DSF - Moving Forward - We want to hear from you!

[Drew]

VB as a forum software is old and clunky. Newer software is smoother and more user friendly. However, any change here is a steep learning curve.

I've never paid for membership as never needed to, although the latest addition may make me change this.
I perceive the discount codes etc as being a bit of a PITA. I read somewhere that you had to contact the supplier to get the discount, not a voucher code to put in on the website. They may not all be like this (or none at all), but I read it somewhere......

Do premium members have their own forum section to share and discuss openly and freely? If not, and the only major benefit is discounts with suppliers I don't use, then my £10 can be better spent elsewhere.

Reviews and opinions need to stay. The forum is good at self policing this. There was a thread recently by someone who's heat press hadn't turned up and they posted a 'whoa me' thread about it. Didn't take long for them to be put in their place. Haven't seen them about lately either.

My only quibble with some advertisers is how some jump onto threads with posts like 'we sell something very similar, its the XXX' that don't add anything to the conversation, and everyone just ignores them.

[Justin]

^pisquee - Just trying a tagging mod, only just installed but wondered if this will do what you have suggested.

[harlequeen]

I like the forum as it is and found it really useful from day one. That's why I pay for the premium membership, to give a little back. I wouldn't pay £10 per month as pisquee mentioned, as I rarely use the discounts offered by the suppliers. A 'new' section might be good, but when I was new I read everything on the forum (took me ages) just to immerse myself and try to understand as much as I could. I still had some questions, and the members came up trumps with answers.

Even though the software is old, it works well for me and I can usually find what I'm looking for so I would urge not too much change.

[Justin]

^Drew - Many thanks for your comments. On a day to day basis VB works fine for us and is easily maintained. Again it's a 'if it aint broke' situation I guess. it works well for us at the moment.

Some suppliers do need you to call them up and quote the code which I completely agree is a PITA. I know a couple are looking to solve this.

Yes, Premium Members have a section that remains hidden until membership is applied. We're always looking at bringing in new suppliers for discounts so feel free to PM me the name of your supplier and we can have the conversation. Personally I feel £10 is nothing for the support that members get on here. Most questions are answered and solved very quickly. We don't insist on this being paid, the idea is that members are showing their support and in return we do our best to get them the tenner back as quickly as possible in discounts.

We do allow advertisers to respond to threads but monitor this closely as I agree it can become annoying.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Justin - as for the logo then I suggest a height of 70px (either resize or just alter html) which helps bring the content of the page up.

[pisquee]

Tagging worked - I got a notification on email, and the site

[Justin]

I thought you might be able to # within the comments section, not got this working yet, I used the tag section at the top.

[pw66]

Why not add a news page, were advertisers can announce any new products without needing to post on the forum, and any industry news can be displayed. Charge advertisers a few pounds for each post, so that they don't over do it, and post the news/interest stories for free. The UK sign forum has something similar on its landing page. https://www.uksignboards.com/

[jennywren]

Why not add a news page, were advertisers can announce any new products without needing to post on the forum, and any industry news can be displayed. Charge advertisers a few pounds for each post, so that they don't over do it, and post the news/interest stories for free. The UK sign forum has something similar on its landing page. https://www.uksignboards.com/

Thats a good idea.

[Justin]

Al suppliers have their own section to do this in the Supplier Forum.