Summary
It's no surprise that discussions on UBB.Threads are dwindling down to not much activity at all, at both UBB.Central and here at UBB.Dev. I don't think that it'd take much at all to turn this all around, since one thing that always sparks discussion would be new releases.

I'm not saying "hey, lets demand 7.6", I'm simply pointing out that there is some code that could be cleaned up and streamlined, some modifications that could be made stock (it's happened a lot before, go look at the modifications forum here), even some style element updates.

Release Schedule
Simple things, like where introduced on a schedule back when Groupee or even MindRaven owned the product; a revision update every 6 months or so could be enough to maintain a happy consumer base.

Version Revisioning
7.0 - Major Release (Major code changes)
7.1 - Minor Release (Some new features, major cleanups, etc)
7.0.1 - Bugfix or Minor Code Addition Release
7.0.1.1 - Refresh Release

One of the best versioning explanations I've come across is from dSploit:

Refreshing Code
One thing that has bothered me about recent releases is that "Code Refreshes" should only occur within 24 hours of a release, otherwise it should warrant a new version (see "Refresh Release" above); it causes confusion when one is trying to help a community and we're running the same version with different code (or even features).

Signing Off
I'd love to see UBB.Threads regain some market share; I miss the constant communication and chatter that I helped build in the community. I hate that the only resort some major communities had was to jump ship to other products; especially since some of these started as PHP ports of UBB.Classic.

Do you have any suggestions? We'd love to hear them!

* Out of frustration I've deleted my own response, in fear my licence could be revoked.

I don't know if they can do that but don't want to be the one to find out lol.

Frustrations are on the rise for sure.

No fair Mark, now I'm really curious what you said; lol...

I've reserved my opinion at Central for quite some time now; but keep in mind that I've been there since the beginning and helped make it a community, so any frustrations you guys have, I'm quite sure are mirrored in myself; lol.

I've had a lot of friends and clients jump ship to IPB and vBulletin over the years, it hurts to see communities that I've come to care about and help with over the years just abandon the UBB.

There is definitely another trend going on here as well.

My forum -- a hikers' forum -- traffic has dwindled drastically in the past several years. I attribute it to Facebook. A number of "groups" have cropped up on FB that target the same people as my forum, and I even see many of the most active people (who have all but left the UBB forum) posting in the FB groups.

There is some sort of social need for people like that to post to an audience, and if there is only a small audience in a particular forum, they move to one with more participation. It really stinks that the FB setup/genre supports more of a "chat room" feel, where comments pretty much evaporate after a day or two.

The true forums, on the other hand, provide historic data which can be searched and referenced in later posts. That feature is really important to me. FB to me is such a hollow, shallow, empty tool for sharing real information, but for the masses, it appears to be their choice spot.

And that just stinks!

Have others here seen a similar traffic reduction?

Can you ask id242
if he can make me a "coming soon" badge lol



Or

Ive not been updated for +1yr

lol

I could mock up a few of them for you:

UBB 5 YEARS
UBB 10 YEARS
UBB 15 YEARS
UBB 20 YEARS - for wishful thinking
and also a "UBB v8 BETA TESTER" - just for the lulz
---

More importantly; Lets get this discussion back on topic.
Giz has some very valid points that should be discussed.

I just checked and I've registered 82 people again for this month (on the 30th). This has been my average for the past 4 years. I get about 3 new members every day, every month.

And besides that I still have dozens of "guests" online that don't register and just come to read the forum.

My purpose is to show that my UBB forum is still viable and still very attractive to our members. Of course, I keep it alive by changing the header graphic almost every week, and I have some neat Islands that are dynamic.

You can see it at http://vcca.org/forum

Also, I have a bunch of "members only" forums restricted to actual club members.

I think that the product is still very strong. My suggestion is to create a whole new "library" or "store" where we can share all kinds of add-on's to it. Sort of like what was done with themes... but different. Realize that once you add a modified theme -- then you're pretty much done.

What this new "library/store" needs to do is to list a ton of different products (like Islands) that people would want to modify/personalize and add to their site... Then they'd want to add another one... and another one....

Well a new library/store is something that is enticing.
That is a item that the WIKI could be taken advantage of.
In fact there are a few examples in the island area now.
But to expand on that I would also like to see more sql queries in the wiki that are useful tools for admins.

Back on topic.

But Gizmo has hit it on the head.
Unless we get some encouragement from the vendor for future enhancements , meaning something substantial now then I can't see any progress to turn it around.
We have seen to many broken promises in the last several years
All the feature sets and bug fixes v8 was to bring.
Mobile theme support.
API plugin support.
And lest we forget a total code cleanup and bug fixes.
No followup feedback from the vendor on missed targets.

Need I go on????

PS,
the refresh has been a bone of contention since even Rick was there.
My 2 cents, If there was code edit then even if it was seconds after a release it should have a different version number.

Well, Groupee handled it as, if the files where changed within an hour, a refresh could be done, after that users have likely downloaded, no refresh would be a good idea at that point; and if the code was refreshed, an announcement was made.

Suggestions for Turning Around UBB.Threads

7.5.9 lol

Good work guys

We issued versions right up until brooks made the announcement technically (since Isaac stayed up and sent him an email after i sent one at midnight about the final revision).

That's pretty much the trend I've seen too and why I've stuck with UBB (also helps that it's 'real content' for Google too).

Your last sentence especially Steve beautifully summarizes the subject.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Forums, good ones, require effort to start and maintain. The depth and breadth of the content is part of it, but continued new/interesting content will keep people coming back. Facebook sunk many sites without the former, it also got a good number without the latter. FB can't beat any site that can do both tho.