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Advise please!! Best choice.

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Advise please!! Best choice. written Aug 17, 2018 17:41:57 GMT
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at this, the world's end, do we cast off tomorrow~!
honestly? i could see it going either way.

yes, you will lose out on a part of the potential member base who would go "oh i have 0 idea how to jcink heck that" or "screw jcink, proboards forever!" that's a part of the thing with hosting a site on any platform, whether it's proboards, jcink, self-hosted, or any other platform (though i think those are the big ones).

but i also think you run the chance of finding the people who might prefer jcink but have been stuck with proboards simply because that's what's "accepted" in the genre (like me low-key struggling coming back into animanga again because of the same divide since rl goes hard for jcink, which i was already biased towards) or otherwise finding people who are willing to give you a chance no matter what host you have.

ultimately, i'd say go with whatever software you're more comfortable with and whichever one you prefer. at the end of the day, if you're happy and the site is good, it's not going to matter what host you have because you'll attract the members who share your basic site setup preferences (or at least will tolerate them for the site).


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Advise please!! Best choice. written Aug 17, 2018 19:10:08 GMT
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Jcink will probably net you more members overall in most cases but there are a lot of people on proboards to. I wouldn't pick your host just on member outlook because not everyone cares which software you use.

People treat forum software like cell phones. Some people are only going to buy apple and some are only going to buy androids. Switching from using one to the other feels awkward because the user interface is slightly different.

IMO Proboards is like apple is with phones. Pretty good support and a nice interface, but a lot of its features are locked in and strictly regulated. There are a lot of things on proboards that are restricted to change or require some very asinine work arounds. You have to use javascript to change a lot of things that should be simple.

Jcink is kinda like android in that it gives you a lot more freedom and the interface to change things is much more straight forward. There are some features it doesnt' have that people who use proboards have come to rely on so it can be quite difficult for them to run. JCINK also lets you make backups and the support staff is a lot more lenient on the rules.

I think that overall jcink is probably more popular, especially outside of the animanga bubble.
last edit on Aug 17, 2018 19:12:27 GMT by Sharp
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Advise please!! Best choice. written Aug 17, 2018 19:30:58 GMT
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Hey! From the fellow animal lover and rper here, I’ve got a bit of a perspective on this!

Speaking from experience proboards has been a home for warrior cats/equine/canine, etc type of roleplays. You’re right that there is a much higher concentration of players in the proboards genre. I wouldn’t say that it’s a horrible system – but the familiarity of it has been fading for a lot of people. Warrior Cat sites have been making a place on Jcink and weirdly enough canine rps have been moving to myBB or self-hosting.

I would say if you’re looking towards advice, move to what your group is more comfortable with. That’s what matters most. I wouldn’t necessarily say one or the other is better, it’s more of what you and others feel personally comfortable with. You’ll find rpers from anywhere who are open to give your site a try. I personally rp on both proboards and jcink and there’s not really an issue for me and there’s a lot flexible players.

Like you said – that’s not exactly the answer you’re looking for. However, there is no good answer to the question you’re asking. Even on proboards, your site might not thrive. It really depends on the community and the like. There’s no good advice for you, because that’s not a question that can personally be a definitive answer. I personally think it could thrive anywhere – there are wolf jcink rps and canine ones – This is War is one I know still going and I know several cat rp’s there as well.

However, I can definitely say there is a more active community on Proboards currently for a canine rp than a jcink one – but then you weigh the pros/cons if you want to be in a saturated market or a niche market on jcink – like I said there’s no good answer here. If you want to talk more in detail, hit me up through pm or otherwise since there’s a lot of different things you have to look at! Good luck on finding a good host though!
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Advise please!! Best choice. written Aug 17, 2018 20:30:37 GMT
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normally, i stan jcink pretty hard these days. but i agree with , and that it makes more sense to me to talk to your members about it. i know some people who hardcore prefer one over the other, but in terms of software and whatnot, i think pb tends to me a bit more user friendly. as much as i prefer jcink, i know from personal experience that switching over to different hosts can be really jarring and frustrating, especially if you're coming over from a place where you can't as easily format your posts. i did the switch a few years ago, and i still have to hold my original rp partner's hand and write a super quick code for them to copy/paste because they just. do not get how css works and that's okay! and i'm assuming that not everyone on your site is able to just throw together a super simple code to format their posts. but also yeah, there doesn't seem to be a big presence of animal rps on jcink rn, or maybe i just haven't seen them. especially canine roleplays seem to be a huge scarcity on jcink.

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Advise please!! Best choice. written Aug 18, 2018 11:24:05 GMT
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Thank you everyone!!!! I really read and re read all your posts, and had a chat with my other admin about this. It's been a while since this site was originally opened so its really just myself and one other staff member for the moment. Yeah its been a while but I am hoping things will pick up again. 

Anyway it really did give me some thought, the original site was on jcink it was only a small group! and with what you guys said, I believe there is no harm in testing the waters on jcink and seeing how things go. I much prefer jcink and haven't used proboards in a while, I had no issues with either host set up wise. So it really can't hurt. Maybe the lack of canine rpg's on jcink might work in my sites favour :) 

Thanks again!!!!!! This site is really amazing when you need a helping hand ^_^ 
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