Why do people hide their info center?

[dragonfli]

What's with this trend? I think it's one of the worst things an admin can do to a forum. It makes your forum look even less active and then I have to sit there and use a calculator to count #s if I want to know forum averages.

[private]

Jan 16, 2020 6:55:31 GMT -8 dragonfli said:

What's with this trend? I think it's one of the worst things an admin can do to a forum. It makes your forum look even less active and then I have to sit there and use a calculator to count #s if I want to know forum averages.

Showing that information can reveal lack of a forum being maintained or it can show that forum is active.
I do notice that some admins are also using 'guests must log in.'

To show or not to show or guests must log in is an admin's choice.

[bigballofyarn]

Hiding an info center is not something I would ever support or recommend. If an admin is hiding an info center, they are hiding something about the forum, and it immediately makes me suspicious. Maybe they are hiding the fact that only two members log in and make all the posts. Maybe they are hiding that only two topics were made in the past month. Guests appreciate seeing forum averages and activity levels. Displaying an info center helps a guest decide whether or not to join a forum. Hiding an info center is an immediate turnoff. So, I agree with you, dragonfli .

[Beckea]

On my blog and my famly's forum I have it hidden because we or myself (regarding my blog) don't care for that information. However, on my general forum I have it out for everyone to see however, it is collapsible so I can collapse it. And those that pick to view it ... can.  Like another hiding seems to suggest a secret or something but it is up to the admin and how they run their forum.

[Retread]

Jan 16, 2020 6:55:31 GMT -8 dragonfli said:

Why do people hide their info center?

I suppose the reason depends on the individual.
Some hide it because they feel the viewer shouldn't be privy to that information.
Others hide it to prevent wasting precious real estate on the home page.
Some hide it from guest but allow members to view it.

With the exception of the link to Recent Posts (which can be placed in the Navigation Bar) I personally find it of fairly low importance. The presence or absence of an Information Center would not be a factor in my decision to member-up on a forum. Imho, it's all about the quality of the content and the participants, not the quantity.

Jan 16, 2020 8:02:54 GMT -8 Beckea said:

On my blog and my famly's forum I have it hidden because we or myself (regarding my blog) don't care for that information. However, on my general forum I have it out for everyone to see however, it is collapsible so I can collapse it. And those that pick to view it ... can.  Like another hiding seems to suggest a secret or something but it is up to the admin and how they run their forum.

There's still a small amount of space required for the title bar, but having the info available or hidden by one mouse-click is a wonderful thing.

[STLUEE]

I suppose so prospective new members can't see who the other members are. Also, if the forum is active or not.

[aaeiyn]

Jan 16, 2020 14:04:06 GMT -8 Retread said:

The presence or absence of an Information Center would not be a factor in my decision to member-up on a forum. Imho, it's all about the quality of the content and the participants, not the quantity.

I couldn't agree more. It's already bad enough that Admins of Boards can read our IP and E-Mail addresses. There's already quite a bit of personal information being handed over. So, with my Boards, I try to make it clear that I'm here to protect the privacy of my Members, as much as I can. I run Fandom based boards, so if you're more concerned about the Members rather than engaging about the Fandom, I kind of don't want you on the Board, to begin with, personally. I do, straight up, express that my Boards won't be the most active, upon visiting as a Guest. It's not like I'm hiding that information. Personally, I just feel like un-registered Users shouldn't be invading the privacy of my Members, I'm sorry, that's just how I feel.

[Violette]

Another point of view on this discussion. 

When checking one's Dashboard to see if there are any new posts on the forums you are a member of, very often you will see 15 to 20 posts on one forum.  So you go there but you only have time to respond to 10 posts.  So that leaves your Dashboard showing 5 to 10 posts yet to answer on that forum. 

But if the forum has their Information Center visible you can go there and click on Mark All Boards read, and voila! your Dashboard is cleared for that forum.

It is a bit annoying that some forum owners do not display their Information Center.  Just can't really see why they don't want it displayed.  It's helpful to their members.

[onesmus]

I appreciate the topic, it's good to participate in the discussion to be able to get much people on the forum

[Gremalkyn]

I would be tempted to hide my info center if I knew less about it for the simple fact: it's ugly. Useful, but not a pleasing aesthetic. I know enough to start rebuilding my Info Center to be in line with my theme, but someone who knows less coding would be inclined to hide it, perhaps, out of an aesthetic itch.

[Derek‽]

Some people hide it in an effort to obfuscate inactivity, but a user isn’t missing much in its absence. Most of what’s contained in the info center is superfluous data. It’s a novelty with limited practical use.

Allow me to explain in a section-by-section breakdown.

Threads and Posts

The total number of threads and posts are useless sums. Sure, seeing that a forum has 200,000+ posts might appear impressive, but what does it actually tell you? Nothing you couldn’t already see in a more useful format by scrolling up and looking at the board list.

Seeing that the conversations break down into 200 threads about cars with a total of 3,000 posts and 50 threads about motorcycles with a total of 270 posts tells you more about a community than knowing at a glance that the forum has a total of 250 threads and 3,270 posts.

Likewise, the “Last Updated” thread is perhaps technically unique in its simple form of usefulness, but it’s not the most useful possible nugget. Knowing that a forum’s most recent post was made a week ago might be a red flag on most forums, but even if the latest post came an hour ago, it’s still a terrible situation if no other board has been updated in a week, which won’t be reflected in the info center at all. So again, look at the board list and be rewarded for doing a little digging on your own.

The links for “Recent Threads” and “Recent Posts” certainly are useful. The links, in my opinion, would probably be just as useful if they were tucked away at the bottom of the first tier of the dropdown navigation tree.

RSS feeds are a bit antiquated in the days of push notifications, so I’m sure you can guess how I feel about the link associated with that particular feature.

The “Mark All Boards Read” link should be contained within the legend since it deals with which icon is to be displayed. It truly boggles my mind that the link was moved from the bottom of the board list in v2-4.5 to the info center threads/posts section in v5.


Members

None of this is necessary. None of it. It’s perhaps interesting to those who are curious, but no one is worse off for not having access to this data.

Some might argue that the total number of users is important since guests can’t access the member list and have no other way of finding that data. I’d counter that and say the number is irrelevant. A forum with 5 total members and a 100% activity rate is no different than a forum with 500 total members and a 1% activity rate. Again, any guest considering joining a forum or judging its authoritative capacity should do a bit of digging and look at how the forum activity is divided. The info center won’t tell you that.


Users Online

This is generally a very informative section and I do believe most forums hurt themselves by obscuring this data when they hide the info center. Seeing who all is engaging with the forum—even simply logging in or browsing—can give members and guests alike a sense of potential activity.

The ability for members to login invisibly hampers this section’s usefulness a bit. Additionally, not all forums will necessarily need participants to be active at the same time. Those are just some asterisks to keep in mind and consider when judging a forum with a hidden info center.


Users Online in the Last 24 Hours

Just like the previous section, I’d consider this a very useful bit of data and an asset to have available. It also suffers from the same pitfalls in that it can be undermined by invisibility mode. I’d say it’s less pressing in its immediacy and v6 made a step in the right direction by hiding it behind a tab and favoring the current users online.


In conclusion, the info center is quaint in an antiquated sort of way. It hasn’t really changed much since YaBB first standardized its general look and feel. The data it presents is, frankly, inadequate to base an opinion of much value in regards to a forum. I’m not advocating for its removal from a forum, I’m just saying that it’s no big loss if that occurs.

[Kami]

I had started to reply to this post but got distracted.

Derek‽ summed up my feelings; I haven't hidden it before, but the last ~15 years I've been making themes for PB I have kept minimising and minimising and minimising the amount of information displayed in the info centre / the info centre itself.

My next site probably will not have the information and just have a users online list with an 'online earlier' tab that can be toggled.

At the end of the day, all the numbers represent is statistics, and none of them -- barring the users online list, and even then it's hit and miss -- give enough data to form objective opinions about a forum's activity. The info centre is not an analytics hub, and should not be treated as such.

[Beckea]

I have done the same, -- cutting out more information to downsize the amount of information.  I may even do the same as Kami mentioned.