butters 2011]

QUOTE (SlickSpencer8 @ Thursday, May 24 2012, 23:13)

And with that, I am sure you guys could get better graphics on the forum and better rewards and such. And with that, it's why you guys bother having this suggestion box up since most of you guys don't like change? It's on a very rare occasion...

But then it wouldn't really be 'suggestions' if everything that was put in here was instantly taken on board and implemented. It's for members to put their suggestion across, and see what others make of this suggestion. In this case, the answer is a definite no, but for other topics that have come up in this section, they have been taken on board. Don't complain just because you're suggestion has been shot down. What you aren't seeing here is that the negatives outweigh the positives in this instance. No one has said you're idea was stupid, they just mentioned the reasons as to why this shouldn't happen.

This forum isn't InvisionFree either, it's the proper IPB.

And no, I wasn't saying that the coding was impossible in any way. What I was saying is that over the many years of this forum been up and running, the staff have implemented many hacks/changes into the software, with them coding much of it themselves, and this just wouldn't work on any other software.

You've also got to see that it's the same team behind Zetaboards as it is InvisionFree, so apart from a few subtle differences here and there, the forum itself is pretty much run in the same way, and looks exactly the same.

[Luke]

Here at GTAForums we aim for mediocre, and mediocre we are.

Of course we take suggestions very seriously though. So if you have any ideas about how we could strive to be more mediocre in the future, then please bring them to our attention.

(Seriously though, we have a degree of autonomy with our setup that your suggestion wouldn't have, and that's priceless.)

[fireguy109]

QUOTE (SlickSpencer8 @ Thursday, May 24 2012, 18:13)

And in Zetboards you have awesome HTML for whoever knows how to use it.

Technically, our forum supports HTML as well, it's just limited to admins and mods so somebody doesn't end up crashing the page with some shoddy code. [dohtml] is the tag, IIRC.

[Vanzant]

sub-forums - We have those.
in sub-forums - We don't need those.
join-able groups - We have those, it's called the OGA. We also have the gang section.
avatar galleries - We have plenty of avatars, we can always have an user-made avatar topic.
a much better name change system - We have reasons why we don't do that now. Why would we on Zeta?
an advanced messaging - Advanced? You send a f*cking message and the user gets it. We have that.
blog feature - blogs are f*cking boring, died with MySpace pretty much, notice Facebook left that out?

Now that I think about it...we do have a blog section. It's called "Writers Discussion" it's the same exact thing. So we have that to.

[Xcommunicated]

I think there was talk of moving over to SMF a couple years back, but given the complexities of the transition and the possibility of V2 seeing the light of day, it never got the green light.

Apart from the ACP supposedly being broke all to sh*t, the forums continue to work well.

[Waddy]

QUOTE (SlickSpencer8 @ Friday, May 25 2012, 00:13)

@Waddy - Well what you said here didn't have much points to it. But, I understand that it's a forum and it's there to discuss but there is better fourms out there then invisionfree. And in Zetboards you have awesome HTML for whoever knows how to use it. And if anything, your going to get more members cause of the good looking forums. And your not going to lose members or any post since it's put over there. Everyone's passwords and usernames will be the same.

And all I am saying is that there are other fansites that have lots of new and different forums, all singing and all dancing, look great etc etc yada yada.
However they get nowhere near the traffic we get and nowhere near the members joining we get. So how do you know that changing this style to all super duper new forums will get more members when it obviously hasnt worked on other fan sites? New isnt always the most attractive.
People like the way our forums are, thats a simple fact. What we have works.

[nic_23]

QUOTE (Waddy @ Thursday, May 24 2012, 23:15)

Why? Why should we move? Our little 2001 invision board may be a little broken, it may not have snazzy social feeds or a chat facility, it dosent even have a name change facility, you cant even tell who has visited your profile!!! OMG! But...we get more members joining here in a day than other fan sites get in a month, we have by far the busiest GTA forum in the world. Our broken forums are still by FAR the best GTA forums around. Why change? What we have here must work. If we did change to a new software or a different forum I think the numbers would go down. Its good as it is, its a forum, make a topic and discuss...its what a forum is.

well waddy that is because this is the main gta forum, and by the amount of members we gained in the early years its going keep on going if the forum looks like a bag of sh*t or super duper. and as long as gta keeps on coming out it isnt going to stop. and even if gta stops the forum will have years of modding usage after.

maybe don't convert to zetaboards because you can do a lot of things on invision. but add some new features to this current board for us members

Ideas:

-gta forum currency (used for donating to members for graphics help or modding help etc)
-like/dislike system (or reputation feature)
-increse sig limit size to 120kb
-make avatar size 100x100
-add a feature so you can see who has been on your profile
-maybe with a currency system you can buy a username change
-ability to comment on other users profiles
-maybe a better contact list system


dont add a blog feature or a feed, we dont want to turn it into facebook or something gay like that but i think some of those features i mentioned would be subtle and would work please give me feedback.

[uNi]

QUOTE (nic_23 @ Friday, May 25 2012, 14:07)

-gta forum currency (used for donating to members for graphics help or modding help etc) 1-like/dislike system (or reputation feature) 2-increse sig limit size to 120kb 3-make avatar size 100x100 4-add a feature so you can see who has been on your profile 5-maybe with a currency system you can buy a username change 6-ability to comment on other users profiles 7-maybe a better contact list system

1 - We had that for a while, sucks, and we already have a reputation-like system.
2 & 3 - Not really needed.
4 - What's the point?
5 - We don't really need people changing their usernames all the time.
6 - See 4.
7 - What's wrong about this one?

What you need to understand is that not every known "forum feature" will work in all communities, at least not the same way.

Plus, the forum has been working out pretty well all these years. At the user-level there's nothing broken, so no need to fix it.

[Butters 2011]

QUOTE (nic_23 @ Friday, May 25 2012, 13:07)

dont add a blog feature or a feed, we dont want to turn it into facebook or something gay like that but i think some of those features i mentioned would be subtle and would work    please give me feedback.

Yeah, subtle little gimmicks that are not needed for the purpose of this forum. Apart from the rep system, which is kind of in place with the medals, everything else is just some type of cheesy add-on. I have to admit, on a GTA forum I was on before this one, we did have a 'shop' system where posts would earn you 'credit's, but that's because the Gang Section was heavily based on RP, since we had to do something since III didn't have gangs in it.

I like to believe that the main reason this forum is the biggest GTA site is because of the plain-simple way this forum is. You come on, you post, you read some other posts and then you leave. All these gimmicks would take some of that away, especially the whole 'shop' idea, which would inevitably lead to spam.

Apart from some slight problems in the ACP, this forum is great the way it is.

[nic_23]

QUOTE (uNi @ Friday, May 25 2012, 14:43)

QUOTE (nic_23 @ Friday, May 25 2012, 14:07) -gta forum currency (used for donating to members for graphics help or modding help etc) 1-like/dislike system (or reputation feature) 2-increse sig limit size to 120kb 3-make avatar size 100x100 4-add a feature so you can see who has been on your profile 5-maybe with a currency system you can buy a username change 6-ability to comment on other users profiles 7-maybe a better contact list system 1 - We had that for a while, sucks, and we already have a reputation-like system. 2 & 3 - Not really needed. 4 - What's the point? 5 - We don't really need people changing their usernames all the time. 6 - See 4. 7 - What's wrong about this one? What you need to understand is that not every known "forum feature" will work in all communities, at least not the same way. Plus, the forum has been working out pretty well all these years. At the user-level there's nothing broken, so no need to fix it.

1. understandable

2./3. its pretty annoying when the signature is transparent like the one i have and you have to lower the quality to get it to fit. and the avatar thing is understandable

4. that would be a nice feature to add , it would be subtle and i would like to see who has clicked my profile.

5. good point then we wouldn't know who is who, but I think username changes could be in place for good cases.

6.not really needed as much but i think if you were to start from somewhere start at 4. so you can see who has visited your profile.

7. you are right it is ok

i just feel lots of suggestions are put forward in the suggestions and the mods and admins basically turn around and say something fancy for why its not needed roughly translated into: "LOL nah" i admit most of the suggestions are not worth it but some are very good points.

i understand its your forum and your rules and we are the guests but would it take a lot of time to add a feature where it says who has been on your profile?

@butters you are right about the shop bad idea

This post has been edited by nic_23 on Friday, May 25 2012, 14:39

[uNi]

QUOTE (nic_23 @ Friday, May 25 2012, 15:37)

i understand its your forum and your rules and we are the guests but would it take a lot of time to add a feature where it says who has been on your profile?

Well, a bit. It would have to be changed in all the skins.

[Xcommunicated]

QUOTE (nic_23 @ Friday, May 25 2012, 08:07)

Ideas: -gta forum currency (used for donating to members for graphics help or modding help etc) -like/dislike system (or reputation feature) -increse sig limit size to 120kb -make avatar size 100x100 -add a feature so you can see who has been on your profile -maybe with a currency system you can buy a username change -ability to comment on other users profiles -maybe a better contact list system dont add a blog feature or a feed, we dont want to turn it into facebook or something gay like that but i think some of those features i mentioned would be subtle and would work    please give me feedback.

My comments..

- A money hack was considered way back in 2003, but rejected due to the likeliness of it stirring up a bunch of drama and abuse. I'm not sure if it would have a better chance of working well now than it did then.
-Again likely to be abused. Similarly, we had a topic rating hack, but removed it due to widespread abuse, especially during the IV pre-release days. I don't know though, a rep hack may work.
-I agree with increasing sig kb size limits. Even in the States, where we trail the rest of the world in broadband speeds by quite a bit, 12mbps is fairly common in a lot of places now.
-I, along with many other staff and members, think that large avatars make the layout look like crap. But given that a lot of people have moved past the days of 1024x768 to higher res, 80x80 might be a good limit.
-Do many people even care who looks at their profile? I sure don't and I don't see much of a point to it.
-
-Why comment on someone's profile when a pm works just as well? It seems like it'd be subject to abuse.
-Not sure what improvements are needed, but maybe.

[Eminence]

QUOTE (Vanzant @ Friday, May 25 2012, 03:20)

Now that I think about it...we do have a blog section. It's called "Writers Discussion" it's the same exact thing. So we have that to.

I'm afraid you're sorely mistaken, haha.

[nic_23]

@Xcommunicated i made a topic about the 80kb limit and it got threw out the window, im sure it would be one thing that would not be so hard to change? if its one feature that could be changed i think it would be a good one and hope it is taken into consideration.