TheBang

I'm not sure if you guys have considered this, but you can use the vBulletin Mobile Suite.

http://www.vbulletin.com/vb4-mobile/

It's compatible down to version 3.7.5 (so you'd just need some minor updates to the forum software).

The cost outlay is minimal. $199 for the Mobile Suite, and then $99/year for the App Store developer account and $25/one-time for Android Marketplace. You'll have native iOS and Android apps, which are DVDTalk branded and can be monetized with ads. Or you can create both ad-free and ad-supported versions of the apps.

And it should only take a day or two of engineering effort to do minor updates to the forum software, and submit the information to generate the Apps and submit them to the app stores.

Edit: Err yeah, totally forgot that IB owns vBulletin, so why they don't just install the Mobile Suite and be done with it is beyond me. Are they not aware of their own software's requirements? All you need to do is go 3.7.2 > 3.7.5, install the Mobile Suite, and you're done.

auto

Good post Todd B.

CRM114

What the heck is the "Mobile Suite" advertised on the vBulletin website? This can't that difficult. After all this time, there isn't at least a responsive version of vB?

I wish I could use this excuse. Upgrading is a normal course of business and not always pleasant. Maybe they have numerous sites running off the same vB platform and updating one means updating them all. That's just poor planning and execution and it seems at this point, they are just allowing the site to wither on the vine and collect what they can while it lasts. I mean the site DOES have a limited lifespan based on its name alone.

Brent L

From the other thread, again, two years ago...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nuA5wI1_9xw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Dan

I appreciate IBobi's response, but I agree with pretty much everyone else. It's pretty clear that IB just doesn't want to do the update because:
#1: this site brings practically no revenue,
#2: this site's activity is falling, and
#3: not only is it falling, but it's low enough already that there's just no need to even attempt to "revive" it.

Brent L

All of that may be, and likely is, true. That just confuses me even more why they wouldn't just add Tapatalk or some other option along the same lines. At least then it would make the site more accessible to people, and that could lead some people to jump back on board. It may be to the point where they don't care regardless though. People, and especially new members, follow the traffic and that is now at other sites at this point. The AVS forum also waited around on a mobile option and they are close to being in the same position that DVDTalk is now. They aren't there yet entirely, but a lot of people have moved on from there. It's just a darn shame, that's all.

I realize that there is more going on causing the drop in traffic, I'm not blaming it all on the lack of a mobile option. That certainly has hurt things though.

CRM114

I thought AVS Forum had a mobile option. I remember using something (ForumRunner?) to access the site.

Brent L

They do, but I'm fairly sure it was a somewhat recent (as in the last year) addition. I could very well be wrong, I rarely visit AVS. The only times I really went there was for their reviews and ranking threads. Since I started collecting, DVDTalk has been close to the only forum for this sort of thing that I've visited. Until the past few months or so that is.

I believe they settled on an in browser mobile site, sorta like how the gaming site NeoGAF has.

story

Seriously.

Tarantino

I was just thinking about this yesterday. It's tedious and annoying trying to use this board from my phone. I saw a post going back to 2010 where someone from IB said they had been in alpha stage on a mobile app for the iPhone. That was now 3, 4 years ago...what happened? That kind of app isn't hard to create.

I've also noticed a sharp drop in usage. Gone are the days when you could make a post and by the next day (or sometimes that same day), it was off of the front page. Hell, in our DVD Talk forum, there are still threads over 20 days old on the front page...on HD Talk, a week.

By my guess, the two most active boards on this forum are the Movie Talk forum and the Other Forum. Now, in Movie Talk, it's dwindling...lots of other forums, namely the one that was already mentioned above, have much more activity...so the activity we have here is mostly older vets, some of which have started posting at other forums as well. If you're new, you want to go to where the traffic is...heck, that's how a lot of us found this site in the early 2000's. And Other is ALL older vets (it's not very "noob friendly", just by nature). I haven't seen a newer person survive there for quite a while. IB isn't keeping our most used forum alive, it's us. I'd say the average join date for people who post in the Other forum is over 6 years ago.

Basically, IB, you need to change something if you want to keep people here, and more importantly, get new people in. Shit like contextual advertising and failure to keep up with technological advances in a world gone mobile (some of which YOU OWN) is not going to drive traffic here, it's going to divert it. I understand the need to make money, but if no one is here to use the site, the money can't come in.

Brent L

Well put Tarantino. It is all true, every bit of it. If I didn't know better I'd say that they were actually trying to kill this property off for some reason. That is certainly how they have treated it since they took over.

More than anything, I hate seeing the DVDTalk family splinter off like this after so many years. Most of us regulars have been chatting together for ten years or more. It's a darn shame, but IB has no one to blame but themselves.

ibobi

Hi all,

At the risk of going off topic here (though this thread has party done so anyway)...

I'll get an answer, if not an implementation, on mobile this week if I can.

As to general forum usage, yes the number of posts has fallen since the heyday of a few years back; but actually it's holding pretty steady over the last year or two. Advertisers still like DVDTalk, and we get a lot of people coming here from Google searches because the site is well written, full of great info, and highly trusted (so it shows up high in the google results). This is all good.

What's not great is the slow decline in new members and posting since, say, 2010. To that end, I have created this thread to discuss ways we can improve membership and member happiness.

Paul

Brent L

All of that is because of what the former owners set up and put into motion and then because us, as members, kept it active by posting here on the forums. None of that is because of anything IB has done. The forum usage has declined in a big way, and it's getting worse with each passing day as more and more issues are refused to be taken care of. Advertisers still like the site, and traffic to the main site still takes place because of the reviews and the history that is behind the site as a whole. Trust me, if something isn't done quick, the decline of usage of the forum will soon transfer to the actual overall traffic of DVDTalk as a whole. Again, I do not want to see that happen.

Almost no one is going to see the thread you have posted here in the Feedback section. If you want more normal members here to see it, it would be to your advantage to move it to the Other forum, and possibly even make it a sticky thread.

I have nothing against you personally Paul, I really don't. I thank you for at least responding to our recent messages and keeping the topic alive and even for starting the other thread. It does not, however, take a genius to realize that there are major issues at play here, and if they are not dealt with in a timely fashion it will all fall apart once and for all.

ibobi

I hope you'll post the issues you're referring to in that thread. At this time I will not plan to post the thread in the general forum, as there seems to be plenty of action right here, for now; hopefully that means plenty of paths toward a resolution of these grievances too?

When there are technical issues, whenever possible, they are resolved in a timely fashion. If I have missed reporting anything, please let me know -- it's part of what I'm here for.

I'd really like to move more toward specific, constructive suggestions and resolutions, if we can.

Paul

ibobi

FORUM RUNNER mobile solution

I have just been notified that DVD Talk will be added to the list of sites that are supported by the Forum Runner mobile app.

The app is $1.99 on both iOS and Android, supports many other forum sites, and is very similar to the Tapatalk app.

I'll update this thread as soon as I know when this will be enabled.

story

WOW!

I am all for it.

Brent L

I am all for that as well, I already have it on my phone anyway.

If that actually happens, I thank you.

auto

Thanks Paul!

Groucho

Works for me.

Larry C.

Great news!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Paul.

CRM114

Wow, it took 4 years to find Forum Runner?

ibobi

It is done:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/forum-feedb...l#post11639293

Dan

Thanks IBobi! I'm using the app now. It's not bad...

ibobi

Me too!

Brent L

Thank you, and it only took six years and us bumping this old thread. I'm posting from it now, sick in bed. This is great start for the changes. Now was this so hard?