thanks for that, didn't know it was an option; you may see a spike.

Do you think Christopher, that enough people ignore certain individuals, that perhaps those individuals are doing more harm than good to this community?

Please note Christopher's final note: not seeing users' posts isn't always in your own interest!

Thanks Christopher.

I suppose there is no way to stop seeing a thread in the list, the way you can a stickie? Some of them are of no interest to me but seem to drag on forever.

Thanks @Christopher.
It was only the one - and I suspect I'm not on my own here.

Please stick with Vanilla forums.

I'm hoping to wait for the next release of Vanilla before deciding. It has a lot of new features that would help improve the site. Unfortunately it seems like the release is quite a ways off.

I like our community format now, but the more cameras we add to the forum, the less organized it may become. Moving to a more traditional forum layout will give us a lot more flexibility for future growth of the community.

It's not set in stone, I'm still exploring our options, but rest assured whatever software we use in the future, it will be equally user friendly.

WilzWorkz7 said:

what if we do vanilla forums for each model but the launching page can be the links to the model forums instead? that way we can keep this forum format and yet can have easy access to the cameras we own or have interest in.

Very interesting idea. I'm all for anything that can keep the Vanilla forum intact.

Personally I just use the 'All discussions' view. Although there might be some technical matters to do with (e.g.) the X10 that don't interest me I like seeing the work that users of other cameras show.

I think you could merge the X-E1, X-Pro1 and XF lenses forums. Similarly i don't see a benefit in separating the X100 and the X100s, or the X10m and the X20. In each case the commonalities outweigh the differences in my opinion.

For me this is one of the easiest forums I have ever frequented. Open a thread and you go to the first unread automatically. Thread listings update in real time without needing to be refreshed. If we had to give all this up just to allow for more sub-forums or to hide unwanted threads (my own pet request) I'd be disappointed.

After this forum going to DPReview or Photo.net is a real pain in the bum.

This is the age old conundrum(s)...

1) pleasing all of the people all of the time
2) functionality vs look & feel.

Personally, I like the Vanilla software. The lack of extra functionality is kind of what gives it its appeal. The colour and skin of it are clean, neat and pleasing to the eye. Simple is good.

However, I understand that it might be a nightmare to maintain, and as more and more users join, greater the administration strain.

Here's the thing from my experience with all things web related: people do not like change, but if done well and considerately, and the change can be proven to work for the best, people will stick with you and grow to appreciate the change.

Also, alternative CMS/Forum software packages do not have to be cumbersome. Often the vanilla (adjective not noun; as in straight out of the box) software is pretty neat and not over-cumbersome. It is how they are administered which ruins them. For example:

Some packages will allow you to alter the default design extensively, so, just because it's possible, the admin does just that and it's not always to everyones liking. A sound bit of advice here is to keep simple, uncluttered colour schemes (i.e. this forum) and stick with it. Breed familiarity.

Have some set, generic top level forum groups and do not start breaking them up into loads and loads of sub-groups, otherwise this will start to confuse users - as soon as a user has to think and make decisions about where best to post something, it will put them off. It will also reduce the amount of replies, which is why people post in the first place. One of the big advantages (IMO) of this forum is that while you can categorise a post, the default page shows the last post/update from all groups, encouraging people to join in and discuss in categories that they might otherwise not!!

@christopher - have you got any alternative software in mind?

I agree that the look and feel of the current forum are fine. I can't say I miss any of the advanced features that some other forums have

Personally I've found that scaling a forum to address every possible category of your users is very difficult to do without diluting the userbase entirely.

I'd rather see a model similar to stackexchange's where posts and topics are tagged and people can easily sift things that interest them. I don't know that having a forum for every model of camera makes sense when so much of the content people post into those categories is applicable to any camera, not just one specific model from Fuji.

It's great to hear everyone's support of our format! It was a big decision when I started this site, and I thought this alternative approach to forums would help make it more accessible.

I've been running online communities since 2001, as a graphic designer and web developer, the user experience has always been my top priority. One of my other communities is the Nano-Reef.com Aquarium Forum. The platform that I'm considering migrating to is the same as what's behind Nano-Reef.com. The aesthetic would of course be different, but that level of polish and detail would be there.

It's still a ways off, and like I said, not set in stone. I'm working with the developers to create the system necessary to migrate all of this data seamlessly, so we can minimize downtime. All site user accounts would transfer seamlessly as well. At worst, users who login via Twitter will need to have their account email updated, and users who login via Facebook would need to use the password reset feature.

The upcoming version of Vanilla does show some promise, it addresses some issues that concern me with the current platform, and adds a few nice features. My concern is the release timeline, I feel like we're getting closer to the limits of this software's performance.

I am not sure I understand the comment on us reaching the limit of the software's performance. This site is blazing fast. Compared to a place like DPR, reading here is far quicker and far more enjoyable.

@Christopher

Does it make any difference if you log in as an admin or as an ordinary user? I don't find the home page any more sluggish than any other site I frequent, and quicker than many.

Thank you!

FinePixCamera said:

Christopher said:

Not at this time @Albert.

I'm hoping to migrate our site over to more traditional forum software sometime in the coming months. That will give us a lot more options and customizations. I think we're starting to outgrow the simplicity of our current software.

Ack! I love the software this forum is running on. It is so unique compared to the others. Blazing fast too.

Such is progress though....I'm still on OS X 10.6.8, since I dont care for how that software has evolved.

I'm with FinePix on this. I find this the best forum software I've ever been a user of. I don't like web-forums at all. Mostly I detest and despise them, give me usenet any day of the week. If the software here was anything like most I've encountered I'd never have signed up.

I'm still in a few newsgroups that are down to almost no traffic because no one does usenet anymore. I've tried web forum alternatives for most topics but I can't do it, the UI is dire. Please don't do it!

I'm a user of several other photography/camera forums and as a new member here I have to say that while the layout, design and functionality of this forum is taking some time to get acquainted with, I really like the look and feel of it. I for one would be disappointed if it changed and started to look like all the others.