TOPIC: SF improvements (website, forum, etc ...)

Hello everyone,

I figured that, since we're such a fun, tightly knit and helping community, we could maybe help SF improve some things they do by giving our thoughts on what we've witnessed from them.
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who thought: "Hey, this is good, but were they to do it this way, wouldn't it better?"

I'll start with a few ideas from me:

• Forum:

How about making the forum "Tapatalk" usable?
If you do not know about it yet, Tapatalk is a smartphone app that makes using a forum on the go very easy and very user friendly. Its features are basically the same as a "desktop" forum but in a much smarter way considering how much screen space there is.
I have no share in the Tapatalk app and am not necessarily interested in bringing it more users
However, its simplicity of use and the fact that I most likely am not the only one to use it among the SF community makes for a smart move I think.

Also, forums sometimes have a chat box. I think its name is pretty self explanatory and it enables connected members to discuss live about the topics in the forum or any other thing really (mostly any other things, people tend to answer in the forum topics and not on the chatbox). It's something I've always found likable and it brings people even closer to one another.

• Communication:

I do not know who manages the Twitter account or the Facebook account of SF (come to think of it, I do not "like" SF on Facebook, I'll deal with that later). However, in my college years, I undertook communication classes which, for the record, I deeply hated. But, they did teach me something: it's that your communication must be dispatched over a regular amount of time. But on Twitter, SF usually "dumps" (for lack of a better word) around 10 retweets and new tweets on a 2 hours window, and then not much is tweeted.
I think that (if possible, I know and understand that SF have A LOT on their hands right now) the communication would be much more efficient if evened out in time.


What are your thoughts people? How do you think we could help SF improve, one way or another?

Some of the things you've described are a result of SF being run by a small crew. Specifically on the communication side of things typically it's Phil and Stephanie or Daniel making those social media posts and they're all super busy with other responsibilities. I too feel that the communication side of things could be handled better (for example I would love to see a developers blog) but it's mostly a matter of peeps on their end being overextended as is.

Yes, I figured that much, but I think there's a feature on Twitter to set a publication time for tweets. I'll check on that

I know it's a small crew, and as I said, I know, just like any of us here at SF forum, that their hands are pretty full. So I understand that their main focus goes towards the saber quality rather than the perfection of their communication strategy

When you say "developers' blog", do you mean a saber crafter blog? To publish all the designs that are being worked on? Or an actual "developers' blog" that'd be more about the IT aspect of SF?

I am pretty sure I heard that there were website improvements coming in concert with the ASP launch, so perhaps some of the other items on your list will get some attention as well.

If SaberForge was a car I think an oil change and a lube job would serve them better than upgrading the radio! Just saying. The Machine just needs alittle tune-up to keep its fast paced growth!

I believe they are working hard to balance the demands of the business with their desire to keep things affordable. Not an easy thing to achieve, but I have faith that they will find the right mix.

Both I suppose. A blog that keeps their patrons updated on changes to LEDs, new options being rolled out, insight into designs once they've launched, teases, etc. I gather info from their FB page, the Custom Saber FB page, the forum here, random interactions I hear about, small details on their etsy pages, etc. There's no central location to get accurate information (other than the FAQ here) about everything that's going on. When I first started buying from SF it was disorienting as heck to have to piece together what all was available (this was pre FAQ).

Perhaps that is something Kyntiri could do in his spare time, once he gets settled.

Just a small suggestion on hilts information, I think it would be helpful if the hilt's physical dimensions are provided on SF. Just the length and maybe the diameter of the body.

Darth Mario was working on this AGES ago, hopefully it'll find a place on the SF website 2.0.

h2soy wrote:
Yes, I heard about that earlier this year, don't remember where though. I did not include it in my first post but yes, that would be a very nice add to the saber information pages.

Also, h2soy, your idea for a developers' blog has a huge fan in me! Your idea blew my mind away! (get it?)

Faethien wrote:
I'm pretty new here, but one of the first things I tried was searching for SaberForge in the Tapatalk app after I joined. I use it with other forums related to cosplay that I'm a member of. Then, I decided I'd do a forum search to see if anyone else had mentioned it and found this old post

It's definitely nice to have, particularly for subscribing to threads and receiving push notifications right on your smartphone immediately. However, I have no idea what it takes to implement on a forum and I know the staff have a ton on their plate right now as it is.

The existing mobile version of the forum via a phone's web browser does what it needs to, but It feels a little clunky. I think a Tapatalk integration would be a nice fancy thing to have on here some day though

I actually really like the difference in the way US wires their hilts as compared to SF's. Theirs are without a kill key, which does cause minimal battery drain while not on the charger, but the LED can be powered while charging which means you can display the saber with the blade lit up as long as it's plugged in. I don't know enough about the specifics of how they've wired it differently, just the difference in functionality, but I really like the ability to display with the blade lit on my one US hilt, and have found the battery drain to be pretty minimal with a non-illuminated switch. To me the trade-off is well worth it, and wish this was an option for SF hilts. It also avoids having that super annoying "sabercore... viridian" or "sabercore... crimson" when removing the kill key.


Can't say I know another saber with this function, but a mute button/switch would be a really nice feature. I hate having to go through the entire setup process just to turn off the volume. Also, why the heck does it make you go through sensitivity settings if you've set sound to mute? If there's no sound, these settings don't even matter, but you've still gotta click your way through them.

I thought SF offered the nite-lite function that allowed sabers to be lit while charging?

Borommakot wrote:
That function is available. The FAQ has a section that talks about that very thing.

It is just very important to say you want that configuration when you order!

Hi all.
I like the mobile browser version of the forum but taptalk would also be a quality addition.

I cant comment on sabers as im still awaiting my first order (viper elite 11/1/16 hoping to go shipped soon).

The website seems pretty spot on to be fair too so the only suggestion i could come up with to contribute would be once the dust settles on the "rebrth" maybe SF could implement some sort of NFC system to their workshop process.
Im sure the saber builds are moved arround stations in some sort of basket so if each station had an nfc chip set up and so did the basket (with your email) it would be a simple way for their system to keep you informed of whats happening.
The posibilities of linking it with a little video of work going on at said station would be pretty cool too.
It would give some of the more impatient customers piece of mind and certainly ease the grief and animosity.
Just an idea