Add on hack question

I'm biting the bullet and doing the 3.7 upgrade on my forum next week

One hack I have seen and like the look of is the LED display one
LCD-Display vB 3.7 - vBulletin.org Forum

My question about using this, will it add a lot of unwanted garbage into the header for google to pick up

It looks like a good space saving way of letting people know about other bits on the forum

It uses an iframe to display on your page, i'm not sure if spiders can crawl them or not. But if it does, then i'd imagine it adds a ton of trash to your content.

It actually looks pretty cool for the right kind of forum. If you think it could help registrations, I would try it at least to measure its impact. You should examine your code to see what actually gets added, to see how bulky it is.

Already adding it as we speak. I'm still working through the skin changes after upgrading to rc1.

Set it so it runs on the header and shows in all forums, blogs, classifieds etc etc

Its a lot smaller than the welcome headers, looks quite tidy IMO

Give it a go and see how it works.

Once the upgrade is complete, I can see if it brings more people in.
I might set it, so it only shows to non members, as a way of advertising what features the forum has, rather than people seeing a post and leaving with out exploring

Link to my forum is in my sig, if you want to have a look

You should try to pick colors that will make the message more readable.

FYI - You might want to update your default welcome message to include some custom text.

I would love to see your site with a custom designed header/logo.

i'd highly recommend not using this.

while it may be 'neat', there's several downfalls to it.

1) it's VERY heavy. 135kb for the html, 23kb for the JS, PLUS it re-loads all the css, js, and other normal vb includes (which may be cached) but still adds overhead.
2) it's not coded to standards. <font id=... > font is deprecated in xhtml
3) with js off, you have an empty blank box with nothing in it. looks weird. Note: spiders don't have js 'on'.
4) it will distract people away from your ads. flashy things or, click on an ad... it's reverse marketing.

just my opinion.

I can see this being another "should have listened to Brian" mistake that will come back and bite my arse

Last one was about upgrading to 3.7

I have also added another hack to try and increase registrations to keep the intelligent and dumb balance in place
Redirect guests to register page from no permission page. Increase Registrations - vBulletin.org Forum

Just need to redo the welcome headers and it should all be back up and fully functioning again

Nows the testing part, to see if the LCD display does bring new members flooding in or my absence drop through the floor

We need an "Ask Brian First..." sub-forum here.

Be like one of the roman games arenas. Life or death by a thumb up or down

Brian says or

Only time will tell at present. If the search engines don't see whats in the box and it alerts people to the features, it can only bee good

I'm tempted to make it so only non members can see it as well. Do the mass email, trying to get those that have registered back, then in a week or so, do it.

Originally Posted by Lee G

Redirect guests to register page from no permission page. Increase Registrations - vBulletin.org Forum

this guy makes a good point
vBulletin.org Forum - View Single Post - Redirect guests to register page from no permission page. Increase Registrations

Quick change of thought. Moved the LCD panel above the adds.
And made it guest only viewable

If I hear one "I told you so", I will redirect every spammer to your web sites Brian

Thanks for the tips and advice so far guys, its very much appreciated

Originally Posted by briansol

this guy makes a good point
vBulletin.org Forum - View Single Post - Redirect guests to register page from no permission page. Increase Registrations

For that matter, add the registration forum right underneath the permission problem to emphasize the benefit of registering clearly (i.e. avoid this message) and convert immediately without any further navigation.

Originally Posted by Lee G

If I hear one "I told you so", I will redirect every spammer to your web sites Brian

go for it.

I have anti-spam measures in place, an auto-moderate new members posts until they have 2 approved posts, and a moderating team that does nothing but browse the site all day

Can you expand on what you mean please Joe

Keep it simple please. Not being the most switched on at times this end.

i think he meant 'add a link to the login form on the registration page'


so instead of saying "register" it will say "register or login"