Default theme - nothing is changed

[Altair]

Apologies if this is in the wrong section or this already has been posted.
What are your thoughts on forum owners who use the default theme on the forum software they use and do nothing to add to the theme?

 

[Aaron]

I hate it. The least they can do is get a logo.

 

[Cedric]

I’ve seen successful forums using the default themes. It’s all about content to thrive a community. Although with the possibilities nowadays I find people using a default theme a sign of laziness and not willing to pour in enough work. I would never join a forum with a default theme. But still, it’s worth saying that it doesn’t matter if your content is top quality.

 

[Arantor]

1. Plenty of sites out there use the default theme in the platform. For them it's all about the content, and as long as they can put their name and/or logo in (which, admittedly, for some platforms this is unnecessarily challenging for less technical users) they don't see a problem with that.

2. Are we arguing that using the features in platforms like XF to change colours is 'not' the default theme?

3. In more than 20 years of posting on forums, the only people who complain about the default theme are a) forum admins looking down on others and b) the subset of the RP community that is vain and would rather have a nice looking site than any actual content. I've literally never seen anyone else complain - unless the complaint is 'it is old fashioned' which is usually a platform choice, especially in the more recent day and age where a platform that doesn't ship a responsive theme by default has problems. Think people using vB 3.8 on the default theme.

 

[Cory]

It's a bonus to have a theme unique to your board for that sense of presence and branding, but it's definitely not necessary. I think one of the most active boards on the Jcink software uses the default theme. Content is generally more important than what design you use, but of course, if your design is just plain terrible it could drive away many people.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I'm not really a fan of forums using the default theme, if it's left unchanged. Meaning there's no new logo to represent their site, or new forum icons such as the "No new posts" and "New posts" icons on the index page. I've seen a few active forums still using the default theme.

 

[Moonface]

I've seen some boards that are highly successful and only using the default theme, and usually those boards have not only a very huge community but their topic tends to be one that is incredibly rare to find too.

 

[Altair]

I've seen some boards that are highly successful and only using the default theme, and usually those boards have not only a very huge community but their topic tends to be one that is incredibly rare to find too.

I find that sites that are successful with default themes have already had an established blog or site first. Then they decide to add a forum later on.