Remove statistic information to increase registrations

[J.Black]

Introduction:

I came up with this idea when I thought about "what discourages me from registering with a forum I don't know when the topic interests me?"

Ask yourself what you do when you are searching for a topic and find a forum.
Where do you look first? What is it that turns you away?

Right! You/I first check to see how many threads and posts are in this forum and then I check the stats for how many registered members there are.
If these numbers are to low for me, then I most likely don't even start to read in the forum.
Does this sound familiar to you? If it does this hack is for you!

What this hack does:

It removes the columns "threads" and "posts" (count) for guests but leaves them for members on FORUMHOME and FORUMDISPLAY.
Optional it removes the whole "what is going on" box.
This way you get rid of unimportant information for guests and let them focus on your content.
These information are only helpful anyway if you are the top dog in your niche and want to show of what you got. If you have a smaller forum these information will most likely discourage guests more then it would encourage them.


Installation:

Templates to edit: 6



In Template FORUMHOME find:

<td class="thead">$vbphrase[threads]</td>
      <td class="thead">$vbphrase[posts]</td>

and replace it with:

      <if condition="$show['member']">
       <td class="thead">$vbphrase[threads]</td>
       <td class="thead">$vbphrase[posts]</td>
      </if>

find:

<td class="tfoot" align="center" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">6<else />5</if>"><div class="smallfont"><strong>

and replace it with:

<if condition="$show['member']">
         <td class="tfoot" align="center" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">6<else />5</if>"><div class="smallfont"><strong>
        <else />
         <td class="tfoot" align="center" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">4<else />3</if>"><div class="smallfont"><strong>
        </if>

In Template forumhome_forumbit_level1_nopost



find:

<td class="tcat" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions[showmoderatorcolumn]">6<else />5</if>">

and replace it with:

<if condition="$show['member']">
        <td class="tcat" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions[showmoderatorcolumn]">6<else />5</if>">
    <else />
        <td class="tcat" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions[showmoderatorcolumn]">4<else />3</if>">
    </if>

In Template forumhome_forumbit_level1_post

find:

<td class="alt1">$forum[threadcount]</td>
        <td class="alt2">$forum[replycount]</td>

and replace it with:

<if condition="$show['member']">
         <td class="alt1">$forum[threadcount]</td>
             <td class="alt2">$forum[replycount]</td>
            </if>

In Template forumhome_forumbit_level2_nopost


find:

<td class="tcat" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">5<else />4</if>">

and replace it with:

<if condition="$show['member']">
     <td class="tcat" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">5<else />4</if>">
    <else />
     <td class="tcat" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">3<else />2</if>">
    </if>

In Template forumhome_forumbit_level2_post

find:

<td class="alt1">$forum[threadcount]</td>
    <td class="alt2">$forum[replycount]</td>

and replace it with:

<if condition="$show['member']">
      <td class="alt1">$forum[threadcount]</td>
      <td class="alt2">$forum[replycount]</td>
  </if>

In Template FORUMDISPLAY

<td class="thead">$vbphrase[threads]</td>
       <td class="thead">$vbphrase[posts]</td>

and replace it with:

<if condition="$show['member']">
       <td class="thead">$vbphrase[threads]</td>
       <td class="thead">$vbphrase[posts]</td>
      </if>

OPTIONAL:



If you want the "What is going on" box to be removed as well:



In Template FORUMHOME find:

<!-- what's going on box -->

and replace it with:

<if condition="$show['member']">
<!-- what's going on box -->

find:

<!-- end what's going on box -->

and replace it with:

<!-- end what's going on box -->
</if>

DEMO: Patientenfragen.net - Forum für Patienten mit medizinischen Fragen

Thanks To g0rn