Seconding Autolykos on this, reddit looks messy.
Regardless of what is elected (Go Phbb!), can we make sure mobile use is improved? I’ve yet to find a mobile that can comfortably post on these forums.
My recommendation would be to scrap the idea of getting a single CMS to do everything well. I personally don’t know of one that does. Instead, choose the best software for the individual sections of the site and devote the resources that would have been spent shoehorning new types of software into one package to sharing authentication between the selected pieces of software.
Authentication bridges handle the merging of authentication between disparate systems within the same domain. They usually come in the form of specific bridges for two products. Fortunately, many are available for WordPress-to-Forum bridges or full plugins like Zinigi Forums for myBB. There are several WordPress->phpBB and WordPress->vBulletin bridges.
Wikiful will do this for MediaWiki, but it is new and doesn’t include a bridge yet.
The real key is to focus less on complete integration and more on traditional user interfaces and features that make that particular site section sell. Integration is a nice bonus and a convenience to the users, but nobody will use super-integrated forums when they can’t tell if they are looking at a forum or a blog. There are far too many “forums” and “wikis” out there that are just WordPress posts hacked up by an amateur UI designer.
Other generic ideas not directly related to technology selection:
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Get rid of groups. They confuse people. Have blogs, forums, and a wiki. Each consists of user-generated content but serves a special niche. They are resources that overlap in purpose but don’t step on each others’ toes. Everything else is needless dilution that makes it harder to find good content.
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Don’t split the main page into subforums, like AJ said. If it’s possible in the software, allow tagging or categorizing posts/threads to make later research easier. Plus we already have John James who looks up all of our needed threads for us.
What objection would one as a user have to simply relying on the Austrian economics reddit? It’s being actively used by Mises.org enthusiasts as well as Mises.org writers. Art Carden is considering doing an ‘ask-me-anything’ soon for video, and Robert Murphy has also said he’s up for it when he has the time.
Not always accurate, but gives a good indication none-the-less:
From an administrator standpoint: Good moderation tools. No need for technical upkeep (including security). No need for backups (though maybe still possible through the API). Easy registration. Easy for existing Reddit userbase to flow in.
+would free up resources to be used for other parts of Mises.org
Nielsio, we want to cover more than just economics. If we were to try to build up our own Reddit community, we’d use /r/LvMI (which I just created).
Reddit will be blacked out for 12 hours, 8 hours from now, to protest SOPA. But until and after then, you can also sound off in the first /r/LvMI thread: What Forum Platform Should the Mises.org Community Migrate To?
/AE is not strictly about economics. Which topics do you feel would not be accepted? For example, which threads that we see now here do you feel don’t fit?
It’s the name. It’s too narrow for what we need.
Those topics that people who are Austrians are interested in, but is not Austrianism itself, are also acceptable. Austrian economics is simply the backbone.
EDIT: let me rephrase that. What I mean is: if a person has a topic, that he would like people who are Austrian’s perspective on, are accepted. So “what is a good diet” is not accepted. But “what kind of music do Austrians listen to” is; because there can be a correlation between the two.
Perhaps the sidebar needs rephrasing.
Agreed.
Agreed. Reddit is not a forum. If this were replaced with a Reddit, I think the format of conversation would noticeably change. And you’d probably see a noticeable amount of attrition…which would probably include myself.
Bingo. I think this is exactly what Tucker got wrong.
…although I do agree a better search tool would be helpful. Look at what I’m working with here.
I would concur.
My lean towards the above comment, but I’m open to others’ rational.
This. Plus, there is no offense intended here, but I’m not too crazy about the Institute turning over complete control of its online community to one single guy…let alone one who has no official affiliation with the organization, and doesn’t live in the same country.
They are fubar.
No, I think everyone would agree we can at least recognize these forums. The “new community” is fubar.
This. We want to be able to post from our mobiles.
I was trying to find all of the threads where members gave forum suggestion, but I only found the one that Nielso created. The other results were on mods violating forum rules.
Yes, that is true. I forgot to add that the “r” stood for “repair”.
A reddit implementation like Less Wrong has, plus the ability to post inline multimedia, would suit me. But that might take a lot of development work.
To my eyes tree structure looks chaotic. It is fine to have as an option for users to switch to, but I think having posts in chronological order is the standard view on most forums.
Here’s what an Austrians vs. Communists debate looks like on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/austrian_economics/comments/ok77i/hello_austrian_economists_we_are_communists_i/ (The ability to activate links on mobile [and do paragraphs!] would be another great addition.) Though it may look messy, notice how much more is going on and how easy it is to follow who’s addressing whom, even without using quotes, and how the troll and troll-feeder derailments are completely contained in their own branch. What looks messy on reddit wouldn’t even be followable on these forums. And it’s possible to visually offset the comments better to make it easier to read, as Less Wrong does to a degree (I prefer nice thick text boxes like this forum has). That said, I’m not suggesting a move to reddit.com but rather a mod of the reddit code like Less Wrong has (+inline graphics, fonts, etc.), if it’s doable for the devs.