Certainly, blog platforms have become a lot more advanced in recent years, and wordpress remains to pretty much be the dominant platform for people who don't really know what to use off the top of their heads. Undoubtedly, it's pretty easy to create a blog, but there is, as always, increasing competition, and content needs to be on point in order to gain a following. In addition, search engine optimization has gotten much harder recently as google continues to refine their system. I think it's safe to say that it has increasing challenges.

At the same time, with blogs being easier to create and maintain, the modern age of the internet has brought some advantages to bloggers as well. The internet provides more outlets than ever before to get the content out, despite the competition, and that's a trend I think we can expect to continue. In your opinion, are blogs easier or harder to maintain now than they were five years ago? What does it take to maintain one today?

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-ne...o/30433533

Wow...

MyBB 1.8 beta 2 was released early this month, and from what I can tell, they will likely be releasing their final beta soon. I'm a bit hesitant to start migrating anything over yet because I'm still not sure if they will be modifying any of the templates, but once beta 3 is released, I definitely plan on beginning the port of our current theme. My goal is to be converted within about a month or so of MyBB 1.8's release, and I'm quite excited about it.







I actually don't like the new front end theme at all. I think it's a bit ugly and hope that somebody ports the current 1.6.x theme over for those who prefer it. However, the admin CP looks amazing on the new theme. They've made a lot of long awaited fixes and edits as well. Some things I've noticed so far include:

• you can't rate your own threads anymore.
  
• The buddy system is much improved
  
• Profile fields management is significantly improved
  
• They've added a contact us page and a theme switcher. That's two plugins admins no longer need to install. ;D
  
• They've significantly improved their editor pages so that the editor width is actually proper. That's a much needed improvement.
  
• Some statistics and forum team improvements
  
• Numerous PM system improvements
  
• Usergroup invites (this will be a feature to play with)
  
• Soft delete (recover deleted posts)
  
• Tons of new settings
  
• New anti spambot features, including security questions. (Yet another plugin we no longer need to install)
  
• Gravatar support
  

This thread is simple. If you're leaving the community or returning after an absence, let us know here!

Notice: This thread is for welcoming members back to the community and for saying goodbye to members who will be away. With that said, this isn't a place for forum related drama. Needless to say, drama filled posts will be removed from this thread on first sight.

Personally, I don't mind them. I know that's not exactly the norm, but they are easier on my eyes and look more modern to me. A website's design doesn't mean nearly as much to me as its content, however.

What are your general thoughts on websites with dark designs? Would you consider not participating in or visiting a website because of a dark design?

Yes, we know. Makestation isn't exactly the world's greatest blog platform. If, however, you'd like to create a thread that is truly yours, this is the place! Feel free to utilize this board however you'd like.

-Darth

Surprisingly enough, spambots, both the banned and the unbanned, comprised over 130 members of the Makestation community, and more than half of our registrations. I went ahead and deleted all of them... I'm sure there are a few that remain that weren't deleted due to the lack of proof for their spambot-ness, but the new registration stats do seem to reflect our true member count a little better.

Those spambots get annoying after long enough...

I've seen several other general discussion forums that have had protected mature discussion sections available. Of course, these boards must be joined manually and have age requirements, so the discussions aren't public. I've considered adding one here for a while to allow members to have mature discussions outside of the public eye, but I suppose the best way to find out if there is demand for it is through none other than a community poll.

The section obviously wouldn't be for inappropriate or graphic content, but more for discussions on adult related topics. My involvement would probably be fairly limited. What are your thoughts? Is this something that should be added to the forum?

Be sure to vote in the poll!

The Makestation Constitution:

Welcome to Makestation! We are a community aimed at making it possible for users to share any creative projects they have worked on, being in a community full of like minded souls! In order to keep all discussion civil, constructive, and free of uncontrolled chaos, we have a few guidelines that we have set. We ask all users to read these rules, as we will enforce them to improve the overall community.

Basic, site-wide guidelines

• All content must abide by a PG-13 rating. Any content that is racist, sexist, hateful, pornographic, illegal, slanderous, or insulting in any way is prohibited, and will be removed on first sight. This includes posting of pornography or links to such websites, attacking others for their political views, hate speech, etc. 
  
• Some responsible use of mild language is allowed. Please refrain from excessive profanity in the interest of the PG-13 rating requirement on the forums. For mature discussions, see the "Downstairs" group.
  
• Posting illegal content, game cracks, etc. is strongly prohibited on our forums. This type of content is not encouraged here.
  
• You are allowed one account on the forums per person, unless expressively given permission by an administrator. Clone accounts will be subject to removal.
  
• Public forum drama and/or disrespect/harassment towards members is prohibited.
  
• You must be 13 years of age or over to register and participate on Makestation. Our moderators and admins are required to enforce this for legal reasons, according to the COPPA act in US law. We cannot make any exceptions to this rule, even if you do not live in the United States.
  

• Double posting (posting multiple posts in a row without allowing other users to reply in between) is generally prohibited. However, if you are updating a thread or project that is your own, or if the posts are more than 24 hours apart, it is generally considered acceptable to double post with a good reason.
  
• Posting low quality posts and/or spam is prohibited. Actual examples of low quality content (that have been posted before) include:
  • Plez help me sir master find the exit to forum
    
  • Come pleese join my forum!!!
    
  • u dont use xenforo u r bad admin !
    
  • Hmm no respond.
    
• Other examples of low quality content include:
  • Posting consistently with one or two word posts on the forums, or consistently posting in ALL CAPS (may be viewed as yelling on the forums)
    
  • Posting advertisements that are low quality, links for the purpose of monetized affiliation, or otherwise posting content that is spambot-like.
    
  • Posting consistently for no other intent than to advertise. (Advertisements are generally allowed, and we love to help support other communities. However, ordinary content guidelines are still enforced. See below for more information on advertisements on our forums. )
    
• Plagiarism is not allowed on our forums. If plagiarism is discovered, the post will be removed and the poster may be subject to a ban on the forums.
  

• Posting a thread in the advertisement section.
  
• Creating a small signature link or using a small promotional banner. Promotional banners are not allowed to extend beyond the width of 768 pixels or the height of 80 pixels. This is to prevent signatures from breaking the page or looking overly bulky on the forums. Overall, you may utilize your signature for advertising however you'd like, so long as your signature size is kept within reason. Multiple full sized banners, for example, is prohibited.
  

• Don't use your avatar as an advertisement.
  
• You may advertise websites that aren't your own. However, don't claim another website as your own. This should be fairly self explanatory.
  
• Do not excessively bump advertisement threads on the forums. Generally, once a week is considered acceptable if useful/interesting information is presented with each bump. Bumping daily with basic statistics is considered spam.
  
• You must have a minimum of 30 posts on the forums before you are permitted to create a new thread in the Other Communities section.
  
• Do not use Makestation to drop links for SEO or for internet marketing related websites, or for any website that may be interpreted as delivering malicious content or to be part of a scam. Such content is almost always considered as spam and/or low quality content, and is not tolerated here. All website links must also generally be PG-13 (linking to pornographic websites, for example, is prohibited).
  
  

• Getting along well with members of the forum involves participating in discussions in a civil manner. This is a rule we enforce very strictly, as we do not tolerate drama and disrespectful behavior that might make others feel uncomfortable on our forums. Flaming, trolling, or otherwise demeaning any member here is strictly prohibited.
  
• Duplicate threads are allowed. Unlike some other forums, we are not strict about this. However, do search for discussions that are active before you create a topic to ensure that active duplicates aren't created on the forums. We may merge threads at our discretion.
  
• Philosophical, religious, and political debates are openly welcomed in the Philosophy & Debates and Current Events boards. In order to protect open and free discussion, we ask that all users be respectful of others opinions, even if they disagree. Remember that we are a worldwide community, and have members across a variety of backgrounds with a diverse set of political and/or religious views. Personal attacks are strictly prohibited, and threads that become uncivil will be locked and/or removed at first sight.
  
• Be constructive! We do not require that all feedback be strictly positive, but nonconstructive and demeaning behavior could offend members of our community, and is prohibited.
  
• Don't feed trolls. Trolls are users who intentionally rile up drama or try to upset others on the community, and they thrive off of provoking other users to engage non-constructively with them. Report these posts instead, the moderation team will take care of them promptly.
  
• We've tried to make these rules and guidelines relatively inclusive and informative. That said, finding loopholes and causing trouble won't be encouraged. If you are causing trouble and/or drama in the community, you will be considered to be breaking the forum rules by the staff.
  

• Staff positions are not granted upon request. Such requests will be denied. If you are interested in becoming a staff member, active contributions on the forums, strict abidance to the rules, and a generally good attitude may make you look desirable when the administration is "hiring."
  
• All staff members here are volunteers, working hard to improve the community. With that said, failure to respect a staff member's decision will result in a ban or a warning from an administrator.
  
• Any decision made by a moderator or administrator in my absense is to be considered binding, as if it were made by myself. We, as a staff, operate as one team, and we do not make decisions without operating collectively on them. If a staff member takes administrative or moderator action, do not private message me asking for an override. I will deny it.
  

So, lately I've been browsing a few forums, and have been a bit annoyed by the amount of low quality content that is posted. I understand that of course every forum has members who post low quality content, but when every discussion turns into a "list X" topic full of three word responses and nobody bothers to even read the OP before replying, it defeats the point of having a discussion forum to begin with. I'm also equally annoyed participating on forums where the administrators care about nothing other than their own statistics or the software that they run. Some niches tend to be worse than others, but no real niche is immune these days.

Anyway, I just find it sad that so new forums around are trying so hard to survive that they focus on nothing other than the stats. Forums are a great thing when the discussions stay unique and interesting.

What are your thoughts? Have you found yourself participating on good forums in the past that have had growing issues with low quality content?