Quote:
Originally Posted by
j 
Yes, the new system will have quite a lot more functionality for that.
What is this new system? (I'm not expecting an answer, of course.)
I'd love to see a site that goes beyond the usual Usenet ancestry and has room for different types of user content (not just messages). For example, a content type could be
Clothing Fit, in which the submission form would have room for size, measurements, a fit picture, and a fit description. That way, someone could just search for the piece they have in mind (say, 5ep Low Down Boot), and instantly have a glossary of sizes, measurements, and fit pics of those jeans without having to scour the forum.
Obviously, that kind of extended content type would do wonders for the Buying & Selling portion of the site. Type of clothing, brand, size, price, condition, etc. would all be mandatory and search-able fields in the form.
You'd also be able to more prominently display the content in the Frontpage section by elevating the content-type "article" above a normal post.
That type of site is usually done poorly, in my experience, because the integration of the forum and other content is pretty haphazard because there aren't any pre-built solutions for that kind of thing. The most elegant example I've found is probably looperman.com (even though the site is pretty ugly), which looks like a ground-up build. Each member has one login and it allows him to post several different types of content.
I don't know how much, if any, money you guys take in over the operating cost of the forum, but the site I described could probably be done in a few weeks with Drupal. I just think Styleforum is outgrowing its forum. The real bitch would be in the migration.