UBBDEV: How long have you been on the web and what is your background?
Rodney: I've been on the web since 1992 when I first had the Prodigy service in high school. I studied web design and animation at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and have been a web producer at several Internet startups.
UBBDEV: Your site reflects your professionalism as well as your desire to build a strong community. How did you brainstorm the idea behind planetplastica.com?
Rodney:
Well the idea of Planet Plastica was spawned from the recent dotcom shake out actually. My previous job was as web community manager/webmaster for an entertainment portal startup called ActionAce.com. There we used ubb to build our community based around the love for anime, toys, video games, movies and Asian culture. Our community grew huge to about 1500 members. Well unfortunately like many other dotcoms they had to cease operations and pretty much kill off their community. With no place for this community to go, my partner Rob Devereaux and I decided to build a new community for the members. We built it around the same love that had brought all
our members together. We wanted to make a world that was very cool and very slick. What better name to call it than Planet Plastica? Preservation of atmosphere is one of our main goals for the look of Planet Plastica that is why we decided to keep it a free and banner less site.
UBBDEV: I believe you have achieved your goal.. it is a very cool and slick site. What was your reason for purchasing the ubb for your site?
Rodney:
Well because its by far one the nicest, most customizable boards out there. It is really easy to use and there is whole development community built around it..
UBBDEV: What do you like and dislike most about the ubb?
Rodney:
I like that many hidden functions of UBB. You can use it as a, content management system, classifieds, trading post etc… I don’t like that it doesn’t have a database. It’s hard to integrate other applications that require login and the capture of user data into the UBB.
UBBDEV: Those hidden functions can be useful if users realize they are there and learn how to use them. :) What do you do to keep your site "fresh" and what do you recommend to keep people coming back for more?
Rodney:
Well I try to reflect much of the activity
on the boards onto the front
page. That way it keeps the front page fresh
automatically. Rob and I
also try to get new features added to the site
when we have time. People
can always come back to Planet Plastica for fun
conversation, cool news
and to meet new people with like interests
UBBDEV: Your front page is very cool and does have a lot of information. The animated graphics are really awesome. Name the mod to your ubb that you like the best (and why) and name the mod your users like the best (and why)?
Rodney:
Well for me I like to see stats on how the boards are doing. So the stats hack and "Who’s Online" I think are the most useful for me to get a quick view of the activity on the boards. For the users, I think they like the avatar hack the best. Everybody likes to change their avatars and add new ones all the time. I think we may have more avatars than members may. :)
UBBDEV: The Who's Online and Avatar are 2 very popular modifications that are being added to many UBBs out there. What one modification is an absolute necessity on your ubb?
Rodney:
Hmmm. Good question. Well I don’t think the boards are totally dependent on any hack for functionality. But I would say that hacks that modify the
look and feel to your board are a necessity. I mean the "out of the box" stuff is nice, but if you want full site integration you are gonna have to roll up your sleeves and move stuff around.
UBBDEV: LOL... did you roll up your sleeves? You're right, giving a board individuality is very important. Are there any "tricks of the trade" you'd like to share that UBB owners can use to improve the success of their site?
Rodney:
I would say to learn any sort of server side scripting language. Perl especially! Keep it simple, don’t over hack your boards. You don’t need every single feature you see out there. Establish a good sense of community on your boards.
UBBDEV: Great advice Rodney. Many times webmasters want every hack available but essentially they need to assess which hacks are best for their community. Do you have any future plans for your site?
Rodney:
Tons!!! Too many actually. Rob and our site admin (HitmanAaron, Krillin and Shadow Dragon) would probably all shake their heads in disbelief if I told you. They have all heard me drone on and on about plans for PlanetPlastica. But I would say in general we plan to add more value to the community by offering services such as webmail, homepages, and other features. We also plan to bring together E-tailers that sell Anime, Video Games, toys etc… as sponsors for future contests that will self promote each other. And maybe if we really want to go all out, we will build a Planet Plastica online gaming environment.
UBBDEV: We look forward to seeing all of the new ideas that you have planned and wish you a properous future. This is a vibrant and fun site that has captured a perfect blend of forums, news and community. Be sure to check it out... http://www.planetplastica.com/. :-) We would like to thank Rodney for taking the time to share his knowledge and thoughts with us and the members of the UBBDEV community.
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