Ever since we launched our website, many readers have requested that we add Forums to our website, so it gives us great pleasure to announce the launch of iPhoneHacks Forums and a new commenting system.
We looked at quite a few Forum solutions over the last few years, but weren’t convinced about using any of them as they either lacked functionality or would have resulted in two separate commenting systems – one for the website and other for the Forums.
Our search for that ideal solution ended when we came across VanillaForums – a modern forum platform. Vanilla will power our Forums as well as the comments on our blogs, so you will have one identity, one reputation and one user experience on all sections of our website. If you’re a regular forum user, we’re quite confident that you’ll find the Forums a lot more intuitive and addictive.
Getting Started:
You can login in to our website or Forums using your Google, Twitter, Facebook, Open ID or email account. We’ve migrated the old comments to the new commenting system, so if you’ve commented on iPhone Hacks before and used a valid email address then click here to give yourself a password (sorry for the trouble).
To start a new discussion or get an answer to a question, all you need to do is sign up or sign-in, head over to our Forums section and click on the New Discussion button in the right hand sidebar.
If you want to participate in a discussion or comment on a blog post, login and leave a comment. You also have the ability to quote someone by clicking on the Quote link or address fellow readers with “@username” like you do in Twitter.
Gain Badges, Points and Reputation:
With the new commenting system, you will be able to gain badges, points and reputation, giving your efforts real meaning in our community. There have been several occasions where we wanted to like one of your comments, with the new commenting system, you will be able to like someone’s comment and also agree or disagree with them. All you need to do is hover over a comment to see the options as you can see below.
Self-Moderation:
You will also be able to mark a comment as spam or abuse, which will move the comment to the moderation queue after certain number of down votes.
Q&A:
One of the reasons to use a forum is to get answers to your tech questions. The Q&A experience is a lot better in our Forums. When you ask a question (simply click on Ask a question after clicking on the New Discussion button), it will show up as a regular post. However, every member will also get a notification in the right hand sidebar informing them that there is a question waiting to be answered. The question will remain unanswered until you don’t accept the answer to the question.
Answering a question or a good comment (which other members like) will also earn you points, which will give you a chance to make it to the week’s leaderboard.
Vanillaicon:
When you register to our Forum, a unique avatar is automatically created just for you. You can either replace it with your profile picture or do fun things`like create your own icon over at Vanillaicon.
For Developers:
We haven’t done a very good job connecting with developers so far. So we have created a separate category called “App Announcement Forum” where we would like to invite developers to announce the launch of their games or write a detailed overview of their app. We plan to feature such Forum posts on our website with the aim to give apps the necessary visibility.
We have also created a forum category exclusively for you to write app reviews. It’s a great place to share your favorite apps with fellow readers. We will also feature such Forum posts on our website. It’s also a great way to earn points.
Feedback and Suggestions:
If you notice any bugs, please do report it using the Site and Forum feedback category and we will try to fix the issue as soon as possible. Also please feel free to let us know how you want us to make the site and the forum better.
It takes only a few seconds to sign up using your Google, Twitter, Facebook, Open ID or email account and if you’ve used a valid email address then click here to give yourself a password.
So welcome again to iPhoneHacks Forums and be the first to start a new discussion.
