In the past, on the homepage of Lichess, there used to be a board with the latest responses to recent threads of the forum. I am not aware on what ground, but this board has been removed and I don't see but downsides to this decision.
First of all, now it is much more improbable that a guest discovers the forum. As a matter of fact, even myself, I had forgotten the existence of the Lichess forum for years, and only because now I wanted to post something I was reminded of its existence. Therefore, with the current set-up new members don't realize its existence unless they actively look for it or explore the communit tab.
In addition, even if someone is aware of the existence of the forum they won't interact with it unless they look for it. The advantage of having that board in the homepage is that it makes it visible even to people that don't look for it, but might be interested in participating in specific threads if they get aware of their existence. As a matter of fact, myself would never look for the forum, but I noticing some intriguing threads on that board I would jump in from time to time.
In other words, I would expect that having a board with the latest responses to forum threads on the homepage of Lichess would not only liven up the forum but also the users experiences on the website. The users would get to interact more with the community and would engage more with it.
On the other had I don't see any downside to it. The board doesn't need to be on the top of the page. Just somewhere below the blogs should be ok.
What do people think?
First of all, now it is much more improbable that a guest discovers the forum. As a matter of fact, even myself, I had forgotten the existence of the Lichess forum for years, and only because now I wanted to post something I was reminded of its existence. Therefore, with the current set-up new members don't realize its existence unless they actively look for it or explore the communit tab.
In addition, even if someone is aware of the existence of the forum they won't interact with it unless they look for it. The advantage of having that board in the homepage is that it makes it visible even to people that don't look for it, but might be interested in participating in specific threads if they get aware of their existence. As a matter of fact, myself would never look for the forum, but I noticing some intriguing threads on that board I would jump in from time to time.
In other words, I would expect that having a board with the latest responses to forum threads on the homepage of Lichess would not only liven up the forum but also the users experiences on the website. The users would get to interact more with the community and would engage more with it.
On the other had I don't see any downside to it. The board doesn't need to be on the top of the page. Just somewhere below the blogs should be ok.
What do people think?
