Topic: Do You Believe a New Forum Software Will Attract More Users to Bitcointalk? - page 2. (Read 1516 times)

I am sure that if we conducted a survey on some other forum or social media asking what forum Satoshi Nakamoto was active on, very few people would know the answer unless they are also members of Bitcointalk. But the thing is, that piece of information doesn't mean much for members who come here. Satoshi is long gone and those who register want a useful forum, which satisfies the needs they have.

If the main device they use is a mobile phone, they might take one look at this place, realize that it's quite difficult to navigate, and go elsewhere. The fact that Satoshi used to post here wouldn't change their mind. I agree with all the other points you made but would like to add that the forum's policy of not moderating scam decreases the quality of an otherwise excellent marketplace.   

Great research.

Aside from a very different design, I see much more advantages for Bitcointalk:

+ Original Forum where Satoshi was active (probably many people dont't know it)
+ International community
+ Collection of great tutorials
+ Marketplace section for buying selling goods

Coinforum has not much advantages over Bitcointalk

+ Better design of course  
+ Coinforum is funded by a German Bitcoin Marketplace (Bitcoin.de) not from Ads like Bitcointalk.

After all, I would assume the modern design of Coinforum is more attractive to new members. But I can't say for sure...

Don't forget, our shiny reporter badges too

What I meant with better is to have the forum implement a few of the features that members have asked for in the last couple of years.
Those suggestions are usually repeated and the most common ones include a mobile app or a mobile-friendly forum, a 2FA option, a forum notifications system, which would allow users to get notified of mentions and replies in their threads (similar to the bots that forum members create), a better PM system, a few new sub-sections (one for the Lightning Network, for example), etc.

I think some users would be disappointed if none of this got featured in the new forum. 

Thanks for telling me, I really didn't notice.

It's reasonable to think that they are simply delaying or waiting for the right time to launch it.

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I'm not going to argue because this is the most likely thought to prevent the division of users. No choice will be given and all users will migrate and try something new although some of them have a strange feeling at first.

Yeah, to me there's not much new innovative things that you can add to a forum. I think its probably based on the suitability to the team behind it for modifications. Building it on a new language is probably the best thing to come from this, like I said PHP is a nuisance. Looking at the specifications its mostly just quality of life things, and what this forum already has. However, it should at least be easy to tinker, and add functionality to in the future if necessary.

You will get two opposing lines of thinking on that subject:

• The old-timers who have been here for years and maybe from the beginning, will hate having to adjust to a new forum with all its changes.
• The younger generations will appreciate a more modern design, more features, and maybe a mobile-friendly forum.

But once everyone realizes that Bitcointalk has turned a new page, they are likely to accept it. Assuming, of course, that the new forum is indeed better than what we have now.

You could potentially sync them up, but that would just be overly complex. The thing is; everyone will hate the new forum software when it launches, then over time they'll likely prefer it. The truth is; despite my love for the simplicity of SMF it is outdated, and a lot of things could be streamlined especially by avoiding PHP whenever possible. The only problem with that is; SMF isn't exactly easy to modify. Plus, I'm assuming theymos' has been overseeing much of the development, and it can be coded to his exact specifications, which means it could be easier in the future.

The easier option would be to create a theme for the new forum software, which resembles this forum somewhat, but with the new features, and streamlined features incorporated into it. That would likely ease the transition, but as all humans tend to hate change, there will likely be a lot of users not liking the change at first.

I don't think you will be given that option. If and when the new forum goes live and becomes completely functional, my expectation is that theymos would want everyone to migrate and use the new site. This forum would either be locked or deleted altogether. It wouldn't make sense having a divided community and some members posting on the old while others post on the new forum.   

actually it is already. And we even don't know what's the update now, it's been months maybe or a year already since the last time I saw Theymos posting about the New Forum. I wonder if they're still up to it or just put it on hold, or maybe it is theymos whose only been doing all the work that has to be done.... Just Maybe.

It can take a lot of time and money to migrate to a new forum or forum software. Although it seems possible, but if users are given the option to stick with the old forum then I'm pretty sure bitcointalk.org will still have a large user base. Although we have to get used to accepting something new, but bitcointalk.org is still the biggest one for me. Sometime change is hard to accept at first, but we really have to get it when we need it.

I'm interested on why ypu say so?

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In my end I don't think many will be attracted unless the old forum will be unusable just like the old one, I guess that's the idea but it can't be possible when there's a lot to be fixed. If Both will still be running expect this to be a ghost town just like what I saw on Yobit Forums even though they had a campaign. JM2C

I wanted to check this, so I did a Google search using a few keywords to see which of the two forums are ranked better in the search results.

This is what I found:

1. When you search "german crypto forum", the German local of Bitcointalk will be the 1st result, an Ethereum forum will be 2nd, and CoinForum is 3rd.
2. When you search "german bitcoin forum", again the German local of Bitcointalk is 1st and CoinForum is 2nd.

It's a bit different if you search with German keywords:

1. A search with "deutsche crypto forum" places CoinForum on top and the German local of Bitcointalk on the 2nd place.
2. You get the same results searching for "deutsche bitcoin forum".

What that shows is that both forums are easily found, but if Germans prefer CoinForum instead of Bitcointalk, the correct question we need to ask ourselves is why and how can it be corrected?   

Do you mean to have two bitcointalk forums? Maybe one serving as social media entertainment while the other for serious bitcoin discussion. I know it can never be what you meant.
But my concern is the full migration you are suggesting? What will happen to this present forum. Dumped in the dustbin of history?

The graphics of this forum might be a way too old and may not be what we want, but I advice every improvement should be done here and Theymos should try to avoid much evolution. The nature of the forum depicts that it's the oldest cryptocurrency forum, which might be its unique attribute that differentiate it from others.

I support part changes and not holistic change.

I agree with everything you're saying.

I feel like the new forum software is already way overdue. It's been years since it was announced, and for a long time there has been almost no progress. Other platforms are emerging and evolving, while this forum should be the nexus of the crypto community because after all, it all started here.

100% yes.
A new design will attract more users but I can't say how much more. My estimation would be a significant increase if we can improve the following issues:

- Mobile version: our current version isn't mobile friendly at all. I'm personally not using it because it's horrible. But I can imagine some people are using their phones more frequently, therefore avoid Bitcointalk and post more content on other platforms
- Outdated PM function: our current PM function is a complete mess. When you are getting many PMs from different members, it's a very hard job to go though previous PMs if you want to read read a detail. It is difficult or almost impossible to find an old PM from someone years ago. Managing PMs can be a very time consuming activity and it's much easier on other plarforms. I proposed a change here.
- Network effect: by getting more users, Bitcointalk will produce more crypto-knowledge content for new people and these new people will probably sign up here. Merit has helped improving content.
- General design of Bitcointalk: the most important part! Corporations are allocating tons of money for brand design, website design and product design because it is important to get customers. People are choosing products, favorite websites etc. based on design. There are lots of studies proving how important website design is. Corporations know about the importance of design and spending money for improving this to stay relevant against competition.
Reddit noticed design importance few years ago, when it changed from "old desidn" to new. The old design was very outdated (like Bitcointalk is today). After Reddit had a new design, it was growing quickly and has become an important part of crypto internet culture. Or another German Forum for cryptocurrencies, called Coinforum. It was established in 2012 and has now much more discussion than our German local board. Their software has always been more updated and a much better design; most new German members are signing up there instead of German Bitcointalk because design matters.


Bitcointalk has still many advantages in my opinion:

- Bitcoin history like old posts of Satoshi, Bitcoin Pizza and HODL. It's a very underrated argument to register for Bitcointalk and I think many people still don't know about it. But new histories won't take place at Bitcointalk because other networks like Reddit or Twitter are more relevant now.
- Collection of very good guides and tutorials, especially for beginners.
- Bitcointalk's forum structure has many advantages over Reddit and Twitter. Reddit is very difficult to follow all comments and some comments are vanishing quickly even if they are good. The result is often a spam wave. Twitter is even worse for discussions, it's rather a propaganda platform and I don't like it at all. Maybe that's why Bitcoin Twitter is such a toxic, (mostly) uneducated shithole where conversations are impossible.
- Marketplace section to exchange good, coins, etc., protected by Default Trust


A new forum design would help Bitcointalk a lot to attract more people because right now, Bitcointalk is getting more irrelevant every day, unfortunately. It's sad to see Bitcointalk wasting so much opportunity and if we keep waiting, Bitcointalk will really be an antique shop soon, where almost no one will ever go to.  

I think you are mistaken about this

Like Pmalek said, a new forum software doesn't mean a restart. Think of it as a forum refit. According to my understanding, the complete database with all the topics, posts, user data, etc., will remain untouched by the upgrade process. The only thing that will change, from our perspective, will be the user interface and look and feel of the forum.

The forum isn't going to start from 0 posts and with all members being newbies starting from the bottom again. Everything will be exported and imported into the new forum software. Anything else wouldn't make much sense. That wouldn't be the first time Satoshi's forum moves, and its name was also not Bitcointalk when it was created.

Some users support the creation of a new bitcoin discussion forum and some are still very enthusiastic about using the old forum. It all really depend on the user's preference whether they want to use the new forum or stay on the old forum.

So far the bitcointalk forum has been around since 2009 and has attracted users to access this discussion forum with the largest number of profiles currently reaching 3,367,387. Although today its user base has dropped drastically based on available data, its contribution and usefulness as a digital library is still embedded in bitcointalk.org. This forum is simple and light enough to use on android or laptop. Without denying future update, I'm still quite interested in using this old forum.

There are relatively few advertisements on the forum. If there is a brand new forum, many old members on the forum will not be interested in the new forum.
This forum has accumulated a lot of history. If there is a new software, it means restarting. Many meaningless topics have to be talked up again. There are many topics that have already been discussed.