Audioholics Forum Redesign

[BoredSysAdmin]

I think its partly a seasonal thing, party low end audio is getting to the point of good enough for many folks. Technology and culture shift and hobby like audio shifts with it

 

[ImcLoud]

You may be onto something, I have been really impressed with some of the affordable gear out there, you can go to best buy and get a decent system for under $1000 and in a lot of cases that system will sound great {minus the subs, the first company to mass produce and market an affordable capable sub that best buy can sell will sell a lot of them, like a VTF2 for $499 you can walk in best buy and walk out with...}...


As far as seasonal, what is the audio season? I thought rite now when its starting to get cold would be the season? Or xmass maybe when people are spending money? Or February when the super bowl is looming..

 

[Adam]

I suspect that the contests at least used to bring in some new people, but there haven't been any of those in a while that I've seen.

 

[gene]

I feel like there are a lot less people "discussing" on all the audio forums, I am not sure if this is due to, people not liking forums, or not as many people looking into "high end" audio? I have also noticed less people at shows {not all of them} and less traffic in the hi fi shops... Also used gear seems to be going for a little less... Its not a dramatic dip but I can tell there are less people involved in the hobby lately... Other hobbies I have seem to be growing, Hunting and long range shooting have never been stronger, hot rods and classic cars are VERY strong right now, ect...

I used to log onto AH in themorning and look at the "recent threads" link and there would be at least a full page if not 2 and lately you are lucky if theres 5 or 6 in the list... Also we used to get at least 1 "what system should I buy for X amount" and now then are few and far between compared to my memory of recent past...

I think forums in general are dying but yea our forum certainly lost a lot of momentum after we moved from VB3.8 to VB4.2 hence one of the reasons I want to get off Vbulletin. Our FB however is going crazy. We have almost as many likes as we have members on this forum and it goes up 100s / day. The audio industry is definitely shrinking and the market is shifting more towards mobile and portable devices, stuff that I really have no interest in, but I suppose we need to do more coverage of to keep up with market demands

 

[gene]

I suspect that the contests at least used to bring in some new people, but there haven't been any of those in a while that I've seen.

We will start those up again once we move the forum.

 

[gene]

Will archives of the forums still be around? There's a lot of excellent five-year old discussions that I'd hate to see get lost.

Anyways viva forums. Most of the time I feel like things I say on facebook etc, if I bother to say them, are lost within moments of being said, and never actually read by anyone interested. It's a feeling of talking to a literal wall.

All of the posts from this forum will move over to the new forum as well. All will be retained in the new order

 

[ImcLoud]

I think forums in general are dying but yea our forum certainly lost a lot of momentum after we moved from VB3.8 to VB4.2 hence one of the reasons I want to get off Vbulletin. Our FB however is going crazy. We have almost as many likes as we have members on this forum and it goes up 100s / day. The audio industry is definitely shrinking and the market is shifting more towards mobile and portable devices, stuff that I really have no interest in, but I suppose we need to do more coverage of to keep up with market demands

You are correct, a few years back I never seen all digital systems, now I walk in BM stores and it is very common to see their showcase systems and listed specials consisting of digital dock and DAC... I like having a turntable, cd player and ipod dock in my systems, but I would be lying if I said that I couldn't be happy with just the ipad... Actually I think I am really starting to enjoy headphones with a decent amplifier and the ipod...

 

[GIEGAR]

... We are moving to Xenforo as Vbulletin is proven to be a dead platform.

...

Hey Gene, that's an interesting observation considering AVS recently went back to Vbulletin from Huddler (due to a change of ownership).

 

[RichB]

I have a Facebook account but hardly use it. I'm not a twittering twot and don't intend to become one.

Since it is called Twitter, each post should be called a "twit"

- Rich

 

[RichB]

I think its partly a seasonal thing, party low end audio is getting to the point of good enough for many folks. Technology and culture shift and hobby like audio shifts with it

Personal Audio (headphone and DAC) forums are busy places.
When you are in a dorm room or living at home, these are the products you buy.
Many have multiple headphones and DACs and it is common to buy a HA to match a set of speakers.
And here, tubes are alive and well.

Post counts are very large and the mods are busy. The Oppo threads had to be closed for "timeouts" multiple times.

It is great that these folks are passionate about music and sound and, hopefully, that will translate into home systems, when they get a home

- Rich

 

[gene]

Hey Gene, that's an interesting observation considering AVS recently went back to Vbulletin from Huddler (due to a change of ownership).

Yes and notice they are using a very old version of VBulletin. That software is archaic. They should have went to Xenforo like AVForums did. AVForums is blowing AVS out of the water with traffic and engagement now.

 

[j_garcia]

I kind of like what HTF is using. Nice, easy to browse and still looks fairly modern, with more or less the same functionality as here. Their hardware forums there are extremely slow these days though.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Yes and notice they are using a very old version of VBulletin. That software is archaic. They should have went to Xenforo like AVForums did. AVForums is blowing AVS out of the water with traffic and engagement now.

Never heard about AVForums before. I like their setup. Forums and main site nicely integrated. Too bad majority of members seem to be on the other side of the pond.
They have competitions with BD prizes, but I don't details since again these only open to members from across the pond.

 

[lsiberian]

I will miss the old system, but I understand the forum is dying. When I first started here there were way more people looking for help. Facebook linking is a very good thing for any business. It makes moderating a place much easier too. When ESPN switched to Facebook the amount of trolls went down a lot. Facebook is replacing phones IMO there new messenger app already does phonecalls. It won't be long before you start dialing someone's facebook instead of their mobile number.

 

[Alex2507]

As far as seasonal, what is the audio season?

I took the meaning to be akin to cyclical. This is the cycle of iTunes and FaceBook.

When is the switch?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I took the meaning to be akin to cyclical. This is the cycle of iTunes and FaceBook.

When is the switch?

No, I meant it seasonal, as in after the holidays we typically see surge of people need recs for $1k 7.1 systems

 

[lsiberian]

I took the meaning to be akin to cyclical. This is the cycle of iTunes and FaceBook.

When is the switch?

That explains all the rage threads around a certain time of the month.

 

[Alex2507]

No, I meant it seasonal, as in after the holidays we typically see surge of people need recs for $1k 7.1 systems

Oh ...

Audio still has cycles. Boom boxes was another sh!t cycle.

 

[Rickster71]

Will we still have private messaging?
What will happen our current Inbox messages?

 

[MidnightSensi2]

General progression of communities now is multi-platform. Roll with it, Facebook might respond to certain things that a forum doesn't - but, forums can be pretty powerful at creating your brand ambassadors and also for search engine traffic.

Here is a preview of the new Audioholics Forum
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/xf/

Looks nice. I like that it is responsive as well.

The key will be keeping a very functional user interface - the types that browse forums now care about that.

Design wise I'd go easy on the radii and gradients (those were last decade trends). I'd probably also mute some of the color and play with the typeface.

Tell the developer to really take care with page size - because for mobile this is essential, especially when your doing it responsively. Optimize everything. You may want to look into using a CDN. Careful with the javascript - stuff gets fat fast and mobile devices hate that.

While we are at it, Audioholics.com is getting a complete revamp too. Here is the homepage mockup.

Home Theater, HDTV, Receivers, Speakers, Blu-ray Reviews and News | Audioholics

A grid might be cool for you guys....

I think forums in general are dying but yea our forum certainly lost a lot of momentum after we moved from VB3.8 to VB4.2 hence one of the reasons I want to get off Vbulletin. Our FB however is going crazy. We have almost as many likes as we have members on this forum and it goes up 100s / day. The audio industry is definitely shrinking and the market is shifting more towards mobile and portable devices, stuff that I really have no interest in, but I suppose we need to do more coverage of to keep up with market demands

I don't see anything wrong with that. Lots of us use portables also. I travel A LOT.