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XenFans Interview with Shaun Mason from the Tradition Sports Online community
The http://xenfans.com/ team interviews Shaun from TSO to get some insight as to bigger boards converting early to XenForo. How did the convert go, how is the community handling the change and how is XenForo helping owners improve their site.
XenForo member: http://u.xenfo.ro/2123
Community: http://forums.traditionsportsonline.com/
Copyright (c) 2010 http://xenfans.com/threads/198/
Hey Shaun, it's great to talk to you. Can you perhaps give us a bit of an introduction to who you are and what your community is about?
How long have you been involved in the business of building and running an online community? How did you get started?
What's the hardest part of your job and the most enjoyable? What are the usual kinds of issues you have to deal with? And how do you juggle offline life with an online community?
Developing for and running XenForo is a complete restart for most board owners, it feels like a fresh canvas to play/develop with. Has it been a challenging task at first, or how did you experience the transition?
How has your community taken to the new software and are you pleased you've converted?
What are you looking forward to XenForo wise?
Are you making use of the "pages" node feature, or any other new XenForo unique features?
Have you tried making a plugin or a style, and if so, how easy was it. What was your first impression?
Are you involved in other projects besides forums.traditionsportsonline.com?
What does the future hold for the Tradition Sports Online community?
Thank you a lot for taking the time to answer our questions. Is there anything you'd like to say to end with?
Nix, xenfans.com
For more interviews and articles we invite you to visit http://xenfans.com (XenForo Enthusiast Community).
The http://xenfans.com/ team interviews Shaun from TSO to get some insight as to bigger boards converting early to XenForo. How did the convert go, how is the community handling the change and how is XenForo helping owners improve their site.
XenForo member: http://u.xenfo.ro/2123
Community: http://forums.traditionsportsonline.com/
Copyright (c) 2010 http://xenfans.com/threads/198/
Hey Shaun, it's great to talk to you. Can you perhaps give us a bit of an introduction to who you are and what your community is about?
Thanks for having me. My name is Shaun Mason and I am part of the administration group for TraditionSportsOnline. We are a community based on mature, simulation style sports video gaming.
How long have you been involved in the business of building and running an online community? How did you get started?
I actually have been part of running online communities for quite a few years. I took a break until the last few years. Three years ago Electronic Arts added gaming modes to the video games they publish that allow users to play online and to help organize the content of the league I was in, I created a simple website.
We eventually met with Jeff Setzer who ran TraditionFootball.com and we merged with them. My skill set complemented the existing administrative group well and we have been at it ever since.
We eventually met with Jeff Setzer who ran TraditionFootball.com and we merged with them. My skill set complemented the existing administrative group well and we have been at it ever since.
What's the hardest part of your job and the most enjoyable? What are the usual kinds of issues you have to deal with? And how do you juggle offline life with an online community?
The hardest part of my job is balancing it with my "real" life. I am a software developer by day, so sometimes the two roles cross into each other in regards to time committment. Luckily for me, I am one of five administrators on TraditionSportsOnline and they others take much of the membership load. I am really the "technical" guy. Combine that with a mature user base and there really aren't to many "issues" to deal with.
Developing for and running XenForo is a complete restart for most board owners, it feels like a fresh canvas to play/develop with. Has it been a challenging task at first, or how did you experience the transition?
I actually anticipated the conversion being more difficult. All of the tools provided by the XenForo team worked well right out of the box. What has been challenging is temperimg my enthusiasm with the realisation that it is still beta software. Setting up a proper test bed for each beta release is important so I don't impact the users while I am trying to upgrade and add features.
How has your community taken to the new software and are you pleased you've converted?
Overall the feedback has been very favorable. XenForo still doesn't do everything I need, but for a beta software I am very impressed. As a developer myself, I know how hard it is to put out such polished software early in the development life.
What are you looking forward to XenForo wise?
The biggest reason we moved TraditionSportsOnline to XenForo is because of the faith I personally have in the XenForo team. I respect that development team a huge amount and I know they will quickly be the benchmark everyone else is measured against. The promise of things done well, with the users in mind is what I look forward to.
Are you making use of the "pages" node feature, or any other new XenForo unique features?
We have used pages in test but until tools are added to ease users into doing markup, we am hesitant to use them broadly. As far as other unique features, I personally find management of nodes and users far easier in XenForo and the actual performance of the board is exceptional.
Have you tried making a plugin or a style, and if so, how easy was it. What was your first impression?
I have not started developing plugins yet, but I will as time permits. The styling tools built into XenForo are extremely easy to use, as are the tools for template editing. Gone are the days of searching through multiple files looking for the correct piece of code to modify. One of the beautiful things about XenForo is the use of MVC, which makes modifying the layout of the site much more user friendly.
Are you involved in other projects besides forums.traditionsportsonline.com?
I do have a project in the works that will use XenForo. I'll keep you updated on it as it progresses.
What does the future hold for the Tradition Sports Online community?
Our community is really based around the members. The software we use is just a tool to make life easier for them. Our current user base is very loyal and we have had triple digit growth since our inception, so we think the future is bright as long as we stay true to our core values. People will always see out places where they can be treated with respect and have a sense of community.
Thank you a lot for taking the time to answer our questions. Is there anything you'd like to say to end with?
We really appreciate the opportunity to shine a light on what we are doing at TraditionSportsOnline. Thank you again, we hope to be a good example for others who want to make the move to XenForo.
Nix, xenfans.com
For more interviews and articles we invite you to visit http://xenfans.com (XenForo Enthusiast Community).
Good read