[Ridemonkey]

Every once in a while I like to sit back, and look at the site from afar and try to think about what would make it better.

I'd like to attract more visitors/members obviously, so that's one objective, but I also want to make the experience better for everyone.

What would you do to make RM a better place? What features would you add/remove? How would you promote it and attract new members? What do other sites have that you wish we had here?

This is an open brainstorm, negativity will be struck down by the hand of God.

Go!

 

[ThePriceSeliger]

The original main page was better IMO. It looked better and it was easier.

 

[stinkyboy]

Ban Loco.

Video forum.

 

[H8R]

"View My Posts" link at the top of the page next to "New Posts".

Other forums have it, it rocks.

 

[dhbuilder]

configure it so that when you put someone on the ignore list, you aren't aware that they're even posting. all you'll see is a skipped over# on the post count. and when somebody quotes them, you don't see that either.

 

[Ridemonkey]

If it's not constructive don't post. I don't want to sort through the riff raff for people who are actually offering helpful suggestions.

You have an opportunity here to have an influence on the site, don't waste it.

 

[lovebunny]

i really enjoy the site the way it is. but i do agree with the view my posts option. its really useful

 

[syadasti]

Talk to Tama at Vorb (one most popular websites in NZ, regardless of category). He's the master at bike website promotion...

 

[JRB]

Users signed on in each forum.

 

[stinkyboy]

A place to upload videos straight to RM. Screw PutFile, Google, whatever. They'll pull ya away from the site. A nice video section to come and waste time watching RM unique vids from users.

 

[Tenchiro]

The main thing that gets me is when someone posts an oversized pic it fouls up the view on every post in that thread.

We had it before where it wouldn't do that, but that didn't last very long for some reason.

Also, bring back the old South America forum! :devil:

 

[stinkyboy]

Users signed on in each forum.

How will that grow the site loser?

 

[MMcG]

what forums are the most frequented? DH?

What about re-thinking some of the forum topics? Not sure about this one.

Who are the bike related advertisers/sponsors of the site? perhaps you could work with them a little to get their input? Maybe create ways for special ridemonkey A-List discount clubs or something? Sometimes the ability to visit and save a few bucks on a purchase might attract more people to the site.

Just a few random thoughts for a Monday.

 

[stosh]

Get rid of personal reputation rating.

 

[dhbuilder]

seems like some folks get upset when others are posting in the d.h. forums about one particular brand of bike or another.

perhaps a section devoted to each major brand ?
that way you can ask questions about sundays until you just can't type anymore.

 

[binary visions]

Back before I was more savvy in regards to websites and internet deals, I used to visit eMpTy BeeR specifically for the "deals" section of the site that posts current hot deals on bikes, parts & accessories.

There used to be a "reviews" section of the site - I assume it was killed at some point due to lack of reviews. I think that can be an important section of any niche website like this.

It's a little bit of an aside and I doubt it significantly impacts the ability of the site to grow, but I find the pruning of old posts to be a little too aggressive. I know, I know, you are conserving server space, or monthly bandwidth, or making searches less CPU intensive, or some good reason. But I quite often go looking for old discussions that were extremely valuable and still relevant, but have been deleted.

 

[fireman]

One thing that I would like to see, that some other forums have (MTBR.com for one), is that when you hold the mouse over a post it will show you the first little bit of the post. It helps you see what the post is about without clicking on it.

 

[SkaredShtles]

A feature which would let a user ignore a thread so it wouldn't even show up on the page.

 

[N8 v2.0]

Get rid of personal reputation rating.

I'm going to have to agree with the stosh on this one...

It seems to make loco 'act out' more than usual.

 

[mud'n'sweat]

i really enjoy the site the way it is. but i do agree with the view my posts option. its really useful

I'll third that one as well.

 

[dhbuilder]

Get rid of personal reputation rating.

yeah.
it seems to be of use only for the "chosen ones" here in the lounge.

 

[narlus]

a way to search only topic titles...many times i remember the wording of a thread title, but not who posted it or other stuff...being able to search just via this would make it easier.

also, a monthly contest might be fun and attract people. get an MFG to kick in some swag and have at it.

i don't check out pinkbike that much, but the news stories and interviews w/ various people are definitely worth reading sometimes.

 

[Tenchiro]

Get rid of personal reputation rating.

 

[Atomic Dog]

One thing that I would like to see, that some other forums have (MTBR.com for one), is that when you hold the mouse over a post it will show you the first little bit of the post. It helps you see what the post is about without clicking on it.

That is a really nice thing to have. Generic thread titles make it tough to see if I'm interested in what is going on inside. The "rollover" think makes it quick to get a preview.

 

[MMcG]

Don't segment the site up too much (although thanks for the 29er forum) as I just think that dilutes things too much (mtbr.com is guilty of that in my opinion with all of their various manufacturer forums).

 

[binary visions]

a way to search only topic titles...many times i remember the wording of a thread title, but not who posted it or other stuff...being able to search just via this would make it easier.

I'm smart! S-M-R-T!

 

[stinkyboy]

IAB got really stoked to get a free beer T-shirt not long ago. MTBUK magazine gives away a ton of stuff. Race Face's "Crap on my desk" (Although I heard Marshall left) A lot of American men's magazines do this as well.

Maybe a little free swag tied in with some site participation would stimulate new users and give the Lounge Lizards something productive to do.

 

[macko]

RM is the only forum site that I regularly check ... and it's because of the site speed and the members. I think cool/funny/interesting members and topics are the main incentives for new people to actually hang around and participate.

I like the new reputation feature, it doesn't seem to have been abused by many. I personally think that the less intrusive the forums, the better. I'd rather not be bombarded with a ton of options and visual eyecandy and just be entertained by the content.

 

[Echo]

Yeah giveaways are teh win.

Seems the "old" boss had talked Webcyclery into occasionally donating a part to raffle. Had to have 100 posts and post a cool riding pic or something to enter.

And for you people whining about the reputation, it was said from the beginning that it was an experiment.

 

[Dirty]

I find the news section to be a waste of time and space. The top of the page is the first thing you see, and right now we have two "news" items from April 26th, and one from March 16th.
If its not going to be used to its full potential, then it shouldn't be given such prime space on the site.

That said, i think that the news section could be grown immensely. If ridemonkey took a bigger initiative to bring in news from the industry, and really establish itself as a leader of biking news in general, i think it would draw a lot more visitors. But this would involve a lot of work on somebodys part to get ridemonkeys name out there in the industry etc.

 

[Dirty]

BTW, as for what everyone else is saying in regards to thread previes, roll over, getting rid of the reputation stuff...
Do you really think that the addition, or removal, of these specific items to the forum are really going to "grow ridemonkey", or arent they more of just pet peeves that us already existing users have. I understand that these little things would make our experience better, but how will it get more people to come to the site?

more people=more money for Mr. Ridemonkey...

more happiness for us = same old mr. ridemonkey...

 

[narlus]

BTW, as for what everyone else is saying in regards to thread previes, roll over, getting rid of the reputation stuff...
Do you really think that the addition, or removal, of these specific items to the forum are really going to "grow ridemonkey", or arent they more of just pet peeves that us already existing users have. I understand that these little things would make our experience better, but how will it get more people to come to the site?

absolutely agree w/ you, and on the previous post too.

 

[macko]

I really don't like the roller preview feature on some sites. It annoys the hell out of me. If that's implemented, please make it an option.

One thing that I have found useful in other sites is a form of a category system. When you create a thread, you can choose to assign it to a category... it may end up being forum specific here. So as an example, the Single Speed forum would have categories such as:
DRIVETRAIN
PROJECT
FRAMES
PHOTOS
WHEELS
DEALS

I dunno, I'm just making those up. But the point is, it allows you to quickly, visually scan the forum for topics of interest. You can also click on a particular category, such as "WHEELS" and all the threads with such a label are shown.

 

[jimmydean]

The rep thing to me is funny. Another forum I frequent is 67-72chevytrucks.com and they have had the rep thing for as long as I can remember and NOBODY has ever used it. When it showed up here, it was a huge free-for-all bash session that lasted weeks and spawned like a dozen threads. There are threads created ASKING FOR REPs. To me that is both funny and sad on various levels.

I enjoy RM but am not a premium member. Chevy Trucks as well as Husaberg.org both post the "cost to maintain site" data and also show how much people have donated for the month. You have a visual as to what it costs to run and how much the site is making/loosing and can donate through PayPal. Over the last 2 years, I have donated to both those sites about $50 each, but it's been in $5 or so chunks.

So instead of having a "premium membership", I have a

sign under my name. If I have a spare couple bucks in my PayPal account, I toss it to the board. I have thought about tossing $20 to RM, but it would be better if I could just toss a couple bucks now and again.

 

[Ridemonkey]

Good start guys.

My favourites so far: Better news, reviews, thread tagging (Macko's post).

I actually get Press Releases sent to me on a daily basis. The problem is they're all in "marketing speak", and are more like advertisements than news articles. So, they have to be rewritten...which takes a lot of time. I shall ponder.

 

[I Are Baboon]

When you click on the "number of replies" link next to a thread and get that popup, you should be able to click on a member's name in that popup and get taken directly to their post.

 

[sanjuro]

The original main page was better IMO. It looked better and it was easier.

Much easier to navigate from the old front page. I like to see the newest posts first, as the latest news is not usually very recent or sometimes not even relevant.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Turn the "Who's Online" page back on.

 

[JRB]

Good start guys.

My favourites so far: Better news, reviews, thread tagging (Macko's post).

I actually get Press Releases sent to me on a daily basis. The problem is they're all in "marketing speak", and are more like advertisements than news articles. So, they have to be rewritten...which takes a lot of time. I shall ponder.

I'd do some translation of them on the weekends, if you would like.

 

[Ridemonkey]

That's a generous offer, but I need to look for long term solutions. Thanks