Upcoming Forum Changes

[VOIPoTim]

We are going to be making some changes to the forum soon to reorganize it a little.

Right now only a tiny % of our users even know about the forums and we want to change that since forums can be a great place for customers to interact and a good way to get feedback and information flowing.


1) What suggestions do you have for the forum? Do you have any ideas for the forum category/board structure?

2) We are still debating if we want to open the forum up to everyone or leave it for customers only as it is now. What do you think?

3) We are looking into doing some contests to get more customers participating here. What should we give away (thinking about cash, ipad or gift cards)?

[Taubin]

I hate to say it, but, I'd take the iPad over the cash :P

Seriously though, when I first started coming here, (a VERY short time ago), I was a little... put off? (don't take that the wrong way) at how things looked before getting access to the full forums. There seems to be allot of good information for potential customers in the "Customer only" area.

What I mean by this is, some of the tips and tricks I've picked up in the Residential VOIPo forum, and being able to read about other users experiences, outside of the customer reviews, would have given me a much better picture of what I was getting into. All and all, I think I would have signed up sooner.

I don't mean to say the entire forum should be opened up, as that might be a bit of information overload, but, opening it up a little, I think, might help drive customers here more than the tiny bit of openness that is here now.

Maybe creating a FAQ forum, or a "what to expect" type of posting I think, would help some. That's just my 2 cents :)

[VOIPoTim]

Maybe creating a FAQ forum, or a "what to expect" type of posting I think, would help some. That's just my 2 cents :)

Can you expand on this a little? What kind of info do you think would have helped you as far as "what to expect"? We're working on overhauling all of our documentation and that might fall into that.

[caseydoug]

I've always felt that opening the forums to non-customers would be very helpful. I had a lot of questions before signing on, but in most cases, the answers were available here. If you fear that the boards will get too crowded, make most of the forums "read only" for non-customers (but give non-customers their own forum in which they can ask questions).

As for the structure, I think it's mostly okay as is. You might want to break up "Residential Service" into a few sub-forums, such as sign-up, features, trouble-shooting, wish lists, etc.

[Taubin]

Can you expand on this a little? What kind of info do you think would have helped you as far as "what to expect"? We're working on overhauling all of our documentation and that might fall into that.

This is tough for me to answer for two reasons. One being, I'm still not "officially" a customer yet (ATA should be here really soon), and two, from what I understand, it's pretty much plug it in and go. But, if there are issues that come up time after time (what ports to forward, etc), or posts that are extremely helpful, maybe stickie them in a "FAQ" section?

[internet54]

I think there would be more activity if you moved the tiny link from the footer. Honestly, it took me way to long to find the vpanel link. Everything on the main site is geared towards sales, no problem there, but trying to find out reliability and other questions I had before signing up, I had to go to other sites to get the information. Also, after access to the member forums, I then had even more questions answered.

[4plus3vette]

I've always felt that opening the forums to non-customers would be very helpful. I had a lot of questions before signing on, but in most cases, the answers were available here. If you fear that the boards will get too crowded, make most of the forums "read only" for non-customers (but give non-customers their own forum in which they can ask questions).

As for the structure, I think it's mostly okay as is. You might want to break up "Residential Service" into a few sub-forums, such as sign-up, features, trouble-shooting, wish lists, etc.


I concur with caseydoug's comments. And, yes, make non-customers as read only.

[eacollin]

I like the idea of just having forums to legit Customers that are paying - then too having a way for prospect customers to learn more too in limiting what non customers can do such as read-only is good for starters. Ipad well that sounds nice, cash works too.

[usa2k]

I like the idea of just having forums to legit Customers that are paying - then too having a way for prospect customers to learn more too in limiting what non customers can do such as read-only is good for starters. Ipad well that sounds nice, cash works too.

I like that idea! Non-customers read-only, except for VOIPo Pre-Sales Questions/Suggestions (http://forums.voipo.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30)
Make most of the rest have read permission.

Not so sure Reseller should have read except actual Resellers.
The Pre-sale should perhaps be Presale-Reseller and Presale-Residential.

Looks like you've got the public part right for read and write permissions

I rarely see the actual structure because I just go to Today's Posts (http://forums.voipo.com/search.php?do=getdaily)

[4plus3vette]

Hey Tim,

Here is an idea for you. I, too, generally just go to "New Posts." Perhaps, in addition to tracking which messages we have not read yet, you could have it take you to the part of the thread that is new since you last logged on - not just to the beginning of the post that has new information on it. Sometimes the posts get long and it takes a little while to see where the new part of the post starts.

[usa2k]

Hey Tim,

Here is an idea for you. I, too, generally just go to "New Posts." Perhaps, in addition to tracking which messages we have not read yet, you could have it take you to the part of the thread that is new since you last logged on ...
I have set my preferences to read from newest to oldest.

When someone says ^^^^^^ comment is great!

Its really vvvvvv here :)

Otherwise I had a hard time with long threads!

[VOIPOinTN]

Suggestion .. Make a link from the Vpanel to the forum, so it is easier to get there without additional clicks.

[JimDog]

I, too, generally just go to "New Posts." Perhaps, in addition to tracking which messages we have not read yet, you could have it take you to the part of the thread that is new since you last logged on - not just to the beginning of the post that has new information on it. Sometimes the posts get long and it takes a little while to see where the new part of the post starts.
If you click the http://forums.voipo.com/images/buttons/firstnew.gif icon to the left of the thread title, it should take you to the first unread post within the thread. This is generally how I read the forum.

[Xponder1]

I like that idea! Non-customers read-only, except for VOIPo Pre-Sales Questions/Suggestions (http://forums.voipo.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30)
Make most of the rest have read permission.

Not so sure Reseller should have read except actual Resellers.
The Pre-sale should perhaps be Presale-Reseller and Presale-Residential.

Looks like you've got the public part right for read and write permissions

I rarely see the actual structure because I just go to Today's Posts (http://forums.voipo.com/search.php?do=getdaily)


Suggestion .. Make a link from the Vpanel to the forum, so it is easier to get there without additional clicks.

These are both great ideas.

[Russell]

3) We are looking into doing some contests to get more customers participating here. What should we give away (thinking about cash, ipad or gift cards)?

How about some free months added to the service? Kind of win-win.

[4plus3vette]

Thanks JimDog, I missed that and it was exactly what I was looking for.

[pwayboy]

Definitely get rid of the Captcha for logged-in users. It's not necessary, because paying customers are not likely to be spammers or search abusers.

[usa2k]

There was a bout of registered spam many months ago.
I would say 3-4 posts without getting flagged, and that should deter enough.