Stick With One Style

Written by: Paul Omer

Skin Chooser, a very common and popular feature for many forums. If you are a phpBB user, it will require a modification. For the vBulletin users, it comes standard. Many find this to be a great and valuable feature, but I have my complaints and concerns, so before you go and make 10 different styles for your forum, let's stop to consider some of the things that come along with it.

More options is better, right?
In most cases, yes, but in this case, it reflects more of your member's attitude. It may not be such a good idea to give your user's the option to actually change the look of your forum. Your forum should have that special look, that no one wants to change. If your users are going around changing the style all the time, then it may mean that none of them look all that nice. There are those obviously that just like to change things up a bit, maybe too much actually. Remember that you can't please everyone, but you should try and make that one killer style that everyone likes. I am also not saying that slight alterations to the look, or added appearances for special occasions is a bad thing. A lot of times people will put up a different set of smilies for some special occasion, which is all well and good, but way different than changing the entire color scheme or style of your forum. Sometimes giving your community every little thing they want can come back to bite you in the butt. This is one of them. It's your forum, keep it that way. If they don't like it for what it is, then you don't want that member any way.

Your community should want normality.
Users will come to see your community's look and color scheme as it's overall personality, and this connection is important. It will help people become more attached to it. A community who wants to be able to change styles all the time don't REALLY like the main point of the forum now do they? A community who is critical of any changes made is a good thing. It's a sign that they truly respect and care for how things are done. I have been a part of some forums that had a community that always wanted something changed. Usually, the members did not stay around very long. While other forums had members that were so critical, any little change made was practically reviewed by each member. May seem a bit over done, but these are the kinds of communities that hold together for years.

How multiple styles affect mod installation.
This is over looked sometimes, but a no brainer when you think about it. For most modifications, you would have to alter each individual style in order for them all to be up to date. This can multiply your work load to the point where you dread installing even a single mod, and it is definitely more important to have some nice mods, then the ability to simply change around the style.

If your community is going to stick around, they're going to have to be the kind of people to grow attached to your forum, and that includes the look. Kids who want to constantly change the style all the time, won't stick around even if you have 137 to choose from, so don't waste your time trying to please them in that regard. Unless of course this is a school related forum, or a forum that simply deals with kids often. Still, do your best to stick with one style. One great style, is better than endless mediocre ones.

Grammar: Why It Is Important

Written by: Paul Omer

Aw man! Do I have to!? I'm in a hurry, can't you see? Well yes, I can. We all can for that matter. We can all plainly see that you are in too big of a hurry to even slow down and type out your words correctly. Grammar is crucial in everything we do. It's too bad so many don't realize this. A lot depends on the age of the individual of course, the average teen who is used to texting all the time rarely uses proper English, but rather the "text" form, also considered "L33T", which derives from the word "elite" then changed to "leet". The "3"s take the place of the "E"s in a lot of cases. Regardless of what you call it, or where it comes from, it still looks terrible when made into a post. Let's take a look at a couple of examples.

Member 1
For some styles, it's better to use a small avatar. Usually 80x80 works well.

Member 2
usually its bettr 2 use smaller avatrs liek 80 80 on small stlys

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Member 1's post is much nicer to read. Not to mention more educated and sophisticated. Many will say something along the lines of, "Well I got the point across, every one knows what I said". Yes indeed they did. They also know that you don't care about making a quality post, or making it easier for the person reading it to understand. Do you know how long it has taken me sometimes to even comprehend a 5 word post? Trust me, a lot longer than necessary. In a way, it could easily be proven that the time "saved" when typing quickly and sloppily, is a lot of times lost as soon as it takes the reader 10 minutes to decipher it. Forget grammatical mistakes, I've seen some people leave out an entire word in a simple sentence pretty much every time they posted. I've had to fill in the blanks so many times it isn't funny, and even once I found what I thought was the correct word to fill in that spot, sometimes the sentence STILL did not make any sense.


Why would I point this out so much? Simple. Posts are what forums are made of. They are generally the entire means of conversation, aside from the occasional PM conversation. Every active member on the forum posts, and every post made by said member is a reflection of that person's personality. When you have a member that takes their time and puts thought into their post, it shows, and it never goes unnoticed, by either the other members, or the Staff. As an Admin of many previous forums, I can tell you with a certainty that the Staff greatly appreciates the member that takes their time and makes quality posts. A forum filled with "lololololo"s are NOT appealing in any way, and if your forum is full of them, it's time to make some changes. Such content (if it can truly be called content) is not going to help your forum succeed and prosper. I can tell you that if I came across a forum (as I have many times), that was nothing but useless "yeah"s and "lol"s, I would immediately surf my way to another site with all haste. It takes many things done well to better ensure a forum's success, grammar should not in any way be over looked. The Staff on a forum are the primary example setters. What they do and encourage will rub off on the other members. Your Staff members should always uphold the laws of English, if they don't, no one will.

This does not mean you punish all members who don't have the best of typing, and certainly not the ones who have the occasional typo. We all make mistakes, but posts like Member 2's should be called on if continued with no signs of improvement or any efforts of improvement. Don't be afraid to call on your members over such a subject. Your forum's reputation is at stake, and every time someone takes one look at your forum and turns and goes the other way, it's one less member that you could have had. Something else to take into consideration, is the occasional foreigner who does not understand English as well as others. Many of them use translators, and with translators there can be confusion. You shouldn't look down on such people, at least they try, and in the end, that's what you need to look for in your members. Grammar goes so much deeper than the obvious appearance, it many of times reflects the person's overall character, and their respect for the forum, and even themselves. People who do not care about what their grammar looks like will not be considered intelligent by the other members. Seriously. Why would you listen to what they have to say as soon as you see that they can't even spell correctly? You begin to question their overall intelligence. I'm not saying that anyone who doesn't type just perfectly all the time is an idiot, it's just not a good habit to become slack in, and don't be surprised if you are warned or called on all the time. It's understandable, and in some ways should be expected.

When done correctly, proper grammar is a win for all sides. The individual members, the Staff, and the forum's overall professional appearance. Don't let it fall by the wayside. Take the extra 2 minutes to type it out correctly. You'll look smarter, and even feel more accomplished. Can you imagine what it would have been like to read this article if I had typed it out like Member 2? Yeah, exactly. You have the entire English language laid out before you on your keypad. Use it, don't let it go to waste.