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Zetaboards/InvisionFree; The rise and fall of an empire
Topic Started: Oct 3 2015, 08:04 AM (1,054 Views)
.JinX
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OoZe was a legend. :D
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Quote:
 
ZB/IF - The rise and fall of an Empire
Written and edited by .JinX(Zero, Flame FX, Revolt, James, etc.)


It all started with an idea. Free forum software to create message boards for communities to converse and interact with. Beginning with Invisionfree, users were able to create basic boards which at the time was up to speed with current technological advances. Users then began to customize their boards, creating codes and skins and graphics in order to personalize their board to their taste. The resource arm of the network was a large part in it's success, having been created right around the time the network came online. At first, the forum was named Spotlight Forums, created by one .OoZe. They ran for awhile as just a regular community board before the necessity of IF resources was made apparent. It was then that they decided to rename Spotlight Forums to the InvisionFree Skin Zone.

.OoZe effectly changed his name to Dynamix(probably to represent how dynamic the board was becoming), and set his time and energy into creating the single most successful message board on the ZB/IF Network. Support and IFSZ worked closely hand in hand for over a decade, experiencing many rises and falls in their member base and activity level. Eras were formed with the great designers and coders, and staff members became somewhat iconic as they ran the forums.

To go into detail of all the major events that occurred within these boards would require days, even weeks to write. Personally, I was witness to most of it, but given that it has been about 12 or 13 years since I first came to the network, my memory of every occasion is a bit hazy. All I can say is that I witnessed history on these boards. I watched good people come and go; I met many people who would later try to destroy these forums as a result of disagreements with certain people. Many members of these forums shaped my childhood memories of the internet, and I myself have made mistakes and learned from them on these forums as well.

I think the turning point for us was when Dynamix was relieved of command (although his own doing), and then further when the resource and support arms were combined. Zetaboards is a great forum software, for people on computers. I believe that people lost interest as social networking and mobile devices became prevalent in our society. As technology advanced, so did the social media realm. Zetaboards, however has stuck to it's own product for better or worse and while that is not a bad thing at all, could use upgrading to meet the needs of the future.

I understand that not many members are left who have the technical expertise to code these boards, or even the motivation and desire to do it, but I believe if ZB takes a step towards the future, it may very well regain its popularity and reverence that once made this place great. I've watched this place rise and fall, and while this is not really an informative article, anyone who's been here for a long time can remember the same things I did. I wanted to thank everyone for those memories, and wish that somehow they could continue. However, in my mind, the Zetaboards/InvisionFree era has finally come to a close. I'll keep checking on this place throughout the years, I just hope that somehow this place bounces back. :)

Thanks again!

Sincerely,
A million different personas but widely known as .JinX
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KevinLu
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I fondly remember the days where there were so many different big named resource forums for Invisionfree and how it was so exciting trying out new skins and new codes back when I was a middle schooler. I remember the days of BGStyles where to this day KMan's skins were still my favorite and the legendary Webworldx forums where I had hours of fun messing around with their code snippets. There were also the IFSZ skin and graphics battles.

It is sad to see how far Zetaboards has fallen in terms of popularity. I think the biggest reasons for it's downfall was as you said, the rise of social media like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and mobile messengers as well as how long it took for Zetaboards to make it's debut. I think Zetaboards came out way too late and had it been released earlier at the right time things could have been much different.

There is still a lot of potential in Zetaboards and I too hope it bounces back. I'm just really glad that this service is still here after all of these many years and that there are still people working very hard to help maintain it. Another worrying thought is if ZB will continue to be financially sustainable in the future.

But anyways I wish the best for IF/ZB and I too will continue to watch it from the sidelines.
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Mnikolic
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Well said. Invisionfree was a good way to make a forum community. I remember messing around with it for hours as well when I was in middle school too. But with other forum hosts (and some running a more modified version of IPB 1.3 than IF itself EVEN at the time), it was clear that something needed to be done about it.

The ZB runners made the correct choice to move on from the old forum software and make their own. Otherwise, IF would have disappeared from the Internet completely.

And yet another worrying thought is does it make sense to keep (now called) zIF boards running. It's clear that the ZB forum software is getting both software updates and bug fixes and zIF boards aren't getting either of those. In my opinion, this is also hurting ZetaBoards as a forum host. I think the newer stuff is a way to go when it comes to this forum host so why not just drop zIF and keep only ZB running? It would greatly improve the owner's and staff's focus on it as well provide their users with better service maintenance and support of the forum software they made and released. Besides, ZetaBoards offers everything zIF boards do - AND MORE.

So why not work with the owners of active zIFs and have them switch to ZB? I say get out there, appeal to the remaining owenrs of active zIF boards and have them finally make the switch. ZetaBoards needs to become more popular again, more interesting to overall internet user and potential forum maker and owner and just GO FORWARD. That can't be done with zIF boards still around all over the place.

Anyway, I went off-topic a little bit, but what I wanted to say, I've said it in the first two paragraphs of this post. ZB needs a power boost. And a good one.
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