realitytvaddict.com

Discussion in 'Community Showcase' started by Realitytvaddict, Aug 12, 2012.

  1. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    Name: Reality TV Addict
    URL: www.realitytvaddict.com
    Description: Reality TV Addict is a site that contains forums for 340 currently airing reality tv shows in both the United States and the UK. I developed this site to serve a couple purposes. First, many tv networks are removing their message boards. Second, I believe that it would be more convenient to post on many different shows from one site rather than having to go to many different sites to post on all the different shows you watch. I have hard coded the site myself without using any type of software. I think my look is unique and I hope that users will think so as well.

    Please give me your thoughts on my forum and if you are a fan of reality tv shows join and make some posts.
     
    Brandon likes this.
  2. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    Does anyone have any feedback on the site?
     
  3. RobinHood

    RobinHood Regular Member

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    Nice idea in principle, but the pink is a bit garish doesn't help readability.

    It's not very easy to find a forum for a particular show either as they cover 25 pages with no quick just to a letter of the alphabet. Why not have an index of some sort that presents all the shows on one page?
     
  4. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    That is why there is a search at the top on the menu bar. Just type in the show you want to post about and it will come up if it is on the forum. Yeah it is actually a shade of purple but my thinking in that is that there are a greater percentage of people who watch reality tv shows that are women. I did change it to a lighter shade of purple though to make it easier to read.
     
  5. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    I have added a drop down menu so users can easily look for and jump to the forum of their favorite reality tv show.
     
  6. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    What forum software are you using? There's a ton of forums. Why did you start off with so many? Its usually best to expand after the forum has two-5 forums to begin it, and then branch more forums onto the community. It's pretty tough on a guest if they're new.
     
  7. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    I am not using forum software. I hard coded the entire site by hand. I am still adding additional functions. The reason there are so many forums is that there is a forum for every currently airing reality tv show. That is one aspect that makes my site unique over other reality tv sites. You dont have to go from site to site to talk about different reality tv shows. I want to make sure guests can find the show they are looking for. If they come there and their favorite reality tv show isnt on the site, they are less likely to register.
     
  8. Hotmess

    Hotmess Regular Member

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    Kudos to coding the whole thing from scratch. I agree that there are too many forums. From a user's end that come to browse it can be overwhelming. From management point of view, it'll be a nightmare to maintain when it gets active. I'll start off with the popular shows, or the ones that are active, and go from there

    The color of the theme is hard on the eyes. You may want to do something about that as well

    Good luck!
     
  9. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    Changing the number of forums isnt something I would ever change. That is the one thing that makes us different from the rest. If a potential member comes the the site and their favorite reality tv show isnt on the site they are not going to register. I have a couple moderators helping me to maintain it, so that is not an issue. I have switched to a lighter shade of purple and changed the quote box. I have also added a recent posts box. Within the next week I will be adding a signature box. I will let everyone know once I get that added so you can have another site to promote your forum on.
     
  10. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    Attention everyone!! You can now add your signature to the bottom of your posts on realitytvaddict.com! All it takes is 15 posts and you will have another avenue to promote your own forum or blog or website. What is easier to post about than reality tv? You know you watch it so post about it.
     
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  11. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    Now that's what I'm talking about. Nice addition.;)
     
  12. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    We have added addtional features at realitytvaddict.com! We now have forums on your favorite game show, your favorite talk show, a general reality tv show forum, a forum for introductions of new members, and an off topic discussion forum. We have also started a custom reputation system, start working your way to becoming Reality TV Royalty. Stop by and check them out when you get a chance.
     
    Dan Hutter likes this.
  13. GasMan320

    GasMan320 Regular Member

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    Why did you go through the trouble of hard coding your own forum software by hand? Were there any features that you required that you were unable to find in any other commercially available forum software? If not, I think you may be working hard rather than working smart. I hope you don't take any offense to this but by choosing to create your own forum software you automatically do the following:
    1. Require your users to learn a new UI. No matter how intuitive you make it, they will still have to learn something new. From looking at your site, it seems that the UI is harder to use than the popular scripts out there.
    2. Not value your own time properly. You have to figure out clearly what your objectives are for the site. Is it to write your own forum software, troubleshoot bugs, and constantly be adding to it whenever you need something or is it to build a successful community? Don't spend time doing things that won't directly benefit your community. Unless you're very experienced at coding and can make a professional looking product which costs you less money (remember time is money!) than one of the commercial scripts, get a commercial script! Or use one of the other free ones. But why are you coding it yourself?
    3. Restricting yourself from standing on the shoulders of giants! You don't have access to any third party plugins, support forums, or community experience that could help you steer your software in a direction that would benefit your community the most.
    4. Provide a much more diminished experience to your community. Why do the separate forums show me when the last post was made if I can't see who made that post nor can I click on a link to take me to that post? This is just an example but I am sure there are others also. When you're doing it all on your own, you have to really do ALL OF IT on your own, otherwise users will notice the decreased functionality and not want to participate.
    If I could recommend one change you make that would have the highest impact in helping your community it would be to ditch your custom code and buy a commercial script. You want to have a separate forum for every TV show, ok, that's fine. Although I would agree with others that having so many forums with low thread/post counts may give the appearance that your site is stagnant, if you are running a commercial software solution, you may be able to organize it better so that it does not prove to be too inconvenient to navigate.

    I'm personally very green myself when it comes to forums and I definitely do not have all of the answers (or even most of them) but I do want to give my completely honest opinion on what I think could help you the most. Anything less and I would just be wasting both of our time. And remember, time equals money! :P
     
  14. WEfail

    WEfail Regular Member

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    You should invest your time into:
    1- phpbb at the least. its free and works. stay upto date on the security side of it.
    2- find a color theme people enjoy.

    You will find your time better invested in populating the forum with content and networking with others.

    Of course, if the coding side of it is a project to you, for fun or just something that interests you and the rest is secondary, then ignore me and the others.

    Nice work on the forum coding, I couldn't do it.
     
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  15. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    Hi GasMan,

    The reason I am coding my own forum is so it looks different than the other forums using some sort of software. I don't want my forum to look the same as the others, that is the point. From the sounds of your post, I assume you did not register and even attempt to use the UI. If you did you would see that everything is very clearly explained. For example, if you want to reply to a message you click reply if you want to reply to that message and quote it you click reply & quote. I don't know how that could be confusing. Could you please be more specific as to what is confusing?

    I disagree that the forums are looking dead as there are over 50 posts added everyday. For a forum that is just starting out I think that is pretty good.

    You are right time equals money and because I coded my forum on my own if there is an issue it is easier for me to fix it rather than having to spend time looking up how to fix it. Depending on if the issue is with the individual pages or with the database it is easy for me to find and fix as I know exactly where everything was placed.

    I thank you for your review but I would also like a little more clarity on some of your points.
     
  16. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    I am considering many different color options, what color would you recommend? Almost every forum I see out there is blue, including this one, I do not feel that blue is the right choice for my forum. My forum's content is Reality TV. That being the case, a majority of my users will be female so a more gender neutral/ female specific color theme is appropriate.
     
  17. WEfail

    WEfail Regular Member

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    Yea, i have to wonder about the blue themes. Is blue the in color due to facebook?? I like the pastel colors myself, I think that would go over well with the ladies and even the men.
    Whats most important is that no matter the color it is easy on the eyes.
     
  18. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    Check out the new color theme. It looks different on different monitors but I think it works in terms of being easy on the eyes and as being gender neutral.
     
  19. WEfail

    WEfail Regular Member

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    I find the new changes WAY better already. Question, does the font have a shadow below it or is that just me?
     
  20. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    The headings do have a slight shadow but the text in the body does not.
     

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