Topic: Do You Believe a New Forum Software Will Attract More Users to Bitcointalk? - page 6. (Read 1480 times)

Dunno, my experience so far across dozens of forums in the last ~20 years has been pretty much opposite, with bitcointalk being far less strict than any other forum I ever visited.

The only thing that maybe gives impression of bitcointalk being strict is plagiarism rule, but even with that you are far less likely to get banned here than anywhere else.

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To answer OP, I do think that new forum software might attract more users (or at least keep then longer), but numbers won't be significantly higher no matter what you implement.

This... I literally had to buy a laptop ^{[I always preferred desktops more]} last week due to experiencing multiple power outages on a daily basis ^{[although there are a few workarounds while using mobile devices, it's still a big mess (even for just reading stuff)]}.

Yes, but I'm "only" referring to retaining most of its current users ^{[better retention rate]}, as opposed to attracting "more" new users.

CMIIW, but majority of the development for the new forum software has already been done and the cost has already been invested in, at this point it's just a case of when does it officially get released, not a question of whether or not to release it, as the forum (admins and the community) have already invested a lot into it.

Also, the forum isn't particularly profit-based and the primary purpose of the new software is not to attract more users; That's the job of the Bitcoin network which will attract individuals to itself and by extension this forum, the new software is meant to address some of the issues users have discussed over for years such a 2FA, a mobile friendly website etc. I have no issue with the way the forum is, but some others want those features and it should be available to them and I can choose not to use them.

You make an important point about the evil fee, it's a system that does not work adequately and should be reviewed. I've once been on a forum where users from a whole country were tagged to a single or very close IPs and registration was made difficult for everyone, it created a bad situation, discouraging many from joining.

For a novice like me, what attracts me most about bitcointalk is the knowledge in the forum and a group of friendly and smart people.

I admit that I didn’t even understand how to set various fonts when I posted on the forum the previous few times, but as the number of replies increased, I mastered these rules.

In the first few days I was obsessed with reading old posts in the forum, including Satoshi, Gavin Andresen, and Hal (Hal is the predecessor that shocked and respected me the most)etc.


I have tried to reply and view posts on my mobile phone. That’s really a torture, but I have to say that watching the posts on a computer makes me more focused.

I mean, this forum has played a part in maintaining the legacy of Satoshi and Bitcoin.
I would never visit any other forum except BitcoinTalk.

And No, I don't think a new forum software will attract more users to this community.
We are doing good with almost 700+ Users registering everyday.

@Charles-Tim
You are right about the evil-fee system. I didn't think too much about it when I was writing this topic, but it certainly is a big slap in the face for new users. Imagine hearing about a great bitcoin community. You get excited, you sign up, only to see a notification telling you to pay a penalty fee because of the actions some other users close to you did in the past. Instant turn off. As you rightly pointed out, we see members getting banned for various rule infringements in the marketplace sub, for example, and they keep coming back with new accounts posting the same threads. It shows that the evil-fee system isn't keeping the bad guys away from Bitcointalk, but it hinders some newbies from maybe becoming useful members. 

It’s not just the software that matters, but the strategy behind. A brand new forum software is not likely to be a honeypot for new users per se, but rather more how the site is positioned on the search engines (quite difficult to encounter in Spanish searches for example), what retention strategy it follows, and how new tendencies and channels are integrated as features. It could simply be viewed as a forum with a nicer interface, or it could be seen as a brand and product, with all that it entails in order to monitor and nourish them.

Edit:
Bear in mind that the audit you’ve linked is the free version, and has apparently only crawled 116 pages. Regardless of the content of the report, you can’t extrapolate from it.

To perfectly comment about this issue, the evil fee paid should be the first line of discussion. I am not sure this forum is not growing bigger, but it is not grow as much as it should, simply because of the evil fee. The stale members that want to open another account knows how to bypass the evil fee, but the new members that just want to register do not know how to bypass the evil fee. Many people do not make use of this forum just because ransom is demanded for to pay evil fee. About this community growing, I do it not think it has anything to do with forum software if evil fee is still being paid.

I do not think so.

I believe the admin will try their best to keep this forum going. I also noticed that their is increase in the number of people that registered and also that visit this forum during the previous bull run. So, if Bitcoin keeps growing, this forum should also still continue growing.

People like to follow recent trends not quality, they will like to follow sites with shit posts like Trustwallet is a very good wallet because I have been using it for a long time and I face no problem.

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I too will like the new forum software, especially if we have apps and mobile site, but that should not mean we shouldn't able again to access this beautiful one we are using now.

People will use forums only when they understand their importance. As you said, the quality of a forum can't even be compared with social media's. There are other rules you have to follow which aren't bringing quality. Tons of posts getting lost; part of the social media's deep hole.

I don't believe that we should upgrade to a new forum software, this one satisfies me enough, but even if we will, I'm certain that we won't attract young users, if that's your point. Whether we use a 2006 SMF script or an upgraded forum version with Epochtalk, the rules will remain the same and websites such as Twitter with fancy colors and like buttons will always be more preferable by the youth. The exceptions won't examine the forum version, they'll just be here to discuss.

Online forums aren’t as popular today as they were 10 or 20 years ago. Social networks are now leading the race when it comes to online discussions.

Bitcointalk is just one community that has fewer users and less activity than it had in the past. It’s a pity because this forum offers something better and something that social media can’t. It’s a place where all the legendary bitcoiners, from Hal to Satoshi, used to write. Those threads are still here. They can easily be found and hold historical importance.

On social media, discussions are forgotten rather quickly. It’s sporadic that a topic stays active and trends for more than a few days. The quality of conversations is not comparable because little effort is put in due to the speed at which they are being held. On Bitointalk, some topics have been maintained and are active even after several years of being created.

One thing that isn’t discussed that often are ad blockers. Bitcointalk generates profit from the ad spaces it sells. But because of the greater use of ad blockers among the userbase, the brands are no longer getting the exposure they had in the past. As a result, the cost of advertising drops, as does the forum profits.


The new forum software has been in development for years. Considering the current trend of online forums losing ground to social media, there might be less incentive to hurry up and release it. The development is costly, time-consuming, but will it be worth it, and how big will the community be that uses it?

If the new forum is mobile-friendly, I think that will be the most significant feature to give it a slight push.

With all this in mind, do you believe that once the new forum is released, Bitcointalk will increase its userbase?
Do you think that in 5 or 10 years, the new generations will appreciate the significance of Bitcointalk and be happy to be part of it?
Or are we a dying breed of forum users taking their last breaths. At the same time, bigger (but not necessarily better) communities are being established elsewhere?