SKF 3 months on

[NoGi]

It’s been almost 3 months since I took over SKF so a good time to take a pause, reflect and try to explain the logic behind some of the decisions so far. When I took over the ownership of SKF I found that there were a number of things that needed to be done fairly quickly to ensure our survival like having a roadmap for the site, a strategy to grow membership and other fundamental things like having a robust backup strategy in place in the event of a total system disaster. Unfortunately, forums can be like corporations where the corporate culture is formed based on the leadership at the time. I've had to slowly chip away at that so that I could align SKF with the new strategy and goals going forward.

 

The biggest mindset shift and challenge has been around my open versus the previously closed approach to things. This has only been possible because I’m in the hobby and not “in†the hobby if that makes sense. What I am trying to say is that I have no affiliation with stores, breeders or anyone else other than via the existing relationships with SKF (sponsors etc…) members. My only agenda is to run an online community of like-minded people and run it well.

 

That said, let’s look at some of the decisions in a little more detail.

 

Forum Upgrade

I think it’s safe to assume that everyone knows that running forums cost money. What some perhaps don’t know is that the gaps between memberships/sponsorships and running costs are funded by me personally. Whilst we have sponsors and a subscriber base, I don't see any of that until renewal, already paid subs did not come over with the site takeover. Keep this in mind when thinking “why upgrade if it works?â€.

 

The site was originally running on VBulletin 4.2.2 and the latest version at the time was VBulletin 5.1.1. Part of the forum roadmap included a number of new enhancements that I wanted to get developed and implemented. If I had paid to get them developed under 4.2.2, they would have needed to be redeveloped under 5.1.1 again. Given the funding source, it would not have been a prudent investment to spend money on the old version knowing that I would have to pay again to get it working under the new version. The move to VB 5.1.1, despite all the testing we did, was a complete disaster. I don’t think anyone would disagree with me there.

 

Today, the forum runs on IP.Board 3.4.6 and runs a lot better under the hood than VB ever did. For example, the database size went from around 700MB to 100MB which is a considerable drop in size. Whilst the move to VB 5.1.1 was bad, the quick migration to IP.Board was one of the best decisions we made. The developer community is active and enhancements are available – some free, others at a cost.

 

Subscriptions

Why oh why do PayPal need to make things difficult. Subscriptions are tied to the PayPal account and cannot be moved to another account. This totally messed up the subscriptions in the backend with renewals going to the previous owner rather than here. We ended up having to cancel (via previous PayPal account) all subscriptions so that they wouldn’t auto renew anymore. I also had to expire them all in the backend. What this means is that once your old subscription expires, you essentially have to resubscribe to setup a new subscription against the new PayPal account so that it’s all automated and running properly again. This has dropped the renewal rates considerably but hopefully we’ll see it pick up again soon.

 

Rebranding

Yes we have a new logo and yes not everyone is a fan. Unfortunately, can't please everyone but I wanted a logo that could appeal to all ages and after looking around at successful sites and our need to grow beyond our borders I went to market for a fresh new design. The old logo is still there as an optional theme for those still wanting it.

 

Opening up the site

I was wrong to think that there wouldn't be resistance to opening up the site to the rest of the world. But the reality is that we need to generate more visitors to the site and the only way is to give people a taste. This was also one of the key things that prospective sponsors wanted to see happen. By opening up the site, I've also embedded Google adverts so that people are more motivated to actually register and make the adverts go away.

 

There was a concern about outside people seeing photo’s posted here that people wouldn’t otherwise post. I’m not sure why, as, if I had a great aquascape, I would want the whole world to see it. In any case, that is why we now also have a Gallery feature available. Images posted to the gallery will not be made visible to unregistered users. 

 

We are already the premier shrimp site in OZ, I want us to be up there globally and this is one way we will be able to achieve this. Have a look at the site stats from when I first took over and this last week. By opening up parts of the forum and being more active on social media we've increased the number of channels that prospective members can come from.

 

 

 

Classifieds

There are 2 reasons why I moved the classifieds out of the forum. The first is post count – I didn’t want the sales part of the site to start skewing the data. Whilst some sites use this to make their forums look more active, I would rather report on things that count. The second reason was to offer a better user experience through a store-like classifieds area.

 

Tapatalk

It’s ironic that one of the reasons SKF even has Tapatalk was because I wanted it during my tenure as a founding moderator. Tapatalk still works fine on the core forum functions but it won’t work with the enhancements we do (Gallery, Classifieds, etc…). These all still work fine with the mobile browser on your phone or tablet. My view on this is that we shouldn’t hold back new and improved functionality on the site just because Tapatalk doesn’t support it.

 

Inactive members

Just like post count, I don’t like the way inactive and spamming members are counted towards the total site membership count. One of the first things I did before migrating the site to IP.Boards was to purge the spammers list. This took the member totals from 3,000+ to under 1,000. Similarly, we have a large number of members that signed up over a year ago and still have a 0 post count. One of the fundamental principles of our community is to give and take and I wanted a way to remove just the takers. The end result was the implementation of a system that firstly notifies inactive members (after 120 days) and encourages them to get active followed by a second notification (after 180 days) which moves them to an inactive group which severely limits what they can see. Only non-subscription members are impacted by this system. Some have not liked this approach but the majority have given their support.

 

Note, whilst I have mentioned inactive members and spammers in the same sentence, they are not the same. Spammers are deleted, inactive members are moved to a moderated group.

 

Merchandise

Some items are in the SKF Store, others will come slowly. I need to see which sponsors are continuing on into the next period before I get stuff printed.

 

Hopefully that clears up some of the questions, sorry for the long post and thank you again for your ongoing support and commitment to the site.

[BlueBolts]

Thanks for the thread Nogi.....Great that you've explained the strategy, and I'm 100% behind your approach and great vision to ensure this forum has all the basis to expand and be an amazing forum from a information and community perspective. You did fail to mentioned the 1000's of hours you've invested on the forum, and no doubt the moderators too. We truly do have a great bunch of moderators, and the spirit of the hobby on this forum is AWESOME !

 

So thank you !

[NoGi]

Ooops yes the mods, sorry guys how could I forget you.

 

The mods have made my life so much easier in that I leave the day to day running to them. Gives me the time I need to focus on the backend stuff.

[newbreed]

Thanks for the write up Nogi! Puts all the changes into perspective.

I had no doubt you had a clear path of where you wanted the forum to be heading, as a good captain always does!

Lots of change but glad everyone has been able to keep up and be so adaptive. And, as per usual with this great forum, good to see everyone helping each other during and through the changes.

Looking forward to what's ahead! The best shrimp community in the world!!

Edited June 12, 2014 by newbreed

[OzShrimp]

You have done a great job Nogi and you brought back alot of life into the forum into my opinion when you took it over. 

 

Its hard to believe its been 3 months already and as most would agree the forum can only get better from here!

[Squiggle]

Well done Nogi, definitely good to see your plan is coming to fruition!

[mtchye]

Rare to see a plan so transparent and well laid out. Well done.

 

I like the new platform personally, minus a few niggles. e.g. new content button doesn't pick up new content in classifieds or galleries. But these are mostly minor. :)

[NoGi]

July 7, 2014 - Aug 7, 2014:

 

As you can see, we continue to steadily increase the flow of new visitors to the site. These are coming via Google searches - a direct result of opening up the site.

 

Also, reading about a couple of other large and popular sites that have had significant SPAM issues in the past few months, I'm glad I moved off that old platform. The one thing those affected sites had in common was the VBulletin forum software.

Edited August 7, 2014 by NoGi

[ineke]

Well done Nogi!

[yeswaitnosorry]

 for all your hard work. It's a great forum.

[ellasfish]

I think we will vote you in as next Prime Minister, if only they were so organised and transparent and cared about

everyone as much as you do.

Well done NoGo, I just love this site and don't bother with any other sites.

[smicko]

I love watching a plan come together, especially when it's a great plan led by a man like nogi.

You have the vision that most people lack.

Thank you for your countless hours of effort and for following through with your vision, even with a little resistance to parts of it. SKF is a better place for it. Growing a helpful and honest community online in today's world is a remarkable achievement and you should be proud of what you've done to accomplish it.

Cheers mick.