Hi there.
I'm the creator of a new messageboard system similar to UBB or vBulletin, but with a few extras and I'm looking into creating relationships with various hosting companies.

First a bit about InfinityBoard itself. IB is a brand new, top quality messageboard script written in PHP and using SQL databases for blisteringly fast loading of pages compared to UBB.
IB also utilises a unique navigation system allowing much simpler, faster movement between boards and topics. You can check out other features at http://www.infinityboard.com

OK, so what do I mean by "relationships with various hosting companies"? Well, I'm looking to offer a couple of options or 'deals' to hosting companies.
The first offer is a form of reseller/referral program, whereby the hosting company either sells InfinityBoard licenses to its clients through their own web site or refers clients to the IB web site and then receives commission on any sales. This is just a basic reseller program really.

The second offer is what I think would appeal more to hosting companies. This deal would let hosting companies give full InfinityBoard licenses to their customers either for free or for very little extra charge. Hosts would be given a 'control panel', allowing them to instantly create licenses for their clients, ready for use.
For this, hosts would either pay a small fee per user per month signed up (only a couple of dollars) or you could contact me about a set monthly fee. This is a very useful feature to have on your hosting (I very rarely see hosts offering free UBB or vBuletin licences and I know they would encourage me to choose hosting) and cheap considering a full InfinityBoard license normally costs $200.

I'd like to hear your feedback on these two ideas and if you're interested in either, please contact me at webmaster@infinityboard.com. Neither options have been finalised yet, so I'm very interested in what you, the actual hosts, think of it.
Thanks,

Adam Perfect

Adam,

While I'm not a host, I'm always interested in new forum products. I'd like to point out a big problem however : your site.

The dark brown text going against the black background is virtually impossible to read on my monitor (in Netscape) - I would suggest that you change the brown to a lighter colour so that we can actually read the dang thing.

If you would like further feedback, please feel free to post in the Website Reviews forum and we'd be delighted to help.

Thanks for your time.

I agree with BC. The color scheme is very Gothic-chic, but may not be the best combination from a general marketing standpoint. Perhaps something contrasting the flavor of your sample forum site would best display its versatility and perhaps appear more inviting to a prospective user. Very promising-looking, however.


[Edited by alchiba on 09-18-2000 at 11:09 AM]

The messageboard looks very basic. Not that many features on it. Also you need to get rid of that brown and black and go with lighter colors. It looks more like a gaming site then it does a BB site. Also in the support forums you may want to fix the tables a bit. They look a little bit unorginized.

Hmm, not the right place for this really, but on-topic none-the-less. The colors are fine to me - easy to read etc, though the style comments may have some merit. As the resident mopey-goth type I find it pretty hard myself to keep away from black screens and wondefully detailed montages of pre-raphaelite imagery *lol*. It's pretty heavy on the eye however and sadly a lot of 'business' types always feel more comfortable with light, solid blocks of color. A wonderful example of a 'recovering goth' is at http://www.bajema.com A few years ago Beth threw out the rule book for fast downloads and simple colors, but thankfully her site is always worth the wait for sheer graphic style :) Not an bit of Flash to be seen either btw (in reference to my URL links lately).

The BBS site in question (getting back to the thread), looks fine color wise as I said, at least in a contrast sense.

I'm looking at it through:

Windows 98
Internet Explorer 5.5
Compaq 1500c laptop (2 meg video)
12.1 inch LCD, AND a 14 inch Philips 'cathode' calibrated through Adobe Photoshop 5.02

The BIG problem with using a black background isn't the designers fault usually (as we're pretty anal about out settings), but rather people who set their brightness low. As soon as you start to darken the screen, all that wonderful contrast begins to sink into oblivion. It's a tough nut to crack to get it right on different monitors.

Greg Moore
http://www.akashik.net

I had no problem with the colors too... but as akashik said... I have the luxury of using a color/luminance calibrated monitor.

But it would definitely be a better idea to switch to lighter colors as suggested above. Especially because your potential clients may not be as analytical as those here in this forum generally are :)

Now, why I really posted here was because I saw your page running halfway to the right all the way out of my screen. I have to scroll a mile away !!!!!!

For your info, I accessed your page with Netscape 4.72 at 800X600 in 16Million Cols, Win95, PC.

You may also want to redo the "Welcome to the home of infinityBoard" graphic at the very top. It appears a bit fuzzy, and when I dimmed my brightness... it began to look "dirty"... ie. an ugly uneven mixture of yellow ochre and reddish brown.

Learner

Hi again.

Thanks for the feedback on the site - I'm currently redesigning the whole thing to be more 'consumer-friendly'.

I take the lack of responses to my other question to mean no hosting companies are interested atm?
Ah well, any feedback is useful :)

Well no hosting company hasn't said anything as of yet. You may want to try Interserver.net. Im sure since they are your host you can strike a deal with them. Mike the owner of interserver is very flexable.

Yeah, I'm going to contact Mike soon - I just wanted to see if hosts would be interested before finalising any of the offers.
Thanks for the reply :)

Originally posted by alchiba
very Gothic-chic, [Edited by alchiba on 09-18-2000 at 11:09 AM]
I really like the goth thing (you should have seen me trying not to goth up the new hosting site) it makes it hard to read :(