Software as a Service (SaaS) for forums - Is it really a problem?

Thanks Scott. I do agree with your 'owning users' sediments. Personally I dislike the universal login because a) it makes common user names harder use. Look at how hard it is to get a decent name on Gmail or Yahoo for instance. 2) It makes it so easy for new forums to grab your existing members because they're already logged in.

 

About 2). Theoretically, you could have that same advantage (or disadvantage) to get users from other sites too. The main point being, there is a better user acquisition for everyone, because the system as a whole is more attractive to many more users than single forums or sites could be alone.

And one thing that will be important to us is individuality. Our system will definitely give site owners the tools to be individualistic. So, it will still be up to the site owner to build their communities.

Scott

 

What makes users your users is not only loyalty and devotion, but also dedication, routine and community position(in the wider sense). These factors are easily influenced by how software works and to what extent software motivates engagement in other communities.

I see that some SaaS community software providers (like Jive) let webmasters run their software in their own private cloud. What are your thoughts about this possibility?

 

If someone wants to run a site on our system and not be part of the overall network, that is fine and will be possible. What won't be possible is our software running on its own on someone elses "cloud", if that is what you mean.

Scott