NerdZone is rebranding to xenForums

[Astro What]

Boy, I either have browser issues or something weird is going on. I keep getting alerts for posts that I have already seen. And that's on a page refresh.

 

[Retro]

I'm not seeing that, so perhaps clear the nerdzone cookie and see if it fixes it? Perhaps log out and back in?

What about the fact that I've been posting a few times in this thread just now? If you look at the thread and then navigate away, another post will register a new alert.

 

[Mars]

Like Tiffany, I keep nodding in agreement at the arguments put forward for keeping our NerdZone name. It is niche and original, and actually explains better what this forum is all about, although there is an argument that non-nerds may be discouraged from having a look-see? I don't know.
As was said before, xenForums sounds generic, and not only that, but it sounds a bit as if it has sort of a link to xenforo, as data66 had noted earlier #18. That is a valid argument which would militate against the rebranding.
Maybe I am just sentimental, but I so like NerdZone....I know I haven't been here for a while, but this is because life sometimes has a way of 'getting in the way'.
All I can say is long live NerdZone.

 

[Retro]

Well, I see that the general trend here is to stay put on the NerdZone brand. Also, people are commenting that xenForums sounds rather generic as a negative feature, however, I've explained in posts 1 and 6 that this is by design and why that is. For example, would you believe that Admiral and Elephant are both successful insurance companies even though the names don't reflect their businesses at all? Facebook is another one as it's a totally made up word that didn't exist before 2004. If one hadn't heard of it before, they could legitimately ask, "what's a Facebook?" Also, it's primarily generic, because this forum is more of a general discussion nowadays than focused on any specific subject, so a generic name is appropriate for this and why I'm targeting such names.

Don't worry, I'm not about to pull the trigger on this immediately anyway and I'll have a bit more of a think about it, including perhaps finding another dotcom domain name as I really don't want anything else since dotcom is where it's at and the space hasn't been fully exhausted yet.

Finally, remember that I'm considering this in order to attract more newcomers to the site which will benefit everyone as I feel that the nerd branding is holding it back and I want to get away from it. As small as it is, I do have a core of supporters now for which I'm very grateful for, but it needs to grow in order to be sustainable. As it is, if this had been a commercial venture, I'd have pulled the plug ages ago, so please, let's all help make our forum more successful.

 

[Tiffany]

I think "home" is where your hat is. A virtual website home is where your friends are and you grab your tea or coffee and look forward to catching up because there's a community vibe. A good website community has a nice base of people that log in everyday. NZ has people that feel compelled to login as often as they can to catch up and say "hi". This is a testimony to a real community to me, where the "regulars" find time to visit and post... along with that NZ's members are very prolific writers as they love to write, share ideas, and go into great detail on the smallest thing, which is awesome.

I like the name Nerdzone, and I've never felt a negative connotation. My best friends and family members are extremely nerdy and I find them endearing, wholesome and real people. They are full of life, information, and entertaining with a full spectrum of information.

Some people look at success one way or another. You do have success with NZ, maybe not in the numbers you aspire, but in the community of great people. To me NZ shines with its community.

 

[Retro]

Right, I've had a couple of domains in mind for a while that that I'd now like people's opinions of, so I've just registered them.

crosstalkforums.com
I like this one since the crosstalk branding sounds slightly chaotic, implying lots of people talking over each other on a busy forum, which could make potential new users curious to take a look. However, it's a rather long domain and I prefer short ones, but they're very difficult to find in the dotcom space nowadays so this might be a good compromise.

xtforums.com
Having said that, this one's really short and sweet being, only one character longer than nerdzone.uk. Also, xt is short for crosstalk although people won't get the inference without context.

What do people think of them?

 

[Retro]

I think "home" is where your hat is...

Thanks for the kind words, Tiffs. Certainly the few people who post here regularly are a great bunch, but the numbers really matter as like any organisation, if it doesn't grow, it dies. And even literally too, as people physically die off. For example, we've had several people die in the Real Life computer club I'm a member of over the last 20 odd years or so and as it hasn't expanded much with new members, with others leaving / fading away, it's now a mere shadow of its former self. This is of course due to the rise of the internet and has affected physical computer clubs as a whole, but the point is still valid.

Also, I've had people in Real Life whom are registered here tell me how much they love the NerdZone name and forum, yet, never ever post, even with encouragement, so of what value is their opinion? I therefore started disregarding it. No, I don't think changing the name will motivate them to post, but I'm hoping it will attract new members.

We pretty much cross posted, so please let me have your thoughts on those two domain suggestions.

Again, nothing is set in stone yet and it's possible that I won't rebrand at the end of all this, but I do have the itch to do it that's been there for a long time now, so it's more likely than not.

 

[Astro What]

including perhaps finding another dotcom domain name as I really don't want anything else since dotcom is where it's at and the space hasn't been fully exhausted yet.

I wouldn't say that the .COM is where it is at. It does not carry the weight that it used to, especially now with all the new ones available for "branding". If you really want to get down to it, yours (and even mine) should be on .NET domains as we are networks of people if we get back to the original targeted groups that they were meant for.
Yes, the domain name does have an SEO presences. But it is not necessarily the .COM that is important, it's the part that precedes it.

Finally, remember that I'm considering this in order to attract more newcomers to the site which will benefit everyone as I feel that the nerd branding is holding it back and I want to get away from it.

I'll give you a word of advice that was given to me by two different folks that run large and active sites. Rebranding a site is not going to magically bring in people. Content brings people in. Now, there are exceptions to the rule as if you have a domain name that is considered very offensive but a nice niche that isn't relevant to whatever that offensiveness is considered, rebranding could be recommended
Now, if you could find one of the "custom" TLD's that fit, that can work well. I had a very nice one for my recumbent bike site. Between getting out of riding them (no where safe locally that you would not get ran over) and the fact it was $26 a year several years ago to renew I let both the site and the domain go to the way-side.

With the wealth of general chat sites, it is an uphill battle to get users because Google and other search engines do not rank the fluff that is on most of them very high, so they don't show up in search engine results often. That is just a fact of life now.
And for many of those sites that do gain users, it's usually because of topics that you most likely would not welcome here.
A sad fact is that Reddit will show up higher for general conversation topics than most forums will.

There is the start of a conversation about this here

Is there an overabundance of general chat sites?

I'm regularly seeing people bringing forums online that are of general chat nature. Of all the forum types that I've seen over the years that seem to go by the wayside, it is that niche or games. My question pertains to the thought process behind recreating the wheel as it were. As the old...

anotheradminforum.com

 

[Astro What]

netneighbors.com was available also.
quizzicalquoram.com also (I can see some fun with this one).

The NameSilo AI generator I mentioned (and think I linked to) gives all kinds of results depending on the parameters you put in on wha tyou want the domain to be about.

 

[Crims]

The best thing about Nerdzone imho is the shorthand NZ, and while xenForums has its appeal it lacks the utility that the current domain has. All forums are usually hampered by honestly odd names, and I would bet on NZ in the long run over xenForums. There's a uneasiness to most generic name forums, medium standing out in my mind - xenForums is a neat name, though.

 

[Retro]

@Crims it no fair, everyone wants to keep NerdZone!

Thanks for your feedback, if you've not seen post 31 yet, please have a look and let me know what you think of those domains as alternatives to NZ.

 

[Crims]

@Retro This is the best time to have a confidence in the forum brand. There's no better alternative: most people that have forum name swaps usually do that out of a pressure to modernise and IMHO it's not dated yet.
I'm usually mulling long posts so I don't interact - still lurking tho!

 

[Retro]

Yeah, but I've explained my reasons for considering it which haven't gone away as NZ has to grow, even if it takes a new identity to do it.

I'm usually mulling long posts so I don't interact - still lurking tho!

tbh, I'd be quite grateful if you didn't hold back from quick responses as well. Anything to keep the conversation going, really and I also don't want it to feel like a chore to you that you're obliged to do, either.

 

[Tiffany]

Thanks for the kind words, Tiffs. Certainly the few people who post here regularly are a great bunch, but the numbers really matter as like any organisation, if it doesn't grow, it dies. And even literally too, as people physically die off. For example, we've had several people die in the Real Life computer club I'm a member of over the last 20 odd years or so and as it hasn't expanded much with new members, with others leaving / fading away, it's now a mere shadow of its former self. This is of course due to the rise of the internet and has affected physical computer clubs as a whole, but the point is still valid.

Also, I've had people in Real Life whom are registered here tell me how much they love the NerdZone name and forum, yet, never ever post, even with encouragement, so of what value is their opinion? I therefore started disregarding it. No, I don't think changing the name will motivate them to post, but I'm hoping it will attract new members.

We pretty much cross posted, so please let me have your thoughts on those two domain suggestions.

Again, nothing is set in stone yet and it's possible that I won't rebrand at the end of all this, but I do have the itch to do it that's been there for a long time now, so it's more likely than not.

I'm sorry you've lost friends from your computer club. I do understand and can validate your reasons for constantly seeking new members as members at times do come and go, which is certainly a challenge and it is necessary to continue to cultivate new members.

I've also had real life friends that were very supportive when they knew I was going to start a website and I have mostly had the same experience with them as you. Some may join, some may post a little then it's back to fakebook. The best feedback I got from two of my friends were about the mobile app I add that was accessible from the Apple App store and the Google Play store. It was so much work to keep it going with the developers, along with compliance with Apple and Google, I decided to let it go. I didn't feel the app made a difference either, until my two real life friends didn't come back to my website after I discontinued the app. They really liked the app and experience. They were both Apple users.

On your domains, I do like the names. If I was to look for a nerd or geek forum I would likely find nerdzone because it's a specific niche. If I was to look for crosstalkforums or xtforums, I don't know that I would find these domains unless someone told me about them. You invision crosstalk one way, which is clever, but how will others see it? Is crosstalk talking about religion, cross country track, or people getting "cross" with each other as they may see it one way, but not your intent? Currently, NZ is filled with very nerdy fun stuff. If someone was to look at NZ as now crosstalk, would your current nerdy-geeky content fit or cause confusion?

Honestly, it's ultimately your choice and your regulars are here for the community and not the name.

 

[Retro]

I wouldn't say that the .COM is where it is at. It does not carry the weight that it used to, especially now with all the new ones available for "branding". If you really want to get down to it, yours (and even mine) should be on .NET domains as we are networks of people if we get back to the original targeted groups that they were meant for.
Yes, the domain name does have an SEO presences. But it is not necessarily the .COM that is important, it's the part that precedes it.

Hmmm, dunno. I still get the impression that it's important and so many sites are dotcoms that I'm more comfortable having one. This one's probably a bit of a grey area.

I'll give you a word of advice that was given to me by two different folks that run large and active sites. Rebranding a site is not going to magically bring in people. Content brings people in. Now, there are exceptions to the rule as if you have a domain name that is considered very offensive but a nice niche that isn't relevant to whatever that offensiveness is considered, rebranding could be recommended
Now, if you could find one of the "custom" TLD's that fit, that can work well. I had a very nice one for my recumbent bike site. Between getting out of riding them (no where safe locally that you would not get ran over) and the fact it was $26 a year several years ago to renew I let both the site and the domain go to the way-side.

That's generally true - content is king as they say. I just feel that the nerd branding could be putting people off perhaps, because most people won't identify as nerds, along with that potential lingering negative connotation. It's basically all about appealing to the widest demographic. If and when I do that rebrand, I'm not expecting a sudden jump, but I would hope to see a general uptick in registrations and activity.

Also, as I've explained in a few places in this thread now, this site has turned out to be much more of a general chat forum rather than the sciencey / computery one that I set it up as, so I feel that the branding should reflect that, along with removing that potential offputting factor. This is something that xenforums.com, or crosstalkforums.com do better.

To everyone who likes the NerdZone branding and is pushing to keep it: what would you rather have, a thriving forum under a different brand, or stay put and risk eventual closure? Obviously thriving. Also, as the bill payer, I can tell you that it's not cheap running this forum. Although I can quite easily afford it, it's an expense that must be taken into account and my passion project, so some level of modest success is very much wanted by me.

With the wealth of general chat sites, it is an uphill battle to get users because Google and other search engines do not rank the fluff that is on most of them very high, so they don't show up in search engine results often. That is just a fact of life now.
And for many of those sites that do gain users, it's usually because of topics that you most likely would not welcome here.
A sad fact is that Reddit will show up higher for general conversation topics than most forums will.

Yeah, that's all so true, especially the bold bit, sigh. This dovetails nicely with my point made at the start that sites like Facebook etc have billionaire backers that are impossible to beat, plus the advent of smartphones, together which are causing our type of traditional forums that work best on a PC with keyboard and mouse and run on a shoestring budget to be starved of active users.

quizzicalquoram.com also (I can see some fun with this one).

That would work with some high brow quiz forum, I reckon.

 

[Retro]

I'm sorry you've lost friends from your computer club. I do understand and can validate your reasons for constantly seeking new members as members at times do come and go, which is certainly a challenge and it is necessary to continue to cultivate new members.

Thankyou. Long term, this really is critically important for any organisation.

I've also had real life friends that were very supportive when they knew I was going to start a website and I have mostly had the same experience with them as you. Some may join, some may post a little then it's back to fakebook. The best feedback I got from two of my friends were about the mobile app I add that was accessible from the Apple App store and the Google Play store. It was so much work to keep it going with the developers, along with compliance with Apple and Google, I decided to let it go. I didn't feel the app made a difference either, until my two real life friends didn't come back to my website after I discontinued the app. They really liked the app and experience. They were both Apple users.

Interesting how the app was that critical to keeping those users. Do you think it's worth the headache of restarting that app to get increased engagement? I think this is likely to be a classic grey area with the size of the headache a critical factor.

On your domains, I do like the names. If I was to look for a nerd or geek forum I would likely find nerdzone because it's a specific niche. If I was to look for crosstalkforums or xtforums, I don't know that I would find these domains unless someone told me about them. You invision crosstalk one way, which is clever, but how will others see it? Is crosstalk talking about religion, cross country track, or people getting "cross" with each other as they may see it one way, but not your intent? Currently, NZ is filled with very nerdy fun stuff. If someone was to look at NZ as now crosstalk, would your current nerdy-geeky content fit or cause confusion?

Honestly, it's ultimately your choice and your regulars are here for the community and not the name.

Questioning general perception on crosstalk is a very good point and will most likely be perceived in many different ways, but it's also kinda catchy. xtforums on the other hand, doesn't really mean anything, rolls off the tongue nicely and is therefore suitable for everyone, plus has the benefit of being very short, being only one character longer than nerdzone.uk. It also shortens further in conversations to XTF which is very handy, similar to NZ.

I've got quite a few other shorties like this in my list of unregistered domains, including one supershort with a label of a mere 5 characters and overall length of just 9 characters, but obviously I can't share them in public without registering them all which would get rather expensive. I might do so in private, though.

What's a bit frustrating is that it's quite possible that one of these names in my arsenal will be the one that makes the forum take off, but which one? Impossible to know without that crystal ball which I've mislaid, sigh.

 

[Retro]

Out of curiosity, I looked up zenzone.com, although I don't actually like it anyway. Naturally, some cybersquatter has it, so before clicking the spoiler button, have a guess at how much you think they want for it. I doubt you'll be anywhere near close...

Spoiler: Guess how much before clicking

ZenZone.com - Health and Personal Care Domain for Sale. Call 888-694-6735.

Seeking peace and wellness? ZenZone.com evokes tranquility, ideal for businesses in meditation, yoga, or natural health. Secure this premium domain today!

www.domainmarket.com

Outrageous, right?! Yup, almost a million dollars. Who in their right mind would pay that much for this?

 

[Astro What]

Is crosstalk talking about religion, cross country track, or people getting "cross" with each other as they may see it one way, but not your intent?

To me, crosstalk is when one person is trying to talk over another. It's a form of intimidation in the opinion of many.
It is also used in radio communications discussions, which is honestly where I think to see it used since I am technical in nature and have been involved in HAM radio in the distant past and it was frequently an issue when a patrol officer and something "big" was going on.

What's a bit frustrating is that it's quite possible that one of these names in my arsenal will be the one that makes the forum take off, but which one? Impossible to know without that crystal ball which I've mislaid, sigh.

This is the last I'll say on this one aspect. If thinking that rebranding to a new domain is going to gain traffic, unless it's associated with a brand people already look for, it is highly unlikely to do so. Over the years I have seen this time and time again with admins. They find a domain they like and think "hey, it is better than what I have and will pull people in". It's not the silver bullet that many think it is. The sad thing is that the .COM/.NET/.ORG TLD's have been around forever and getting a good, short and punchy one using one of those TLD's isn't going to happen unless you want to throw a couple of thousand dollars at it. And even after doing that it's not going to draw traffic like is thought - unless again it is associated with an existing brand and people happen upon it accidentally. And in those cases, odds are they aren't going to sign up to play, they'll just continue on in their search engine exploration to find what they are trying to.
I had one admin I had helped several years ago set their dedicated server up that did this. I think he paid something like $7500 (which was a lot then) for the domain and moved the site over to it. And yes, it was a nice short 4 letter domain. But his traffic did not increase drastically like he expected. He later commented to me that the money would have been better spent doing customization to his site to get it to offer what others didn't.

 

[Astro What]

I got to thinking about the rebranding issue. And as for users, I realized an old saying applies.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.
And it's an important thing to realize. Forums just are not popular now. Even if users do find your site, and may enjoy some of the posts, they probably will not join and participate. We have become a world of consumers. And then many of those that may join don't participate at that time for whatever reason.
I'm getting regular sign ups over on the AW site, but those users do not actively participate. And I am almost 100% sure they are actual users and not bots or human spammers due to checks I have in place.
And the strangest thing is... they don't have to sign up to get access to anything on my site. What is available to members is available to guests. My philosophy is if they want to participate, at some point they will. Trying to pressure users to participate in a site, or to sign up usually works in the opposite manner.

As for costs... I'm spending (now) about $2000-$2200 a year just running my hobby site. And there is one word that is important there. Hobby. Like most hobbies, I look at them costing money so I don't worry about it as long as I continue to enjoy it.
If I was wanting to make it a business, then it would be a different matter because businesses need to make money and not lose it consistently.

 

[Retro]

@Astro What ok, replying to your last two posts.

I'm not expecting miracles from changing domain and a quick Google also revealed how it can negatively affect traffic, like you're saying. However, activity can't drop by much more as it is and I just wanna get away from the nerd branding tbh, partly because I suspect it could be putting some people off, hence going through this whole exercise. I still haven't found a replacement domain which I 100% like without some reservation, but xenforums.com is still quite good in my opinion and I also like crosstalkforums.com and xtforums.com. The fact that crosstalk has a hint of controversy about it could work to its advantage in my opinion. I could be wrong, no idea lol.

You pointed out that people might reach it through links on other sites or search results, but they still see NerdZone in bright yellow at the top when they get here, so it still matters, however they got here.

I got to thinking about the rebranding issue. And as for users, I realized an old saying applies.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.
And it's an important thing to realize. Forums just are not popular now. Even if users do find your site, and may enjoy some of the posts, they probably will not join and participate. We have become a world of consumers. And then many of those that may join don't participate at that time for whatever reason.

This is it, isn't it? Heck, I confess that I'm like that, too. I'll search for a solution to something, find it on some search result, but will almost never sign up to that random website. It's basically all take and it's the norm nowadays, unfortunately. I'll sometimes bookmark that site, or the solution, but still rarely go back there unless directed to by another search result. I guess there's just too much information to deal with nowadays and I'm including the vast amount of televised entertainment on YouTube, Sky, Neflix, Amazon Prime etc, as well as working a full time job.

I too have many new users signing up and then never logging in again, or just once or twice more and that's it. Given that registering is a deliberate act that takes a little time and effort, I just don't get why they bother if they don't intend to ever log in again. Or, perhaps they did at the time, but then it just never held their interest enough for them to come back, which seems to be the more likely reason to me.

Some of these accounts look like possible dormant spammers and one did indeed come alive a few months ago, only to be summarily put down by me without the public ever seeing their activity, but the others are very much regular users from the looks of it. Indeed, it's a mystery why our sites get these registrations.

As for costs... I'm spending (now) about $2000-$2200 a year just running my hobby site.

That's some serious dough there, man! But yeah, if it's what you like to do, then it's all worth it.