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Tyler M.
New Member
USA
82 Posts |
 Posted - 08 July 2004 : 12:29:35
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My users are killing me for new features. Invision, phpBB, and Vbulletion set the standards and we are well below the standard.
I have enjoyed, and fight to continue to use this product because through it, and everyone here I have been able to learn, improve, and enjoy VB-Script, ASP and SQL.
I know there are Mods, lots of them, but there day is coming to an end, many of the mod makers have moved to other forums, even past die-hards. I know there are still many great people here, but our community is getting smaller when it comes to experienced people.
It seems like I spent over 100 hours of coding to add all the features I needed into my current forums, which is not a portal, don't like portals.
It seems like Avatars, Polls, and Admin-Level and many others have been tested over time, and are ready for implementation to the Snitz base code.
I know our goal is to be a discussions forum, not a portal and I agree but it is hard to keep web visitors happy if they demand what the other forums offer built-in.
It would have been cheaper to spend approx 150 for the other forums, after comparing the time I put in to get it acceptable for community use. I did gain experience and improved/maintained my programing skills, which is a goal of this community as well.
I am willing to help. I want to stick with the forums that I have gained so much from. I want to see a future for Snitz as a power player... not a good basic forum... because at this point it is similar to the one that our code is based on.
Again forgive me for saying "our" but I feel like a member of a friendly community, and I feel like I have strong ties to Snitz. I just can't walk away, but I can't see a good future if I had to recode it all myself and nobody but me gains from it.
I suggest a model for the future:
Finish Version 4 or ditch it.
Add Features the forums need it desperately. My users at all my sites that use snitz throw tomatoes at me for using it.
Take another look at the ASP.NET thing, when the first two are done. I personally want to stay with classic ASP and I am not saying change over but take another look at .NET that time. Classic ASP will be ancient ASP by then, and honestly I get little call for work in Quick-Basic or Turbo-Pascal anymore.
I know I set some people off. This is not my intent. I want to see Snitz thrive, and while the downloads may be high, the community here seems to be getting smaller. The old guys, are disappearing. That is the part that scares me most. The greatest value has been the experience in the community but it seems to be getting smaller over time.
I have a newer version of the forums with all that additional work. Which without the community, Mods, etc would have never happened. I am willing to share it, but honestly very few Revisions of Snitz have lasted. Crash, Image, SHN, MaxWebPortal, etc all exist but do not ADVANCE Snitz. The CSS version of Snitz deserves some serious looking into as most browsers are 1.0 compliant now (not fully but ... it's time to rethink it) With time these other forums will move on or die, but the goal in my opinion is to Advance Snitz. It's a solid product that needs to be updated no matter how you look at it...
Thank you for this product, I have been using it since sometime in 2000. It has been the foundation for the success of my sites... but my users are demanding more, many regular have left because they want better forums... that cuts into my bottom line which for me is popularity... as said earlier, I want to stick with a community that I know and respect... |
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Davio
Development Team Member
Jamaica
12217 Posts |
Posted - 08 July 2004 : 16:55:13
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I know how you feel Tyler and I am sure other members here feel the same way, while others would disagree and are comfortable at where Snitz Forums is at.
But let me respond to you from a forum administrators point of you.
You're running a site that uses the Snitz Forums software. Your users are complaining for something more, more features, new design etc. But no matter how attached you are to the community behind the software you need to make a decision to either stick with the current forum software and lose some (or most) of your members or listen to thier requests and move on to another forum software.
You cannot base the future of your forum, your site and your members soley on the developers at the Snitz Forums. That would be a bad decision on your part.
Look at what's best for your community and do the right thing. You can always come back here an contribute to the community when you have the time and still be apart of it.
And that goes for everyone else who feels the same way. If Snitz Forums does not meet the demands of your users and your community, move on to something else.
You don't owe Snitz Forums anything, but you do owe your members as they are the ones that contribute to your site and make it what it is. So listen to what your members say and make the best choice. 
From a developers point of view, we hear your concerns. The forum will conintue to be developed, but it might not be in the timeframe you have in mind. We have already decided we were going to move to a CSS version after the release of the International version. And then the inclusion of some of the more popular mods. This is taking a while to complete, but it is our current plans.
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Gremlin
General Help Moderator
New Zealand
7528 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2004 : 06:26:42
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I'd have to agree 100% with what Davio's said. Members are your number one priority, consider them your "customers" you've got to keep them happy.
If that means changing software, well so be it. I've been migrating many Snitz forums lately to a number of different forums (Invision, vBulletin & PHPBB2 mainly) becuase people have outgrown their Snitz and don't have the time or inclination to look at trying to mod some new features into it, generally speaking they and their members have all been pretty happy with their new forums.
If you feel like your letting Snitz down by migrating to different software, you could always kick a few Paypal Donations towards the Snitz devs to make you feel better :) |
Kiwihosting.Net - The Forum Hosting Specialists
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MarkJH
Senior Member
United Kingdom
1722 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2004 : 14:09:31
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quote:
I've been migrating many Snitz forums lately to a number of different forums (Invision, vBulletin & PHPBB2 mainly)
How are you migrating the databases? I've never seen any effective migration software available to or from Snitz. |
Bandlink.net - http://www.bandlink.net/
Bandlink Music Forums - http://www.bandlink.net/forum/ |
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Gremlin
General Help Moderator
New Zealand
7528 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2004 : 21:07:55
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| Partly by hand, partly via some conversion scripts. A standard Snitz isn't too hard to convert, but modified ones with Polls and PM's etc I'm still not getting a perfect conversion but getting better every time I attack it, doing a large conversion this weekend as we speak actually. |
Kiwihosting.Net - The Forum Hosting Specialists
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