Ironically, it looks like the mobile theme of this site ("IP Board Low Fi") doesn't have the advertisements either so when I use it from my iPhone, I get no ads anyway. So Tapatalk would be
no different from an ad revenue perspective..
The "IP Board Lo-Fi" mobile template is lightweight and gets rid of a lot of the extra cruft. However, it is not a good iPhone layout, and I am not sure if this forum software has built in native iPhone or Android interfaces (like wordpress does).
My company does this for our apps. We make iPhone and iPad and Android versions of everything we do. It isn't that hard anymore - almost every web platform supports the layouts pretty automatically. Things like vBulletin, PHPBB, and other forum software do as well, as far as I know (without looking it up).
Here are my complaints about how this forum works on iPhone (and why I would prefer Tapatalk):
1. Cannot upload images in a post. When I am out and about, I would like to be able to post images.
2. Text is too small and has no "awareness" of the size of my screen. This means LOTS of zooming/scrolling just to use the site.
3. It is hard to save login credentials across sessions. The remember-me function just uses cookies, which breaks if cookies are deleted.
I agree with your opinion of "appification" as well: we have an app Tapatalk which is used by over 30,000 forums, is supported by all the major forum platforms, and is easy to set up and use.
Yet some sites insist on doing it their own way (not just this one - the official BMW and Triumph motorcycle forums built their own apps too). This means WTW ownership will incur technical overhead to develop and support an app that they could have had for free (probably off-setting any gains in ad revenue - especially considering things like ad blocking and whatnot already eat into ad revenue as it is).
Tapatalk even covers the ad-revenue question in
their FAQ:
Q: Will I lose revenue from my current web properties?
A: Tapatalk app is an optional service to your members - it drives more engagement and participation to your forum. While you may lose some pageviews up-front, in a long run you will have a more engaging forum as people are free to post new content on-the-go. Though we also have Link Affiliation (Powered by VigLink) and Donation (Mobile Payment) integration to help you earn extra revenue.
One single app, that has built in support for the 8 most common forum platforms (and more), requires no development or support, and is used by over THIRTY THOUSAND forums.
I have too many other forums I use that turned on Tapatalk for me to really want to help this one out by downloading yet another disparate forum app...
I get that the new owners (
Social Knowlege) are a company that is growing their own list of communities, and that is great. They currently have maybe 20 or so, and claim around 1.7 million registered members. More power to them if they want to write their own app.
It just makes it a pain in the ass.
So with that I will call my input on this topic done, as there is no sense in beating a dead horse so-to-speak.
(Social Knowlege does claim their site members are passionate and subject matter experts - so I guess I fit in to those in some ways, eh?)
