We first installed UBB in May of 2001.I knew even then that interaction with our audience was important and that inviting them to participate would also help create
content for my site.
Over the years we've grown from a few core members to over 85,000 registered members who have created over 2.5 million posts.
I realize there are much bigger forums, but for a niche site that is primarily a one man show (with the invaluable help of a few volunteer moderators) I'm pretty proud
of what we've built.
The Piano Forums at Piano World have become the single most important source of our traffic!More important than attracting an ever growing audience for us, the forums catch people's attention and they hang around.
Some of our members have been with us since the beginning. True communities have been formed, our Adult Beginners being a perfect example, they help each other learn the piano and even host their own online recitals.
Professionals from the piano industry watch our forums closely, the brave ones even join in occasionally.
And the search engines love us!Search for nearly anything piano related and there is a good chance you will find a link to us somewhere in the top ten responses.
Which in turn gives me the opportunity to sell advertising to professionals in piano/music related businesses.
Community?You bet.
Our regulars treat the forums almost like an extension of their family and friends. In fact great friendships and even a few relationships have been spawned by our forums.
Not to mention piano parties held all over the world. In fact my Kathy and I attended one in Italy this summer. We couldn't really afford to go, but we couldn't afford to miss it either.
Hey, that's why they invented credit cards isn't it?
I can't imagine Piano World without the UBB forums.And I can't thank the developers enough for all your hard work and long hours.
I've had the pleasure of working with some of you when I needed help, and you were on top of things immediately and took care of whatever I needed at the time.
I noticed 7.6.0 is getting close to launch ready, that's very exciting! Congratulations to everyone involved.
As it is I'm smack in the middle of a complete redesign of the primary Piano World website,building everything out on the WordPress platform, in part because it's a good CMS, partly because we were way overdue, and partly because it will make our site device responsive.
If I read things correctly it looks like you are taking UBB in the direction of being responsive too, Kudos to you.
I just renewed my "membership" for support access. The one thing I don't see anywhere on the UBB site is a donate button. Perhaps I missed it?
I ask because there are those of us who would like to continue to support your efforts. Don't get me wrong, I'm a struggling one man show who is self employed.
But I'd be happy to send a little something your way when I can.
You should all be proud of what you have built.
I hope UBB can continue for many years go come. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do.
All the Best,
Frank Baxter
Piano World
The world's most popular piano site
PianoWorld.com
Home of the world famous piano forums
www.PianoWorld.com/forum
