It started with a plan. The plan was to create an archive.
An archive seemed like a nice idea, but it seemed like it could be more than that. So, I decided I'd concentrate on it being more a forum for discussion than a CMS or static pages.
I've been fond of saying it's like the FNGT, in that it's a framework. I get it started and show people that it can be done. They then do the work and put their hours in. In this case, it's an addition to, not a replacement of, v/Guitar. It's not meant to replace the thread, nor is it meant to replace the sub. The two are, at least in my head, distinctly separate entities.
I also have concluded that the weekly thread really isn't the greatest place for people to comfortably ask questions. We do get some questions, but they end up buried and threaded, wildly off-topic, and generally aren't as productive as they could be.
I suspect that's because the FNGT moves VERY fast. I mean, very fast.
Being me, I'm particularly fond of numbers and data. We regularly exceed 50 posts per hour. (I've taken to calling that PPH.) A couple of times, I've seen it exceed 80 PPH and I've seen the third hour over 100 PPH. The average thread is fairly active only for about 4 hours - and that's being generous.
It opens at 20:00 and it starts to get active at 20:30. Then, at about 00:30 it will slow down again - as a general rule. Sometimes, it slows at 00:00 and sometimes it makes it all the way to about 01:00.
It does stay active longer, I just mean the most active portions. During those phases, we are very, very fast moving. I often don't even have time to leave my message center. I'm too busy to leave it. I'm too busy listening to and commenting on shared tracks, and then I comment on the replies. So, I frequently don't have any time to leave the message center part of Voat.
This site is much more laid back, has a pretty good notification system, doesn't bury stuff, and seems like it should be a great addition to the weekly thread.
That's the goal, at any rate. It also stands as a stand-in, should Voat go down and remain down. I've got ample hosting and I'm on some pretty awesome hardware. SMF is pretty optimized and the site hasn't even slowed, even though we've had multiple concurrent users. It should be able to handle the weekly thread, if it is forced to do so.
I'm not actually sure why I'm typing all this out?