[wp-forums] This one is for Podz, because he asked.

Tue Aug 9 01:13:37 GMT 2005

The first suggestion is to dump bbPress. I know it's Matt's little pet 
project, but in my opinion it's not ready for prime time. I honestly 
don't think it will be able to keep up with the expansion of the forums. 
I sometimes feel like Matt cares more about the spit & polish shine than 
the inner workings. The best analogy I can think of is a Porche 911 
shell on a Yugo chassis and engine. Looks nice, but that's about it. We 
need to get a "real" board system that has stood the test of time and 
can take it. (BTW: Not that I'm suggesting that vBulletin be used, but 
I've seen it handle far heaver sites than WP-F and much faster too.)

Second thing. Dump that infernal style.... People constantly bitch about 
blogs that only use up a portion of the screen.... and then we have this 
in the forums. Let's free up some of that real estate and use it.

Change the support link. I think people don't look in the Codex because 
it's too easy to get to the forums. Make the Support link go to the 
Codex, from there they can get to the forums.  If we're about empowering 
people to help themselves, let's shove them in the right direction. Even 
if the Support link doesn't go right to the Codex, at least have a page 
that lists the Codex, along with links to some of the common problem 
areas of WP (themes, template tags, and the like).

Add a last posted date to the search results. Nothing is more 
frustrating to actually do a search for something only to find out the 
thread is 2 years old. I had that happen to me. More than once. It 
doesn't take much to include it as part of the results.

A more advanced search. Allow the ability to selectively search certain 
areas exclusively or in combination. I want to search for "XYZ" gimmie 
the first 5 items from the codex, and the first 15 items form the 
forums. Currently, if what you are looking for isn't in the first 5 any 
where, you're screwed as there's no way to go Next 5, Next 5, Next 5....etc.

Speaking of Next, Next, Next....nothing is more annoying than having to 
click Next Page> 5 times just to get to the end of the thread (or the 
middle were you left off) - it would be nice to have better pagination 
both in the forum threads and in the search results.

Previously some one (I think it was podz) stated that it (the forums) 
was no one's child. That needs to change. Some one has got to care and 
take charge. It just isn't me. There needs to be a clear list of who the 
moderators are and what they can do for you, and how to contact them if 
necessary.

Subscriptions -- despite what Matt thinks, subscriptions are a good 
thing. It allows people to keep better track of the threads they 
participate in or start.

I'd also like to see a link to "View posts with no replies". I don't 
think I need to explain that one.

Now, here's why I don't think anything is going to some of it. WP-F uses 
bbPress exclusively. I don't think any amount of pushing from others is 
going to change that. Same with the theme/style of the forums. And all 
of the other suggestions are fundamental changes that would need to be 
made to bbPress in order to work. And they are just not going to happen.

Tg