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The Melting Pot; Or, Why Sub-Forums Are So Passé

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Mike W.

Most forums default to the classic “forum, sub-forum paradigm” whereby threads are divvied up by topics such as “News & Announcements”, “Tech Support”, “The Sports Zone”, “Off Topic Discussion”, etc. We believe this approach is flawed.

We’ve found that what determines a thread’s relevance is not it’s category but it’s title and content. That’s why Ninja Post forum software defaults to a “melting pot” approach whereby ALL threads are ranked based on a combination of their popularity (How many replies does the thread have?) and their decay (How old is the thread?). The more popular and more recent a thread is, the more likely it is to stay at the top of the board.

It’s not unusual for users to feel paralyzed when processing an array of sub-forums. Let’s say a user comes to your forum for the first time. Rather than going straight to a list of recent threads, he or she is presented with a list of sub-forums. Where should he or she begin if he or she wants to post a new thread? Should the thread go in the most popular sub-forum that everyone reads or should it go in another sub-forum that is less popular but more appropriate? This feeling of indecisiveness is one that Ninja Post prevents.

In another example, let’s say you run a forum dedicated to sports. You probably have really popular sub-forums dedicated to Football, Basketball, and Baseball, and less popular sub-forums dedicated to other sports like Golf, Bowling, and Ping Pong. Well, if a really sensational Bowling story came about it deserves attention and it should not be pigeonholed in a sub-forum that no one visits.

Ninja Post’s approach to sub-forums is similar to Google’s decision to avoid using folders in Gmail. Like Gmail, we too allow users to tag threads, which makes it possible to filter threads based on a given topic, should the need arise.

We believe that our ultra simple “relevance algorithm” which ranks threads based on popularity and decay, coupled with tags and a fast and effective search functionality is a better way to organize the community’s discussion in lieu of sub-forums. This approach fits snugly with our desire to simplify and improve the user experience.

The Melting Pot

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The Cocktail Party From Hell

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Mike W.

Imagine attending a cocktail party where the host only permits guests to talk about subjects that he or she deems worthy. No other topics are allowed. Sounds pretty lame, right? Well, reading a popular blog is like attending a party where the host controls the topics of conversation since readers can only comment on stories created by the site owner.

Ninja Post forum software alleviates this problem by allowing users to interact with one another more directly. Ninja Post gives users a place to hang out and the freedom to talk about any topic. Most importantly, Ninja Post makes it easy for users to share knowledge with one another and forge meaningful connections.

Serving as a platform to connect like-minded individuals with one another is one of the driving forces behind Ninja Post. After all, the best parties are the ones where you’re free to meet and interact with everyone in attendance.

"Cocktail Party" by Charlie White (2000)

Image credit: Cocktail Party by Charlie White (2000)

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Ninja Post Forum Software: The Best Of Both Worlds

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Mike W.

Ninja Post forum software combines the best of both worlds: the speed and simplicity of a chat room and the structure and stability of a forum.

Chat rooms are poorly organized and their content tends to be fleeting: if you’re not there in the moment, the conversation disappears. Meanwhile, traditional forums tend to dilute their conversations across too many sub forums.

Ninja Post provides just the right amount of organization so that users can quickly get up to speed on the latest topics of conversation.

Here is a handy Venn Diagram:

Venn Diagram for Ninja Post forum software

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Vertical Navigation Bar Anchors Ninja Post’s User Interface

Posted on June 3, 2010 by Mike W.

One thing that makes Ninja Post unique compared to other forum software is its vertical navigation bar. This design convention is widely used in other web applications. Gmail is a prominent example. However, no other forum software has adopted this motif.

A vertical navigation bar makes the site’s “control buttons” consistent across all pages which in turn makes it easier to move around the site. For example, after opening a thread, the user should be able to return home without searching high and low for the right button.

Applying the vertical navigation concept to forum software one of the user interface design breakthroughs that we’re most proud of. Interestingly, incorporating a vertical navigation bar into the design complements the use of narrow columns — one of our other most significant breakthroughs in terms of forum design.

Ninja Post vertical navigation (1)

Ninja Post vertical navigation (2)

Gmail vertical navigation

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Raving Lunatics And Legitimate Gripes

Posted on May 19, 2010 by Mike W.

One question website operators often ask is: what if I add a Ninja Post forum to my site and a rogue operator comes along and begins to speak ill about my enterprise?

Chances are that your forum will primarily host conversations about your product and other topics of general interest to your community. However, during the course of these conversations it’s possible that someone could speak ill about your product. (Gasp!) There are two potential scenarios: there’s the raving lunatic scenario where a crazy person comes to your site and starts acting a fool. Then there’s the more common scenario when someone expresses a legitimate gripe.

Ninja Post’s moderation tools are designed to deal with the extreme case, the raving lunatic scenario. When someone engages in libel, their posts can be removed, their account can be banned, and their IP address can be turned over to authorities.

In a more common case, the legitimate gripe scenario, a customer might come to your Ninja Post forum with a complaint. Perhaps it’s an unfounded or unwarranted complaint in your eyes. But to them it seems like a legitimate complaint and they’ve come to you seeking resolution.

Although some website owners shudder at the thought of someone airing “dirty laundry” on their own site, here’s the rub: people are going to talk about your product or service anyway so why not hold the conversation on your turf? At least your privy to the conversation and have the opportunity to set the record straight.

Chances are, if someone comes to you with a complaint, he or she wants to be “won back.” When your customers explain why they’re upset, and you acknowledge their point of view, everyone can benefit. Mediating complaints in a public forum is not for every problem. However, it is useful for many problems, especially more trivial ones. And when a site owner can employ his or her happy customers to act as his proxy in such matters it is a powerful testament to his or her business.

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Optimize Customer Acquisition Costs

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Mike W.

Organic search results, AdWords, and outreach via Twitter and Facebook are three of the most common ways to drive traffic to your site. But no matter how you attract visitors, the process is either time consuming or expensive or both.

Worse, once users make it to your site, they often vanish without a trace. Ninja Post message board software mitigates this scenario by making your website more engaging, more like a Borders or Barnes & Noble. It’s not hard to conceive of a message board that:

  • Anchors your social media strategy;
  • Allows you to optimize customer acquisition costs;
  • Keeps users coming back to your site; and
  • Helps you develop stronger customer relationships

That’s exactly what Ninja Post is designed to do.

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The Secret To Ninja Post’s Super Fast Forum Software

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Mike W.

People often ask us how we keep Ninja Post forums running so fast. The answer of course is our state-of-the-art cloud computing technology, pictured below. It’s the steering wheel that makes Ninja Post forums load so quickly.

Ninja Post Cloud Computing Technology

(Actually, this photo was part of a Fark.com Photoshop contest. More background at Snopes.com.)

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Make Your Website A “Destination” – How Ninja Post Can Help

Posted on April 17, 2010 by Mike W.

Once upon a time, bookstores were functional but dull: customers stayed only as long as it took to make a purchase. In the 1990s, bookstores became more social. They offered an upscale atmosphere with armchairs and Starbucks coffee. They became “destinations” and encouraged customers to stay, browse, and chat.

Ninja Post does the same thing for your website (minus the coffee shop). It provides a forum to interact with your users and lets them interact with one another. Customer feedback enhances product development. Visitors become fans. All this translates into increased page views, more time spent on your site, more revenue, and happier customers.

Ninja Post complements social networks like Facebook and Twitter to unify your social media strategy. Threads update in real time like a chat, and the design is elegant and easy to brand. Ninja Post is hosted in the cloud so setup is painless. We’ll integrate it with your URL but do the heavy lifting on the back end to keep your forum running fast.

bookstores

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Jeff Bezos And The “Regret Minimization Framework”

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Mike W.

The quote from this Jeff Bezos interview (see video below) is applicable to anyone but it’s especially applicable to entrepreneurs. In particular, this line stands out: “I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried.”

Ninja Post is especially keen to partner with other entrepreneurs who share this sentiment. If your company can benefit from Ninja Post, let us know.

The full quote and YouTube video follow:

I wanted to project myself forward to age 80 and say, “Okay, now I’m looking back on my life. I want to have minimized the number of regrets I have.”

I knew that when I was 80 I was not going to regret having tried this. I was not going to regret trying to participate in this thing called the internet that I thought was going to be a really big deal. I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried.

I knew that that would haunt me every day, and so, when I thought about it that way it was an incredibly easy decision. If you can project yourself out to age 80 and sort of think, “What will I think at that time?” it gets you away from some of the daily pieces of confusion.

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Ninja Post: The Usain Bolt Of Forum Software

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Mike W.

We are fanatical about speed. Why? Software that is fast and responsive—especially on the web—makes for a better user experience. When pages load quickly, users are more likely to stick around and participate. This is one of the ways that we combat participation inequality.

Forum software can be a resource hog. If you’re hosting your own forum, it can slow down (or sometimes crash) the rest of your site. Since Ninja Post is a cloud-based service that integrates with your URL, it not only ensures that your forum keeps moving quickly but it frees up resources on your own server to ensure that other aspects of your site load rapidly too.

Instead of saying that Ninja Post is insanely fast, we say that it is Usain-ly fast.

Usain Bolt

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