For years, eBaytm Auctions organized most of their chat functions into single threaded discussions for a variety of topics. For many users, this was the first type of a social gathering they had seen, and popularity in the unique system grew. As the online selling giant grew, it developed and installed content message systems that they could manage better, but kept their "chat" system for diehards that spent a lot of time in the "AOL Cafe" and other categories ranging from help sections to collectibles. Eventually, the social chat system that eBaytm pioneered was hard to upgrade and maintain, and it is rumored that the original chat board system will be replaced or removed.
SneakBay, DOLL CHAT!, and PMMB
In 2000, eBaytm user David Dotson ("SneakyDave") developed a similar chat system that fans of the format could appreciate, and went through various incarnations, including: SneakBay, a proving grounds of the software; "DOLL CHAT!", a unique group of doll collectors; and the "Poor Man's Message Board". Now, SneakIt Forums have been released with an emphasis on usefulness, reliability, and speed.
High Usability, Low Appearance
SneakIt Forums are deliberately "old school" in design. There are a few HTML tables that are slowly being replaced by CSS, it certainly isn't going to win any contests in glitz and glamour. This is deliberate, to provide the most stable solution to members. There isn't much javascript, AJAX, or client side functions to bog a person's browser down, or to introduce incompatibilities with different systems. Although SneakIt Forums is designed with minimalism in mind, we're always looking at new design concepts to make the site more attractive.
Features
SneakIt Forums implements a lot of what people like about this type of message/chat system, and improves on them. We're always looking for new ways to make things better for members. Visit the Contact page to suggest a feature we should add. Here are a few attributes that stand out.
Profile Improvements
Each member of SneakIt Forums has a profile where they can adjust their message background color, font color, the number of messages/posts they want to see on a page, as well as a their own signature that will appear in each message they create. In addition, there are a number of HTML tags that are allowed in messages.
20th Century Functionality
Yes, 20th Century. Members can delete their own messages, or report ones that break the rules, or are otherwise questionable. When SneakIt Forums moves into the 21st Century, we might add the ability to edit a member's message.
No more "What is the URL for that image?"
SneakIt Forums allows a temporary image to be uploaded with each message. It will even resize the image automagically to save some resources.
Patent Pending Page Production
No, not really, SneakIt Forums just allows members to view more than one page of messages in a forum, or created by an individual.
All Time Zones Represented
Some social message systems stick you in the Pacific Time Zone, but what if you don't live in the Pacific? Members have the option to set their time zone so that all message times are local to them.
SEO Friendly
Although we're still working on pieces of this for this site, SneakIt Forums focuses on readability for both search engines, and visitors. Message board names are "human friendly", and we strive to keep content light, fresh, and on topic.
Points Based System
Members have a running "score" based loosely on the content they provide, and other factors such as referrals, registration, and length of membership
Happy User Captcha
To reduce the number of bots attempting to spam the forums, we've instituted a unique system called Asirra on certain pages of the site.
Referrals
Members of SneakIt Forums can share a link with their friends and earn referrals and points
Smileys!
A number of simple, yet effective, smileys are available for members to use in their conversations.
BBCodes!
But wait, there's more! Along with some basic HTML tags that are allowed, a few "bbcodes" popular with various flavors of forum software are also available, albeit pretty basic.