Sneak preview - BoardOfInquiry.com

I'm puttering away at this during *spare* moments, and thought I should get some feedback about the categories I am setting up.

http://www.boardofinquiry.com/forums/

It's not open to registrations yet, and certainly nowhere near in final form. It may change completely by the time I feel it is ready for prime time.

The color scheme is not set in stone either. Ordinarily I don't like black backgrounds with white text, but something about the gold on black is growing on me the more I look at it.

Some things I would LIKE to see probably just aren't feasible right now, and maybe never will be. Heck, I would like to see a BOI on hospitals and doctors, but that would be strictly a local concern, and not very likely to work in a situation like what I am envisioning for this site. So I'm thinking I need to target businesses that tend to have a fair proportion of their operation being done nationally across the internet.

So anyway, how about some suggestions about anything I have overlooked? Anything that I have put in there that is probably not suitable?

One thing I am considering adding is something like a "consumer reports" section, although I probably shouldn't use that exact term. I'm sure it is probably a trademark.

PLEASE! If someone cannot accept the fact that I may not accept your recommendations, PLEASE do not participate in this request for input! I have gotten beaten up many times in the past when someone felt that their recommendations MUST be used by me, and got pissed when I did not.

And heck, I may just come to my senses and NOT do this at all!

Would the animal section be linked back to this BOI?

Looks like an iteresting idea, some of it I don't see needed for "me" but it may be a valuable area for others. Ill think on it a bit and see if there is something I think is missing but so far it looks pretty cool.

Originally Posted by Dennis Hultman

Would the animal section be linked back to this BOI?

Yes. I think those are already in place on the site.

Looks great. Haven't noticed any missing categories yet. I'm sure if something is missing, someone will want to put a post there, and thus let you know it's missing.

I like the colors. Very crispy/clean layout.

Very nice site, I too am not into the black background as it pulls the eyes around the screen. I had the same thought as Dennis about the animals, having two websites about animal dealers would make me confused(of course it is not hard to confuse me). Are you going to have paid membership? Are you doing reputation/karma points? I guess I am wondering if the set up will be like Fauna(classifieds, chats, forums, etc.) or if it is a strictly BOI and that is it.

Cool idea. Seems like you have all the bases covered. Like the Gold on Black coloring too.

I think this has GREAT potential.

I look forward to seeing it up and running. I know I would use it and would have no problem paying a membership fee for access.

Originally Posted by Junkyard

Very nice site, I too am not into the black background as it pulls the eyes around the screen. I had the same thought as Dennis about the animals, having two websites about animal dealers would make me confused(of course it is not hard to confuse me). Are you going to have paid membership? Are you doing reputation/karma points? I guess I am wondering if the set up will be like Fauna(classifieds, chats, forums, etc.) or if it is a strictly BOI and that is it.

Paid memberships, although I learned the lesson here where they are pretty much required, would probably kill the site off immediately. People just would not be willing to pay for something that has no observable track record, in my opinion. Although I wish it wouldn't be necessary, I expect that if the site does get any substantial traffic, the trolls will infest that site just as it did here and I will need to do something about it. I will only do what I think is necessary WHEN I think it is necessary to do.

The reputation system is active there, although I hesitated to do so. Although it does have some good points, it can be easily abused as a method for one member to ding another. I really would like to be able to cut that crap out, if at all possible.

At this point, I do not see the need for classifieds, photo gallery or the chat system. At this point I'm not bothering to set up anything concerning banner ads, either. I do wish I could implement the warning system, but there are technical considerations preventing me from doing that at the moment.

This is a brand new version of vBulletin I am using on that site, and as such, ALL of the hacks used on FaunaClassifieds have to be rewritten from scratch. So my choices are to either wait for someone to modify those hacks and then release them for public use, or have my programmer write them for me ($$$). With that in mind, and considering that BoardOfInquiry.com is going to have a negative income potential for quite a long time, I will be real conservative about what gets added there. I'll be honest though, I do find that I miss the spell check already......

Undecided about general discussion forums, as they may just bloat the site too much. But I am willing to consider options as they appear on the horizon, either as something I think is needed, or enough people ask for them. Perhaps just some general BS forums might be reasonable.

Thanks.

1) Advertise, advertise, advertise.
2) Open up the site on clickable bright colorful icons: automotive, services, etc. The opening page should be graphics not words to capture and hold that fraction-of-a-second interest you get on the first click.
3) As soon as possible, post testimonials, eg: "I saved MONEY by using this site"
4) The menu, graphics, testimonials and any other forums not of a substantive nature should always be viewable.
After the initial intro period when this catches on, perhaps one forum should be open as a sample; possible old posts of other forums as samples and teasers, but current substantive forums should be hidden until the registrant has purchased a membership to reduce corruption by trolling.