How Does VB Compare?

[Michael]

Just curious, and please be honest, how VB compares to other bulletin board sites you visit. If you visit multiple boards please compare VB to your favorite. When comparing this site to others please consider the following:

The design: Is it clean and easy to navigate?

The categories: Are there too many or too few?

The community: Is there a strong sense of community? Are members friendly and helpful?

The site: Other than the board, does this site have more or less useful features?

The admin: Compared to other admins - Am I fair? Do I resolve issues to your satisfaction? Do you receive timely responses?

[RichBeBe]

As part of my job I visit 14 BB's a day. They are all motorcycle related and I can say that VB has one of the best sites from a technical standpoint. I have bookmarked avio.com, since if I ever do run a bulletin board I would like to use their architecture.

[MsRuthieB]

I appreciate the fact that I can click on view new posts and be taken directly to where I left off. I also like where I can click on go to first unread post within the thread and be taken there. I think you have good forum topics. I would like to see more meaty content though from time to time, but you don't control that. We as the community do. The only improvement I would make that I see elsewhere is the use of animated avatars. I mean, it's not a huge deal we don't have that option. But it would be like icing on the cake if we did. Thanks for caring enough to ask our opinions too Michael.

[spud]

You're perfect and VB is 99/100 [the 1 is @nimalklr being in the membership list twice]

[Michael]

*lol* Unfortunately I think it's best that way. Technically (S)he is a member even though it's a member of the "banned" group. I'll check and see if there's another way of dealing with it.

I'd like to make this board perfect for everyone, unfortunately animated avatars are something that some like and some don't (particularly me :D). I don't see me budging on that any time soon. But you never know...

[Thalia]

Technically VB is great. I purposely seek out message boards with this kind of software. Of course the people are all great. I like that we can talk about a lot of things, and can bring up crazy opinions or what not and not be banned two seconds later.

But on that note, I think it would be a good idea to have a consistently enforced set of guidelines for respecting other members. I don't what exactly, but something.

My only complaint recently, is that a lot of threads go off topic, and it would be nice if a mod split it into a new thread. Otherwise I might miss something good bc I thought the thread was about something really boring or something.

[MsRuthieB]

Originally posted by Thalia
My only complaint recently, is that a lot of threads go off topic, and it would be nice if a mod split it into a new thread. Otherwise I might miss something good bc I thought the thread was about something really boring or something.

I agree. I stopped paying attention to some threads because they seem like basic b/s sessions.

[Michael]

Great minds think alike. As you may or may not have noticed I posted an announcement about it yesterday morning. It's something that I've asked the mods to pay special attention to.

By the way, I see someone voted less than average. Hmmph! :( If any of you have specific concerns or suggestions I would encourage you to PM or e-mail me.

I know I'm not perfect and won't always act on suggestions but I would at least like to have the opportunity to consider them.

[Tsila]

I like the layout. I liked the old look quite a bit, but that might have a lot to do with the fact that it's what I was familiar with and how I got to know VB. I talk about this place quite a bit when I visit other veg sites; it seems to be growing and getting better and better.

It would be nice to at some point have a few forums moderated in a sort of "ask the expert" way. I like that about recipe boards or health-related boards in particular. I know that it's hard to find someone who knows what they're talking about to voluntarily take on looking after filling in the blanks, but it would still be neat.

Maybe I got spoiled at another site where I could post a question about ingredient substitutes or looking for a specific recipe or type of recipe and get a response within a few minutes. :)

Thalia said: I like that we can talk about a lot of things, and can bring up crazy opinions or what not and not be banned two seconds later.

I strongly agree with this. I like VB for that. You can express something and not get hit across the head with a flaming bat for it. :)

[Michael]

I agree, that's one of the few things I like about other boards. It would be really nice to have a nutritionist, veteranarian, etc. here. Hopefully something like that will pan out in the future, in the meantime I guess we'll have to settle for helping one another out.

While not "experts" we are very lucky to have people that are very knowledgable in specific areas.

[Tsila]

Absolutely! One of the downfalls of having someone who provides info is that overall participating and exchanges sometimes go down. For instance, if people expect that the "expert" will jump in with advice (or a recipe), they might not feel as inclined to relate their own experiences or knowledge. The fact that people here are as helpful as they are is one of the things I love about VB.

It's a shame that the parenting forum that you'd set up a while back didn't pan out. As someone who intends to be a parent sometime within the next year or two, I like reading up on veg*an parenting issues.

[Michael]

It's amazing that you brought that up because I was so close to adding it back this morning! I agree, it's something we should have. I'll do it now.

[Tsila]

If you do it, I'll post! :)

I have a question to ask about whether or not anybody has read a particular book that has just come out.

[luckiecharms]

Hmm Just out of curiosity are you the owner of this site Micheal? I mean are there any other admins??Because i have been wondering that :p

i have only been to 3 messages boards before besides this one. One of them i didnt like and i didnt even bother making one post so i left. The other two were two different boards but the same community one was for teens and the other for adults but i posted at the both. It was Razzberry and Chickboards. But they had to shut the site down not sure why.

I like the Veggieboards alot. im already addicted to them lol. I think your a fair admin and i like how you can make friends and post your opinions and stuff here. Is also cool how it shows you what places you posted at and when some1 has posted in a topic since you last visted and stuff. i also like the smileys. :hi: :love: :moonpie: hahaha

[MsRuthieB]

Ut oh...I'm thinking I shouldn't have shown LC where to see info about the smilies :) now, don't become an abuser :D

[WonderRandy]

LC, if you want to go nuts with smileys (and who doesn't?) you can check out this old thread (http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?threadid=1257&highlight=smiley+thread) and go completely bonkers with it!!

[Michael]

Hmm Just out of curiosity are you the owner of this site Micheal? I mean are there any other admins??Because i have been wondering that

Yep, that's me. There is one other admin but he's only around in case of an emergency or to help with technical issues. Under normal circumstances he doesn't get involved beyond being a "regular" member. Then there are the mods who help keep an eye on things - Kreeli, Tame, Avalon, and Kerouac.

[soilman]

I can't possibly be the only one: if I see an animated avator blinking on a page, it "grabs" my eyes, and I then have trouble reading. I start becoming "hypnotized," dazed, by the repetitive pattern of the animation, and I "lock up."

[FemmeDemonica]

You're not, soilman. I don't particularly care for them, though I suppose I could get used to them if I had to, you know? I'm a fan of "elegantly simple" style. I think VB captures that effect just nicely.

I genuinely think you've done a fabulous job, Michael, with the design and set-up.

[mushroom]

I like everything about VB, but surprisingly, I miss KILLSTHEWEAK...He made my family laugh a lot.

[Max Power]

Definitely voting for "above average" both technically, aesthetically, and pseudofilially (Not a real word. Go ahead and look it up, it won't be there).

Question: What's with not letting users set their own avatars? Is that because it's the only way to prevent animated avatars? If so, makes perfect sense to me. I hate those things.

I appreciate the cleanliness of the site, but it's kinda *snore* ya know? How about a custom veggieboards vbulletin skin ???

I agree on the off-topic thing. I'm certainly guilty of that and I try not to do it but the devil, he makes me do it.

That's about it, I guess. Well done, Michael.

[Michael]

Not letting users upload their own avatars is primarily due to my being anal about every avatar being exactly 75x75.

We had a custom VeggieBoards skin and it kind of sucked. I don't think you were around then. I guess it wasn't bad but my graphics abilities are rather, um, limited. Once the new forum software is available there may be a change in style but it still won't be anything that I've done.