UBBDEV: What is your background and when did you start out on the
web?
Justice: My background is the same as most people's. I'm a young black male from the inner city of New Orleans, Louisiana, and growing up next door to a crack spot naturally inspired me to get into web design. I've always been into indoor hobbies because my neighbors disgust me, and I'm not too big on running from police or getting shot at by "competition." I've been on the web since Spring 1997, and I got addicted pretty quickly. I'm pretty opinionated, so it was no time before I had my own angelfire homepage. I used the program angelfire has that can automatically make your site for you, and it was pretty obvious by how cheap it looked. By '98, I was drawing a lot of visitors, so I started teaching myself HTML to improve the site. I didn't buy books or anything like that; I'd go to various sites and use "view source" to study the tags, just to see which ones did what. I always learned better by taking things apart and putting them back together (better for HTML than the VCR, but that's another story). Anyway, by 1999, I had my own domain and the rest is hist.
UBBDEV: You are just up the road from me here in Texas.
How did you come up with the idea for wodie.com?
J:
I was brainstorming with a friend and we both agreed the name was unique, catchy, and memorable...everything a site name should be. The slang was also getting more popular, so I figured the site could capitalize from that. The site's content was a continuation from my old angelfire homepage. I just took it to a more professional level. I was fortunate enough to already have a fan base before the site opened, so I never had an empty message board or an unknown site.
UBBDEV: Why did you choose the UBB over other forum software?
J:
Actually, there's some drama behind my reason. Wodie.com originally had a really cheap-looking, free message board (you remember the old threaded style, where a topic with enough replies could take up half the display page). To make a long story short, one of my friends had a really popular site hosted on another, even larger site. The owner of the larger site disrespected my friend, so he got his own domain and left. The larger site had a nice forum (used cold fusion), but most of the members felt that my friend was mistreated, so we all left that site and never returned. I got the UBB freeware version the same week of that turmoil, and updated to the full version shortly after.
UBBDEV: What do you like and dislike most about the ubb?
J:
I like the relatively low server resources the UBB uses. With the latest developments in php message boards, that's really the only reason I can see for staying with UBB. I also have to add that the tech support is amazing. Charles Capps (moderator of UBB's Post Installation Troubleshooting board) deserves an award, or at least some cookies.
A minor problem is that the membership files are flat files, not database driven, so it's hard to integrate the UBB with other parts of a site that require membership. But what I dislike the most about UBB is the archives. Jesus H. Christ! I don't even archive topics anymore, because its impossible to update archived threads. God forbid I decide to change colors or add a new header to the forum; my archives still look like my site did in '99. That's not even counting all of the dead image links that can't be fixed, or the "Archive-000002/HTML/20000211-9-000062.html" URLs. Is all that really necessary? All we really need is a forum full of closed threads, where the topics stay on the front of the display page for an infinite amount of days. Is that too much to ask? This could all be solved if the archives were just regular forums with the topic display set to "show all topics."
UBBDEV: Good
idea, we'll prolly see some changes in the next version coming out to
address those issues. What do you do to keep your site "fresh" and what do you recommend to keep people coming back for more?
J:
I just make a conscious effort to be as original as possible. People naturally gravitate towards innovation because they know it's something they can't get just anywhere (this applies to everything from websites to restaurants). Your users will also recognize and appreciate the hard work you put into your forum, which will help them to stay at your site longer, and endure things like server downtime.
UBBDEV: What is your (and your
users') favorite UBB Modification?
J:
I'd have to say my favorite mod is the extra 13 profile fields I added. Since hip-hop has such a diverse audience, it's nice to be able to learn about a member and their favorite artists just by clicking their profile.
Aside from the custom design, my users like the "custom titles" and "last member to post" mods the most. The titles add some extra individuality, and also highlights which members contribute the most to the board. Last member to post is extremely convenient for seeing who's replied to a thread before entering and reloading.
UBBDEV: Are there any "tricks of the trade" you'd like to share that any ubb owner can use to improve the success of their site?
J:
Sure, there's plenty.
1) Understand supply and demand. There's nothing worse than an empty forum, so when someone goes to a site that has more boards than it does members, it makes your forum look like a wasteland. If you're just starting out, the last thing you want is to have 10-20 boards with 0-2 topics in each one. Start with one or two boards, and let the members build up threads there. When the traffic gets heavy and demand calls for a new board, just add one and move some threads there. That way, you never have an empty board, and your forum always looks occupied.
2) Don't be afraid to ban people. One or two jackasses on your board can discourage potential members and current posters, so don't feel that you need to cater to someone's attitude if they're causing trouble. Remember, what people post doesn't just reflect on their ignorance; it also reflects on your site.
3) The answer to keep your forum tight is to keep the good posts at the top, not by deleting or complaining about bad topics. Every once and a while, go back a few pages and reply to an old thread that was interesting.
4) If you decide to have sex with a member of the forum, use a condom.
UBBDEV: We'll keep that in mind...;) What are your future plans for your site?
J:
I could spend a day answering this. I have so many ideas popping up in my head, my imagination prevents me from accomplishing anything...I get stuck in the planning stage, and it keeps me further from progress. If you're reading this in early January, it means Wodie.com's e-zine is still down. Even though there's a lot of forum mods I want to add, bringing back the e-zine is my number one priority now.
My UBB kept the site's visitor base relatively high, even when the magazine content stopped; I owe it to my viewers (and myself) to get that section back up. I've dedicated my entire holiday season to working on it, and I hope to have it up by the time I go back to school. I haven't told my viewers this, because whenever I mention a deadline, I'm destined to push it back. If anyone is reading this before the e-zine is up, be sure to bookmark the site and return next month to see something even greater than the forum.
UBBDEV: Lastly, what exactly is a "Wodie"? ;)
J:
That gets asked a lot. A "wodie" is basically a New Orleans slang for "associate" or "homie," and it's pronounced WHOA-DEE. It's often confused with woodie.com, which has caused more than a few memorable moments. When your mom is bragging to her co-workers about her son's website, and she takes them to a porn site by accident, you can imagine what a comfortable experience that must be.
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