A source at TheForce.net boards passed this along...
Topic: TF.N Forum Plans
PhilipWise
Registered: Dec 02
Hi all,
I've been keeping DS appraised on plans that are going to affect the forums.
With our 5-year contract with IGN having expired, we are unable to keep the forums hosted by them much longer. I explored the possibility of our just paying them for it the service, but at $2000 per month it was just too much.
Which means we have to move the forum to new software and new hosting.
I have engaged a very capable forum consultant to manage this process for us. I am prepared to invest as necessary to make the process go as smoothly as possible. But frankly, it's a big deal because the forums are quite huge at about 10,000,000 posts and our goal is to move every user and post over to the new platform.
As you probably know, the IGN forum is really a customized platform, that while it may be missing some cool features commercial software has, it likely has some we won't be able to duplicate.
As you've no doubt noticed, the consultant, has registered as Astaran and has been looking at the current software and comparing it to other software platforms.
Rest assured, we will do nothing without your input and without advanced notice to you.
As we go through this, I'll be relying on him to manage the entire process, but I'll be checking this topic, and others that may be necessary. Please feel free at any time to email me at **** if you haven't received an answer as quickly as you need.
To get started, Astaran has forwarded the following to get input from you. Please feel free to post it here, or contact him directly.
About each of these sections:
- user interface (browsing categories/forums/post, writing posts, user profile, search, private communication etc.)
- moderation backend (editing/deleting posts, banning people etc.)
- admin backend (setting permissions etc.)
What do you:
- like and dislike regarding to the current layout/design
- which features of the current software are essential to them
- which features are missing from the current software
- which features/functions they'd like to have