There has been some confusion on our policy about “forcing upgrades” or mods on our users. I want to reflect on the system we have built and why it’s important to keep doing it the way we do.
FreeForums.org’s mission “is to supply users with all the products and services they need to build and grow their communities online”. In the last two years we’ve built on this mission and become the largest free phpbb forum host on the Internet. We have done this by looking after two different types of customers: our forum owners, and our forum users. Forum owners actually own and manage the forum, while users participate. Everyone would agree that no forum can survive without both types of users and it would be foolish to look after one and not the other.
At times though, the best interests of the forum admins and users conflict. Then we must make a decision that we feel is best for the forum as a whole. For example, awhile back a number of admins wanted the option of running popup ads on their forum in exchange for some of the profit. FreeForums.org is strongly against popup ads and to protect our users, would not allow such an option for popups.
When judging our decision to “force” upgrades or mods across our network please remember to keep your users in mind and put feedback in perspective. We have access to huge amounts of usage and research data which we use before launching something new. We always launch new features with the admin and user experience as a top concern.
With features like the welcome box, user level ad-removal, and participation facilitating mods, we have made it easier for our admins to build a forum with us than any other system. And that’s exactly what any experienced administrator looks for in a provider.
Thanks for all your support as we work together to make FreeForums.org better for everyone around the world. The community of forum admins and users that we have created is the reason why FreeForums.org has been successful so far.
