OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Although this forum is still a great place, with a bunch of great people and wealth of accumulated information, the traffic to the site is very slowly dwindling...has been for years. I think the main reason is the site looks a little outdated, and lacks the features that would attract the younger generation. This makes me wonder where we should be heading. Should be just leave things as they are, or is it worth the effort for a major upgrade to bring more people, especially the younger generation?

A major upgrade would be nice, but unfortunately I don't have the skills or knowledge to do this myself. Sure, I could probably pay someone to do this, but that's likely not going to be cheap, and I don't know if the cost be be worth it. I would very much like to keep the forum advertisement-free (for all logged-in members), so any payment would come out of my own pocket.

I would love to hear what you all think, both from those that have been with us for many years, but also new people.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

What are you thinking of, in terms of new features? In my opinion, whether or not it's worth the effort to add anything depends on what those features are, and what you think they'd add.
Another question to ask yourself is, what is the goal of the forum. Is it to drive revenue for your shop? Is it just "for fun" to share knowledge and talk to players around the globe? Depending on what your goals are, your decisions might be different.
It's not my area of expertise, but I wonder if the search engine rankings have fallen. That might cause a dip in traffic.
Or, are there new table tennis forums that have been created that are spreading out the audience. Doing some competitive analysis could help to guide your thinking on the matter.
I'm willing to put up with some ads if it helps to fund continuous improvements here. I can easily scroll right past them.

_________________
"Don't let a win get to your head or a loss to your heart"
USATT Rating: 1739
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Sauer & Troger Hellfire X OX

This forum may not be busy, but it is an absolute gold mine of information!

My guess is that drop in traffic is likely due to a) alternatives like Reddit, Discord, other TT forums, then b) whatever Google does with its SEO placements on their pages (preferencing paid ads), and perhaps c) overall decrease in TT interest.

I'm fine with current forum experience, and wouldn't be against some ads either : someone has to pay for the upkeep.

_________________
USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Thanks a lot for your thoughts guys!

I really don't know, whatever would drive more people, from all ages and walks of life, to join the discussions.

It's definitely not to drive traffic to the shop, it's not been that for a long time. The shop is fine as it is, in fact we're making efforts to downsize to reduce the workload. So yes, it's just to share knowledge and have discussions with people around the globe.

Google ranks the forum very highly (I know a fair bit about SEO, ranking and traffic), the main reasons being that the forum has been around for a long time and there are so many links/references from other website. I think the traffic is just getting diluted by the sheer number of other sites and platforms out there, many are profit driven which gives them the budget to promote themselves.

I'd prefer it to remain add free, as ads bring do much clutter to a website, and makes it really slow to load at times. This site is currently very fast and efficient, because we have a fast server and use cloudflare to further increase speed and block bots/attacks. I think the current hosting cost is about USD$500 a year, which I think is very reasonable for what it offers and it gives us lots of room to grow. I could probably look at reducing this cost if traffic continue to drop, but I'd rather keep it if we can grow the community.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I agree, and a lot of it is still highly relevant today, despite some of the information being 'older'. So I'd certainly want to at least keep the site as it is in some form.

At some point I might need to upgrade anyway though, if the current software is no longer supported. Although the current version of the forum software (PHPbb) is known to be very stable, efficient and secure, at some point the servers may no longer support some of the features. I know that time will come at some stage, so I'd rather plan for it now, rather than panic when I run out of time.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Yes I think you're right, and I think alternative platforms, like the ones you mentioned, are the main reason. Sure, we've probably lose some traffic to some of the other forums as well which may keep more up to date, but our forum has always had a niche for alternative styles and well organised information, which will always appeal to potion of the TT community.

Regarding ads, as I mentioned above, I'd prefer it to remain add free, as ads bring do much clutter to a website, and makes it really slow to load at times. This site is currently very fast and efficient, because we have a fast server and use cloudflare to further increase speed and block bots/attacks.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Just out of interest, I've had a bit of a more detailed look at the traffic to the forum.

It was very interesting to see that the number of unique visitors to the forum, have hardly changed in the past 5 years. I certainly get the impression that there's a lot less discussion on the forum these days though, so perhaps more and more people at getting better at just getting the information they need, without having to interact or discuss/post. I guess it's really good to see that the information is still relevant and being used, it just would be nice if there was more interaction.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

The internet is volatile. Now we have so many avenues to get info so 'forums' are going to lose some love they held but for sure still hold capital.

Before FB I had to go to forums. Now FB owns so much of the same information. (not just TT) For free people can share the same info. OOAK facebook for example would serve the same purpose as the forum. And someone could rip it off possibly...

Today, AI is exploding and going to reshape everything we know. Maybe it won't affect TT stuff but it does change other parts of knowledge seeking and sharing.

I voted keep the same because I am here to just share info. If I look for info it is the whole world through whatever Google will reach usually and now it is AI which I dont trust for TT stuff since it is a bit too creative.

I know you like and as I did people having conversations, but information is just flowing much more freely than 20 years ago.

If the site reaches a point where it means only cash out lay then I understand you let it slide into oblviion. I have been there many a time with my own sites.

I started at mytt which turned into an ad fest so I stopped going there. Dan blew up and has good stuff but the forum kind of seems pointless compared to the great content he makes himself on 3rd party platforms such as YT. You have put out respectful interviews that hold currency.

Nothing holds much more value than original content whatever the storage.

Or a place for those that have a little to share with out being bombarded with trash ads.

OOAK is where my TT brain lives thanks. If it's worth it for u, I will stick around.

_________________
Watch me playing TT

It surprises me how slow this forum is, given the abundance of good information it stores. When did it peak in popularity? 10 years ago?

It would be a great shame for the forum to disappear and all that past info be lost.
If it did it come to pass the the forum could not be sustained, perhaps it could be shared as an archive on another active t-t forum (just a suggestion, macabre though it may be).

From my POV the quality of information here is much higher than at a place like Reddit, and that is due to the knowledge of the members. It may be that the demographic of reddit isn't as old (and knowledgeable about tt), I'm not sure.

Back to the topic.
One point: I live in China, and it is sometimes very hard to access the forum because it always doubts that I am a real person. There is the "tick this box" to show you are not a robot thing, but often I can't get beyond that page. I don't have this access problem with a place like TTD.

Only by using a VPN at home can I avoid the access problems. So... possibly there could be some change to the 'bot detection' aspect which might allow more international members to contribute.

Another thing: the board index is so complicated.

For people coming directly from a search-engine query this is not such a problem, since they get directly linked.

But for people using the forum as a whole it can be easy to get lost, and everything is so specific that chances of bumping into another active topic are less.
E.g. someone looking at Equipment/Blades won't come across new topics in Table Tennis Balls or Long Pips. They might have something to contribute to those topics, but because they're in separate 'branches' won't come across them.

The forum self-dilutes. I think this may be a reason interaction is lower.

In the hey-day of the forum perhaps this was a useful division - to stop topics getting lost amidst a flood. But nowadays perhaps the opposite is true.

At the least, why not have one section for "pimples" rubbers instead of three? Perhaps pimples uses think this blasphemy. But I suspect, even one whole section just for "rubbers" would be okay.

A good question, not sure when it peaked, but it may well be 10 years ago.

I agree, I would definitely the information would stay accessable somehow.

I'm glad you raised that, because I wasn't aware it was an issue for anyone. It's related to setting in Cloudflare, which offers website protection from spam and attacks, as well as giving high speed benefits. Countries like China/Russia/Ukraine always had a very high content of this 'bad' traffic, so it was marked for an extra challenge to confirm the traffic was from a genuine user. I've not reviewed this for many years though, so things might well have improved. I've removed China from that list for now (might take a little while to tack effect), so let me know if it's better?

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I always use the "View active topics" (link near top left corner), to get all the recent discussions. I don't know how many people use this though... perhaps a lot of people are simply not aware of it.

I agree, the current structure certainly has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that if you're looking for specific information (eg long pimples) it's very easy to find, and you'll see all related topics together. The major disadvantage, like you've pointed out already, is that you're not seeing other topics that may be of interest. They may be ways to improve this, I've not really looked into that so closely, but it may well contribute to less overall discussions.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Perhaps it is possible to default to "active discussions" (let's say top 10 or 15 most recent) with the rest of the index below? This would mirror other forum formats more closely, without losing the advantages you mentioned.

Maybe the reason for fewer discussions is the fact that, at least for the Lps/ mps , there is very little improvement in the new pips performance.

In the celluloid era,despite the ITTF limitations, the Lps performed much better , there were even old D.Techs around . Nowadays , with the plastic ball and the restrictions on pip parameters any new LP/MP just adds good control,sinking effect, that's all folks, but the increase in reversal and disruption is minimal or nonexistent .The same goes for choppers.For instance, P1V,the substitute of P1-R,is way more inferior in performance .

The only defensive rubber that has room for further discussions is the frictionless anti .That's why we have seen many discussions lately .