583 unread topics found since your last visit.

Apologies for another rant. I go to a lot of forums, and I try to keep updated with everything that's going on in certain communities or on different forums. The forums use a variety of common forum packages: phpBB, Invision (IPB) and SMF. All of these forums are simple, they allow you to leave a message in a forum (as a new thread) or in a thread (as a comment). They usually have some sort of PM system, and maybe it has an addon system for things like reporting users. However, none of them are built with the user in mind.

Let's take a moment to think about what a user really wants from a forum. The user will want to contribute quickly and easily in some way, by posting a comment or a new thread, but that pretty much works in forums right now. However, not all users have the time to go actively through the forum and find all the threads relevant to their interest. In fact, only a very small percentage of the forum users have the time to do this, and on large forums; absolutely no one has the time to do this. You feel like someone drowning in a sea of opinions, and you're just confused on what to read. At least, that's how I feel and I imagine the average users will feel like too.

Currently, the only forum features that enable you to keep up with forum activities is an "Unread posts" page. The only thing it does for you is notify any new topics so you don't have to go through each subforum and read everything all over again, often to find that the added content to a thread is worthless. I just want a list of recommended readings, based on my personal preferences. A list of the greatest topics and posts that I am sure to like. I don't even want to enter my preferences, it should just start out by showing me what everyone likes and from there it should figure out my preferences based on what topics I read and how long I am reading them.

For forums I really don't have time to visit, I want an automated newsletter in my mailbox describing some of the most interesting topics that week or that month. You can keep up to date with a forum even though you don't have to actively go there every day. This is an entire new push model. It will redefine the way we use forums.