So what's so great about Chainbb that I picked it as one of the other platforms I am posting and commenting from? This one is a little harder to explain as easily, but it is as equally an awesome project as eSteem.
Like the title suggests, there's such a mindset change needed in order to appreciate how Chainbb is more than just another front-end for Steemit.com. So much so, that I feel a little overwhelmed by the very different approach to presenting content and producing a post.
For example, there doesn't appear to be a preview panel to show you the results of your markdown efforts. But keep in mind, this project is early, and ambitious, and these features are sure to eventually make their way onto the forums.
But the current offering is no slouch, though again, it does come with a learning curve/perspective change.
Whois Chainbb?
ChainBB is the latest digital lovechild of @jesta the steemstats.com developer who has been a Steemit asset for as long as I can remember (or since July 15, 2016 - thanks for the specific date eSteem!)
This latest project impresses me most with its organization of topics and ease of exploring the forums.
In the screenshot above, I made sure to collapse some of the topics to illustrate how easy it is filter down to only the subjects you want to explore. And by clicking into any of the available subjects, your brought to another screen that both presents the latest posts in the forum, and also recommends sub-forums that could interest you or are relevant to the conversation somehow.
Posting is a Little Tough
The part of the experience that I believe will greatly improve over the next days, months, and years is posting. I have come to rely on being able to preview my post, so not being able to do so on Chainbb isn't a dealbreaker, but it is currently an obstacle.
Full disclosure: I am writing this in Chainbb and will post from here as well, but I will pump the text into the steemit editor just to make sure my markdown isn't funky. But as much as possible, I am trying to do all the writing in the provided editor on Chainbb.
One feature that I like is that you have to travel to the forum for the topic you'd like to post in before you can post, and this generates the first tag you will use, depending on which thread you're posting to. Another great feature is that you can write up a post in the steemit editor and even post from there and still tie it to the forum by making it the first tag. In this case, I'm using chainbb-general as an example.
In Chainbb, this tag is preselected for me. But in Steemit, if I were to make it my first tag, it would then also show up in the forums in the correct place.
So for those of you that may want to support this project but are intimidated by the learning curve, I believe this is a way to still show support (Please correct me if this is wrong).
I will be using the Chainbb tag as this is a first impression novice user experience review.
Commenting is FUN!
What I enjoy a lot right now is replying to comments via Chainbb while I'm shackled to my corporate ball and chain. It's easy and when you read down the thread it's must easier to immediately identify the context of the comment.
This is highly functional, but I've also come to rely on having the value of the post or comment displayed somewhere. Of course, this is just extra information that doesn't really matter in a good dialogue, but on Steemit we're so used to seeing this information that it's noticeable when it's not there. My workaround for this is eSteem, so I have not noticed a big impact to my workflow.
And in a way, I'm really pleased by the focus being less about the dollar amount of a comment or post and more just about the community and conversation. I mean, honestly, we all know that on the backend good content is being rewarded (hopefully), so not having it here is almost akin to leaving your smart phone at home for a weekend camping trip (not recommended).
Chainbb also provides color coding on the voting button that helps you quickly identify what you have or haven't voted on. A dropdown also allows you to set the percentage of voting power, and once clicked it turns purple. Blue indicates you haven't voted yet.
Thinking about it in this way helps free me up to appreciate that there are friggin forums of Steemit posts that I can go all Spelunker on!
The Rock is my Corporate Job and the Bottomless Rabbit Hole is Chainbb Forums!
Lunch Break Done, Back to Serfdom
There is so much more I plan to write about Chainbb, but with the last remaining gasps of my lunch hour I am going to get some fresh air and explore the Forums!
Let me know in the comments how your experience has been with Chainbb, and please leave any pointers or pro tips that can help Chainbb novices like me!
Chainbb: Chains You Can Believe In!
Big Shoutout to @cryptoctopus who was the straw that broke the camel's back for getting me to sign up to chainbb a few weeks ago and to finally start using it.
(posted from Chainbb.com)