Have your members ever complained about the forum software you use?

[Heatman]

It's always good to seek the opinion of your members with how things are set up in your forum. Have you been in a situation where your forum members don't like your forum software as they complain about it?

What would you do it such situation? Would you be forced to change it or stay with it? Those who like it should leave as you won't change it?

 

[Shortie]

I can't say I have ever had members complain about the forum software we have used either now or in the past. Our members have always been quite happy with any of the software that we use.

If I ever were to end up in a situation where they were not happy, I would look at the majority and see how many preferred the current software and how many didn't and then make a decision from there.

 

[Reverie]

Back when I was on Zetaboards, yes, from time to time when I was advertising on other forum software people would complain about Zetaboards. Often time though people would see our beautiful themes/skins and people would then begin to understand why we enjoyed the software.

 

[Cory]

I don't think I've had members actively complain about the forum software I use but maybe question it. People have asked me why I use Jcink when I can use paid software that is highly more up-to-date and has much more to offer. Simply put, I like to help those that are less fortunate and I find the software easy to use and similar to what I've always used.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I have in the past. I used SMF and many wanted me to use XenForo or a different free software.

Ultimately, I'm all for members kind of choosing how the community should be but when it comes to initial setup, I really think using the software you want to use is best because you're going to do most of the work and you need to use something you enjoy. I use XenForo because I'm used to it and I like the features.

If the software is stopping members from joining, maybe those aren't the kind of members you want in the first place.

 

[Arantor]

In my experience the only people who complain about *the software* are forum admins.

The general user base don’t complain about *the software* when they would normally complain, if relevant, about things that bug them, which are either a dislike of the theme, or inconveniences of missing features, whether the software has options for that or not.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I never had my members complain about the software I've used. At the end of the day, most members probably don't really care about which software the forum uses. I personally am not a fan of the modern forum software, but I'm not going to complain to the admin of whatever community uses it. At the end of the day, the owner picked the software since it fit their needs.

 

[Tracy]

In a nutshell... decide on a script that provides the features that you foresee your community needing. If it's something that doesn't currently exist in it... it may not without your paying for development. This can happen on paid scripts as well.. but generally the "paid" features are more major.
Even in the "free" scripts like SMF.. there are several PAID add-ons to extend it. Personally.. if I'm going to start forking over monies for add-ons... I'm going to want it on a script that is somewhat current in capability and stable (and yes, I know the XF environ is currently questionable listening to all the talk) instead of something that looks (in it's base form) like it's still stuck in the early 2010's.