[CM30]

It's an interesting concept, but what's stopping people from making this as a plugin for any other forum script? Because nothing in the page seems like it'd be hard to replicate for a good developer (read, someone who's likely coding add ons for existing platforms).

Seems like it'd be best just to wait for a version for my existing forum script. Or get someone to program one.

The use of markdown is questionable too. As mentioned, normal users find it somewhat awkward. Might work much better with a button/modal driven system to set up the quiz or Tic Tac Toe game...

To post or comment on Twincl site, just login with a verified Facebook account. Alternatively, you may register a new Twincl account, and subscribe to the membership with a minimal fee. (Our point is to make the account less disposable, which we believe is a key to pleasant community experiences.)

And you're gonna struggle here too.

Many people who use forums do not care for Facebook. They especially do not care for trying to tie every single account to an identity with their real name (and likely photo) attached to it.

This is especially true of less 'savoury' subjects, which are some of the subject areas that forums can work really well for. A forum on say, psychological issues or relationship problems is pretty much a non starter with this script. As is any forum in a legally grey area. Or heck, any forum where you just want a different username for whatever reason or don't want the staff/members to know every little thing about you.

Or any forum where themed usernames are a big part of the community. No one's going to pay $5 a year to call themselves say, Mario. Or Master Chief. Or Pikachu.

So it seems like the registration system basically makes it a non starter for any forum where people want some anonymity/privacy, any forum about a fictional universe or series (or where role playing is a thing) or any forum relating to anything remotely illicit or legally grey.

It has some interesting concepts, but the membership stuff is a problem and the UI stuff seems like it's both a tad complicated and easily copyable by your competitors.

[arthurtw]

Forum anonymity (or more precisely, disposable account) is the source of moderation pain and the reason of suboptimal forum content quality. It's one of the main issues I want to address from day 1. If FB account puts a lot of people off, I may consider adopting SMS verification sooner, or change the yearly subscription to a one-time small fee.

It seems Markdown editing is a red flag for broader adoption. I've thought about a dual approach before: allow casual users to edit with GUI, and provide the Markdown editing capability for pro users.

I do not have a fool-proof way to prevent plugin copying. If somehow it's widely copied, it's not a bad thing (to most people), too.

[CM30]

As someone who's run a ton of forums, I disagree it's the source of suboptimal forum content quality. If I had forced real names and identities, I would have lost a significant amount of users and activity. And not just trolls and spammers either.

A lot of people like to keep identities separate. Any system that tries to remove the anonymity site of things will end up stifling quite a few people who worry about their personal information being misused or who don't want everyone to know about their every activity online. That's not a bad thing, especially not in a world where intelligence agencies want to spy on everything you do, you could lose your job because of some comments on Facebook or Twitter and being swatted is sadly quite common.

Not everyone wants their friends and family to know they're an active member on say, Donald Trump Fan Forums. Or that they're posted leaked content from an upcoming game, like quite a few people on 4chan or Reddit. Or that they're interested in setting up a Tor node.

As for markdown, yeah, your solution there is exactly the solution. A GUI for new users, a raw editing text box for pro users. It's like how a lot of forum editors switch between BB code/raw text and a WYSIWYG editor.

Plugin copying is a good thing here (because the features mentioned could be good in other scripts), but I'm just warning you'll need quite a bit more if you want to differentiate themself enough from competitors in the market (of which there are thousands).