[CrackBerry Kevin]

Hey All,

Just heads up on some changes I made to the forums layout tonight.

On the main forums homepage, we used to have a dedicated section lower down for other mobile forums (iPhone, Android, etc.). I took all of those forums and moved them as sub forums into the Other Platforms forum. And from there I moved that forum (deleted the dedicated section), so it's just standing as a single forum below the Older BlackBerrys forum in the main device forum section. This is actually how I had it setup going back to 2007 when the site launched. Old school! You can get to this section here.

I also removed the links to the iOS/Android/Etc. forums from the forums navigation in the header. I had them on the right side on the Other Popular Forums section. I always sort of meant to mix these up regularly, but haven't been doing that. I did get BlackBerry 10 in there just now though too.

Combined with the change I made in terms of moving the Today's BB Posts link to be above the New Posts (All) link in the header (on the main site), this greatly reduces the presence of other platforms within the forums. I don't want to delete the forums that are there or that content for now, but the reduced presence should help see these forums naturally decrease and we will eventually phase them out with the launch of our new Mobile Nations Passport system coming soon.

I'll do a full post on what Mobile Nations Passport is soon, but basically it's a way to easily move across all of our communities (Android Central, CrackBerry, iMore, Windows Phone Central, webOS Nation) if and when you want to. So if you want to be a member of just one site, that's all you have to be. You're not automatically a member of all sites. But if you decide you want to be a member of another community, you'll be able to use your login there and it'll setup your account on the fly. Plus we'll do some unified account pages that help show your status across all the sites you belong too. So for example if you have 5,000 posts on CrackBerry and decide you want to try out an Android phone for a while and join up on Android Central, you will start your account there with 0 posts, but we will build in a way to recognize that although you're new to that site, you're a long time poster on CrackBerry. Again, I'll get into more detail on this soon, but it's really going to be good and it's something we've been getting asked about a LOT. Super excited to get that built.

With Passport coming, it only makes sense that we scale back the other platforms from each individual site - if you want the best Android discussion, head to our Android community. If you want the best iOS discussion, head to iMore. There will always be room on each site for some of that cross site discussion, but for people who've moved on and switched platforms, it makes more sense to switch over to the appropriate sibling site for the best experience. Rewind back a couple of years and it was mainly CrackBerry in our network of sites that was rocking and rolling, but over the last year all of our communities have really picked up their game and are buzzing. I guess it just shows the growth in smartphones, period. When we live in a world where every phone is going to be a smartphone... every platform is going to have a strong community.

Wow. I type too much. Think that covers it for now. And I think it'll be a good positive change for the CrackBerry forums and the whole network.

Hope you like!

Kevin

[John Yester]

Well done Sir.

[howarmat]

looks good boss!

[Spencerdl]

NICELY DONE Kevin

[xandermac]

Glad I saw this thread. Everything got buried. As for eventually phasing them out, I think thats a shame considering this is the only place an actual "discussion" takes place. The other mobile nations forums aren't half as engaging. Plus, who wants to hear only 1 side of the argument? How boring would that be?

"Yeah, I love the iPhone", "Really! ME TOO!"

Please reconsider your long term (phase out) plans as the cross platform discussion are needed in this industry.

[CrackBerry Kevin]

Hey Xander,

Thanks for the comment and thoughts.

We always want to encourage discussion vs. clamp it down, so rest assured we'll still have a place for cross platform discussion. We've been kicking around a few ideas for the best way to tackle this.

Stay tuned!

[pkcable]

Glad I saw this thread. Everything got buried. As for eventually phasing them out, I think thats a shame considering this is the only place an actual "discussion" takes place. The other mobile nations forums aren't half as engaging. Plus, who wants to hear only 1 side of the argument? How boring would that be?

"Yeah, I love the iPhone", "Really! ME TOO!"

Please reconsider your long term (phase out) plans as the cross platform discussion are needed in this industry.

Have you checked out the iMore forums lately? They are much more lively and active than in the past. No they are not as busy as we are, BUT they do have engaging discussions, members helping members and the very same community spirit that we have here. I strongly suggest you check them out again.

Now this is NOT to say you are not welcome here. I myself am I member at both sites and also a member at Android Central. As long as you contribute positively to our community, as I have seen you do, you are more than welcome here. As I recall you THE guy to go to for service book issues and for using your BB on a Mac issues. At least you used to be anyways.

[xandermac]

As I recall you THE guy to go to for service book issues and for using your BB on a Mac issues. At least you used to be anyways.

Yeah, those threads got pretty quite. Waiting for BB10 to arrive and see what changes it brings re: service books/activation/unlocking, then I'll create a new how-to.

[xtremez]

That is awesome Mr.Crackberry!!

[pantlesspenguin]

Really looking forward to seeing the passport feature!!

One request - As the other platforms boards are phased out, can they still remain as "read only" boards?

[_StephenBB81]

irrelevant post.

oops...

[Blacklatino]

Looks good.

[Denise in Los Angeles]

Thanks Kevin! I really like the change.

[MasterOfBinary]

It's weird how I can edit the tags for this thread. Am I a mod now??

[Denise in Los Angeles]

Dang! I want the awesomeness Modfia power.

[anon(153966)]

Passport is certainly the way to go...

Can I get mine stamped now?

[lnichols]

Glad to see these changes finally come. People with other devices need to work to make those other sites that cater to those device worth visiting. Crackberry was/is becoming a catch-all and a RIM/Blackberry bash fest with people comparing 3 year old Blackberry phones to shiny new other devices. Hopefully these changes will make the Mobile Nations communities better for all.

[cgk]

Hey Xander,

Thanks for the comment and thoughts.

We always want to encourage discussion vs. clamp it down, so rest assured we'll still have a place for cross platform discussion. We've been kicking around a few ideas for the best way to tackle this.

Stay tuned!

Hey Kevin, not sure how you'd do this but any chance of a generic mobile nations forum for those of us who uses various devices but are agnostic rather than "fans" of any one platform?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Rootbrian]

Good work kevin! I'm a blackberry user, but I'm also device agnostic and tend to stick up for blackberry, but I'll also help with other devices once I've gotten to know them. cgk has a point, maybe a subforum would be awesome with the name: Mobile Nations (Device Agnostic users)

[lnichols]

Good work kevin! I'm a blackberry user, but I'm also device agnostic and tend to stick up for blackberry, but I'll also help with other devices once I've gotten to know them. cgk has a point, maybe a subforum would be awesome with the name: Mobile Nations (Device Agnostic users)

How about just setup a new forum at forums.mobilenations.com and make it the melting pot?

[DocDRM]

How about just setup a new forum at forums.mobilenations.com and make it the melting pot?

And there is the forum name: MNMP Mobile Nations Melting Pot, all devices, all carriers, all nations!!!

. . . and we wouldn't have the waste, fraud and abuse that comes with that other "all nations" entity . . .

[SCrid2000]

Love the change; how about a SINGLE forum for all non-BB phones, and whole other actual forums for the other phones? You could call the other forums "Android Central" or "iMore" and things like that!
sometimes I'm astounded by my own brilliance.