BKForum Site Improvements Suggestions Box!

[laz]

BKForum Suggestions:

Since our inception in 2003, we have grown immensely since then. We have been keeping the site up-to-date with current virtual community technologies. We have upgraded our dedicated servers several times over the years.

We have had over 500,000 US visitors in 2008.
We then received over 1 million US visitors in 2009.
We will have beat that record in 2010.


Now its that time of the year. We are looking for suggestions to grow BKForum bigger, 10 times bigger.

Do you have any good idea on how to grow BKF? Please post your suggestion in this thread.

I can't promise that every suggestion will be accommodated, however, we will definitely consider them.

[laz]

Suggestions Merged:

1. subforum "Medical Billing & Collections"? After all medical billing is a huge contributor to bankruptcy.
Done as Collections, if you think Medical Billing should be a separate category, please reply & explain

2. How about a live chatroom that is open 24 hour and people can pop in and chat away?
Done, but it is offline right now. If there is a strong need for chatting, let me know, I will re-enable it.

3. How about a new subforum on Small Business Filings and personal BK's?
Done, as "Small Business & Investment Real Estate". If you think we should further expand business BK sections please let us know

4. What do you guys think about StartingOver08's suggestion of creating a new section called "Small Business Filing" ?
Done, see above

5. I've participated in other forums where they had a For Sale/Wanted section where members could buy and sell personal belngings to each other. Obviously transactions had to be handled carefully but my experience was always good and it was no more risky than eBay and frequently the results were better.
I think this one might be too much out of our scope

6. One thing I did for myself that I'd like to do for everyone is to have an unbiased list of the bankruptcy filings in each district.
I spent a few bucks on PACER in my district to compile statistics showing which attorneys appeared in court for which types of bankruptcy and how often each had cases that lasted too long or had adversarial actions. From the statistics I compiled I could tell which firm was the bankruptcy mill and which firms were too small. I could also tell which firms pushed chapter 13 too often and which ones had cases dismissed. It helped me a TON to know which three attorneys to interview because I knew where to focus my attention to avoid problems. In this regard the statistics would be as useful as a referral service while avoiding any appearance of preference by reporting nothing more than the statistics and letting members decide. However, there does seem to be quite a few of us that had business "complications" that could have been handled a little better had we known what to expect.
This is a good suggestion, but I'm not sure how to do this, if anybody has any ideas, please PM me

7. How about a specific area for creditors and collection agencies who will begin a constant telephone harassment campaign because there happens to be someone else with your first and last name in your area who is now seriously delinquent in all her credit obligations?? This is happening to me, even though I'm almost 5 years past discharge and don't owe anyone anything except for my mortgage, and that is current. When I tell these creditors that I am not the Jane Doe they are searching they become nasty and start calling even more often. I'm at the point where I have filed complaints with the FCC, but the calls are still coming. Fortunately they only call my home number (because it's listed) and not my cell. It's not identity theft. That was my initial suspicion but my credit reports are squeaky clean and reporting correctly.

I'm not sure how a section like this would fit on BKF. What about a category which discusses techniques on getting off calling lists?

8. I'd love to have a Pro Se (In Pro Per) forum where the art of pro se filing can be discussed ad naseum. I have been just using my Blog to communicate the rantings of a pro se filer (myself). I just find that the pro se related items get all mixed up in the regular discussions.
You got it. Done.

9. I also think a separate category for Budgeting and Saving Money would be excellent. I know for a lot of us this concept of a budget is new, and everyone can benefit from tips on how to save money. I've learned A LOT in the past year - LOL!
You got it. Done

10. Every state is has different rules. It would be helpful if everyone would post what state and what district they have filed or are filing in so that we could easier apply their experiences/problems/solutions to our own situation. It would also help with choosing an attorney.
Ok, I've made State a required field shown on user's profile, this way we can see what state the poster is from.

11. Suggestion, sometimes a closed thread is self evident. I believe a mandatory reason for the thread closing should be posted before a thread is closed, for all to see when it is not self evident.
Sorry, but in an effort to have effective moderating, mods are only required to give a reason for closing a thread (or any other mod action) to another mod. We do encourage mods to post a reason whenever possible, if a particular moderator NEVER posts a reason, please notify a supermod

12. My needs are small. I liked being able to have my pretty things in my signature, but since you took it down to 500 characters including bb code, my signature looks all plain and boring. My wish would be for the bb code to not count toward the signature character count.
Due to potential abuse by spammers and placing of excessive distracting images/colorful text, the signature space has limitations.

[ccsjoe]

Laz, maybe some better exposure on search engines would help with the goal. I think that can be done fairly inexpensively.

I tell you though, that, for me at least, when I dscovered this forum I was reluctant to sign up thinking I was probably gonna get spammed to death like many other sites out there. Maybe attempting to distinguish the site from other, more commercial sites, will encourage more people to register....something like "A no-spamming, no-solicitation community of bankruptcy resources and research"....I don't know, just ideas, but it would have made me register sooner I guess. I think such a "banner" statement would certainly encourage more users to register and stay.

[laz]

Thx ccsjoe, I implemented that banner for guests

[tigergem]

I haven't gotten any spam from this site at all. I appreciate that level of privacy. Also, when I was doing research for my chapter 13, more often than not, at least one post from this forum would show up in the top 10 in google. Justbroke's posts, usually. Very helpful!

[mrskal]

Get a facebook page!(maybe there is one already?) You can even have paid ad campaigns on there, but it is not necessary. I have a page for my business, and I get lots of inquiries from there. Personally, I think it is the way to go. Nowadays facebook is not just filled with teens to 20 somethings, everyone is on there!

There have been some issues with Facebook and their privacy settings, or lack thereof, and how some of the members' facebook accounts interfaced with their BKForum accounts...

There have been some issues with Facebook and their privacy settings, or lack thereof, and how some of the members' facebook accounts interfaced with their BKForum accounts...

Connecting your bkforum account to facebook should be voluntary, but privacy settings could be set so that everything was protected. Certainly links to posts here would still be anonymous, since it would just be a link to the url of the post.

I dont know anything about that. I am just suggesting that BKForum has a page where thay can draw people to this site. I dont see where it would have anything to do with privacy. Maybe I am missing something.

Here are the two threads discussing the Facebook/BKForum issues that happened earlier this year:

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?56691-Facebook-and-BKforum-linked-any-way

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?56727-Facebook-Myspace&p=411713#post411713

They are both rather lengthy...

Automatic sign in is a different issue from having a bkforum facebook page, and/or allowing voluntary linking a facebook account. Privacy settings could be protected in all but the automatic sign in scenario.

Here is the link to Kim Komando's latest article about Facebook and privacy:

http://www.komando.com/toolbox.aspx?mode=print&id=9717

Here is the link to Kim Komando's latest article about Facebook and privacy:

http://www.komando.com/toolbox.aspx?mode=print&id=9717

Since the log in would be voluntary, those that would log in to post links and ratings would be people comfortable with the privacy settings of facebook. I agree that automatic login combines "real world" info with "bkforum" info and is a privacy risk, but voluntary linking and posting is another thing.

Having a bkforum facebook page should not have anything to do with privacy since it would be attracting facebook users not yet affiliated with bkforum that might learn about us and then sign up on bkforum.

Laz: Thx for the input: I will think about this facebook "like it" button suggestion.

[laz]

I have been thinking about building a bankruptcy tracker

It would be a page where users would have an option to enter every milestone of your BK progress. (State: , Filing Date: 01/01/2010, 341: 01/02/2010 etc etc) Then, other users could see how long each process is taking for each person. Something like trackitt.com

What do you think about it?

Can you suggest what those milestones should be?

[State]
[Filing date]
[341 Meeting]
[Adversarial proceeding]
[Discharge date]

can you think of more stages of the bankruptcy process that would be useful to enter into a tracker database?

[Pandora]

Laz

so long as whatever "tracking" you use is completely optional for each user - then that is fine IMO, however if made mandatory, thats where issue's come into play (again IMO).

As far as the Facebook thing - again, it should be user option. I, personally, would not add a BK forum to my own facebook page as its no ones business but my own what places I visit, unless I choose to divulge it.

[backtoschool]

I have been thinking about building a bankruptcy tracker

It would be a page where users would have an option to enter every milestone of your BK progress. (State: , Filing Date: 01/01/2010, 341: 01/02/2010 etc etc) Then, other users could see how long each process is taking for each person. Something like trackitt.com

What do you think about it?

Can you suggest what those milestones should be?

[State]
[Filing date]
[341 Meeting]
[Adversarial proceeding]
[Discharge date]

can you think of more stages of the bankruptcy process that would be useful to enter into a tracker database?

Here are some more milestones:

Closing date
Report of no distribution filed
Turned into an asset case
Last day for objections

[mrskal]

As far as the Facebook thing - again, it should be user option. I, personally, would not add a BK forum to my own facebook page as its no ones business but my own what places I visit, unless I choose to divulge it.

For the record, I was not suggesting anyone has to use facebook or sign up or have anything to do with facebook. I would not want the two linked together either, it is merely a way to get the forum out there to the millions of people who use facebook everyday.

[Freddy03]

Laz

As far as the Facebook thing - again, it should be user option. I, personally, would not add a BK forum to my own facebook page as its no ones business but my own what places I visit, unless I choose to divulge it.

Agreed - I would never tell anyone on Facebook I've filed.

I have also wondered if Trustees would use facebook for information (ie: vaction pictures, status updates, etc.)

[ccsjoe]

I have been thinking about building a bankruptcy tracker

It would be a page where users would have an option to enter every milestone of your BK progress. (State: , Filing Date: 01/01/2010, 341: 01/02/2010 etc etc) Then, other users could see how long each process is taking for each person. Something like trackitt.com

What do you think about it?

Can you suggest what those milestones should be?

[State]
[Filing date]
[341 Meeting]
[Adversarial proceeding]
[Discharge date]

can you think of more stages of the bankruptcy process that would be useful to enter into a tracker database?

Hey Laz,

In adding to B2S's suggestions, and not to make light, but I think a major milestone, although maybe worded differently is the "OMG I realize I'm screwed and need to file" date.

[backtoschool]

I think there are three different facebook "suggestions" floating around.

1. Autolinking your facebook sign in to bkforum sign in. (I don't think many people want this).

2. Adding the "like it" thumbs up, so that users could voluntarily hit the "like it" button on a thread or post and that information would be tabulated and propagated by facebook, which would increase traffic to the bkforum site. This would be voluntary and would not require a permanent link of the accounts, but would require the users to have a facebook account to hit the button.

3. Having a bkforum facebook page and account and wall as an outreach to non bkforum members to let them know about bkforum. This would have nothing to do with anyones bkforum account.

[Pandora]

In adding to B2S's suggestions, and not to make light, but I think a major milestone, although maybe worded differently is the "OMG I realize I'm screwed and need to file" date.

Joe.. you crack me up!

mrskal - I understood what you meant - no worries

ETA: (cuz I just saw BTS's post)

Yes - in that context, it would be fine - voluntary is the key word. I was merely saying that for myself personally, even though I am on here, love the forum and all its wonderful information - I still would not "like it" on Facebook. Its a preference thing

[mrskal]

I like the tracking idea. I went on a cruise once, and belong to a "cruising" forum and people had trackers associated with their names of what cruises they took, when they were scheduled for their upcoming cruises etc...it was pretty cool.