Too many vbulletin sites look like vBulletin.com

[mustang_lex]

This is just a little thing thats bugging me. I been noticing people are dropping in Vbulletin sites and not doing a single thing to customize them.

Now its not that , that bothers me. Its the fact they complain that theres no new members signing up on their messageboard.

Perhaps if they spiced up the look of there site, it may make members stay.

Whats your thoughts?

I just noticed , my sig does not show even though its enabled.

www.stangette.com

[ManagerJosh]

I didn't bother designing because I sorta guessed there was a next phase setup (3.5) so I decided to wait a bit before going forth with it

[Steve Machol]

I seriously doubt the using the default style is a key factor in whether or not a site is popular and successful. More likely, the people that put extra effort into branding their forums also put extra effort into promoting them and building a serious community in which people want to participate.

[Ace]

Exactly .. "content is king".

Not one of my 5 forums have the default skin. Only one of them is at all active, and that is the one I have poured hours of my life into.

[MGM]

I disagree with both of you. IMO, a style is very important in the success of a forum, especially nowadays. In the past, a forum could get away with absolutely no customizations and become a huge forum. Why? Because it was probably the first of its kind or used software that is better the current leader of that niche.

Today, almost every niche is taken. A forum cannot succeed on its own unless a new, never-before-done niche is created that is popular and well-known. That is hard to do.

So when you link a person to your site, the first impression counts very heavily. A style is very important in that it's the first thing a person sees, and if its the same thing that the person has seen at a hundred other sites (same niche or not, doesn't matter), then he/she will think "This looks just like those hundred other sites, I'm not gonna bother with this".... You just lost yourself a member, and for a new community, every member counts.

So to summarize: Style > Content IF a board is brand new.

MGM out

[patriotcow]

I disagree with both of you. IMO, a style is very important in the success of a forum, especially nowadays. In the past, a forum could get away with absolutely no customizations and become a huge forum. Why? Because it was probably the first of its kind or used software that is better the current leader of that niche.

Today, almost every niche is taken. A forum cannot succeed on its own unless a new, never-before-done niche is created that is popular and well-known. That is hard to do.

So when you link a person to your site, the first impression counts very heavily. A style is very important in that it's the first thing a person sees, and if its the same thing that the person has seen at a hundred other sites (same niche or not, doesn't matter), then he/she will think "This looks just like those hundred other sites, I'm not gonna bother with this".... You just lost yourself a member, and for a new community, every member counts.

So to summarize: Style > Content IF a board is brand new.

MGM out

Somthing I agree with you on, I personally don't sign up to vbulletins that use the standard design as I don't think they are putting much effort into it and see no reason to join somthing that looks the same as all others. Thats my opinion though.

[free thinker]

I disagree with both of you. IMO, a style is very important in the success of a forum, especially nowadays. In the past, a forum could get away with absolutely no customizations and become a huge forum. Why? Because it was probably the first of its kind or used software that is better the current leader of that niche.

Today, almost every niche is taken. A forum cannot succeed on its own unless a new, never-before-done niche is created that is popular and well-known. That is hard to do.

So when you link a person to your site, the first impression counts very heavily. A style is very important in that it's the first thing a person sees, and if its the same thing that the person has seen at a hundred other sites (same niche or not, doesn't matter), then he/she will think "This looks just like those hundred other sites, I'm not gonna bother with this".... You just lost yourself a member, and for a new community, every member counts.

So to summarize: Style > Content IF a board is brand new.

MGM out

I absolutely agree. As humans, we use five senses sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing...

On the internet, you only get to use sight (and very limited hearing). Sight is the only sense that you have to grab somebody on. How your site looks is ABSOLUTELY FUNDAMENTAL to it's success. I have had hour-long conversations with marketing gurus about this very subject.

[Onimua]

I agree on the site thing, which is why I'm making one of my main sites (one of three; haven't gotten to the other two yet) stupendous looking. In fact, our reopening will also feature a mini-movie series (go Flash and LiveMotion!), as well as a number of other things, and the forum will match in a ppearance (high-tech appearances, mainly a blue-colored theme,etc.).

The number one complaint when I switched to default to upgrade to Beta 1 before shutting the site down for rennovation was that it looked ugly. I agreed, especially when compared to the previous style, and told them to wait until we got things fixed and set up.

I agree though; look is very important, then content. You have to present the content in a certain way, don't you? That's where style comes in.

[steven s]

My site is unique in its content. It is of one BMW model produced only for 6 years. When I tried to change the colors people complained. What looked good on one computer, looked like crap on someone elses. I focus on content and well placed addon mods.

[mustang_lex]

I disagree with both of you. IMO, a style is very important in the success of a forum, especially nowadays. In the past, a forum could get away with absolutely no customizations and become a huge forum. Why? Because it was probably the first of its kind or used software that is better the current leader of that niche.

Today, almost every niche is taken. A forum cannot succeed on its own unless a new, never-before-done niche is created that is popular and well-known. That is hard to do.

So when you link a person to your site, the first impression counts very heavily. A style is very important in that it's the first thing a person sees, and if its the same thing that the person has seen at a hundred other sites (same niche or not, doesn't matter), then he/she will think "This looks just like those hundred other sites, I'm not gonna bother with this".... You just lost yourself a member, and for a new community, every member counts.

So to summarize: Style > Content IF a board is brand new.

MGM out

Its hard to make sense of both parties, because yes both content and display are important, and yes I do spend countless hours self promoting my site, by joining other just to chit chat (mostly admin sites) . Perhaps thats why my 4 week old forum has over 150 members and 5000 + posts.

I am just getting tired of visiting sites with no change at all. Theres some forums with the same Vbulletin Logo , just name changed!! Thats a waste of money to buy Vbulletn (if in fact it is real)

Thanks for your comments guys. It helps me make sense of it.

[MGM]

Its hard to make sense of both parties, because yes both content and display are important, and yes I do spend countless hours self promoting my site, by joining other just to chit chat (mostly admin sites) . Perhaps thats why my 4 week old forum has over 150 members and 5000 + posts.

I am just getting tired of visiting sites with no change at all. Theres some forums with the same Vbulletin Logo , just name changed!! Thats a waste of money to buy Vbulletn (if in fact it is real)

Thanks for your comments guys. It helps me make sense of it.

Oh its real alright, just take a look at the list of boards Jelsoft has public... I'd be willing to bet at least 75% are using the default style with a few changes (probably header, possible buttons or background)

MGM out

[someuser190826]

This is just a little thing thats bugging me. I been noticing people are dropping in Vbulletin sites and not doing a single thing to customize them.

Now its not that , that bothers me. Its the fact they complain that theres no new members signing up on their messageboard.

Perhaps if they spiced up the look of there site, it may make members stay.

Whats your thoughts?

I just noticed , my sig does not show even though its enabled.

www.stangette.com

You have a nice site, nice cars....and beautiful girls! Damnit...I wish I could join, troll and hit on those girls!

Edit: Forgot to mention, that I am a gentleman, thus I only do what I mentioned above when it is required.

[DirectPixel]

I disagree with both of you. IMO, a style is very important in the success of a forum, especially nowadays. In the past, a forum could get away with absolutely no customizations and become a huge forum. Why? Because it was probably the first of its kind or used software that is better the current leader of that niche.

Today, almost every niche is taken. A forum cannot succeed on its own unless a new, never-before-done niche is created that is popular and well-known. That is hard to do.

So when you link a person to your site, the first impression counts very heavily. A style is very important in that it's the first thing a person sees, and if its the same thing that the person has seen at a hundred other sites (same niche or not, doesn't matter), then he/she will think "This looks just like those hundred other sites, I'm not gonna bother with this".... You just lost yourself a member, and for a new community, every member counts.

So to summarize: Style > Content IF a board is brand new.

MGM out

I would have to disagree there. I recently launched a client's website, using a (very) crappy skin (IMO. The pages were extremely badly coded, tons of validation errors, removed lots of vital vB features in the templates, had HUGE rendering errors in non-IE browsers, etc.) and has been very successful.

Within the first week, they had thousands of posts in the forums and hundreds of posts in the gallery. About two months later, they now have almost 40,000 posts and thousands of members.

(Err... to clarify, that skin was somebody else's. I was in charge of the server and coding, not the visual layouts for that project. I guess the original post was worded a little bit weird.)

[DirectPixel]

You have a nice site, nice cars....and beautiful cars! Damnit...I wish I could join, troll and hit on those girls!

Edit: Forgot to mention, that I am a gentleman, thus I only do what I mentioned above when it is required.

There's cars on that site???

[steven s]

I can see at least changing the vB logo. On one of my sites I simply added a banner for the logo and another I removed it altogether.

Maybe when people create boards where there are dozens of the same topic it helps to stand out.