Is there going to be a mobile version for KP soon? I’d love to use it and know a bunch of people at the track who go on KP daily and who would appreciate a mobile version.
Is there a specific issue you have with the standard version when viewed on your phone? Of all the forums I’ve been a part of, this one works pretty much exactly as the desktop version for me.
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First off -
Advantages for mobile:
- I’d like to access the page at tracks where there’s poor Wi-Fi. With a browser it doesn’t load, but on a mobile app I could still flip it open and access posts I’ve saved since they’d be cached locally.
- Push notifications - it’d be nice to be notified every time you receive a reply, no? I appreciate that KP sends a notification to your email, but a mobile app as the form factor removes all that friction of having to either log in or access your email on your phone.
- Tab hunting - KP often gets buried between tabs. A native app would make it one tap away and far more top-of-mind.
Then, there are also new features helpful for the community which are not on KP yet - regardless of mobile / web:
- Track-centered discussion channels, for example, would be an internet gathering hub for drivers who visit the same track on which discussions are locale-focused. I’d love to visit a new track and join their channel to see the activity there, get a sense of the local community, check out who practices there, who I can reach out to for trackside help and even setup tips particularly attuned to the regional weather / track conditions.
- Status quo: KP is amazing - no doubt there - but right now everything’s grouped under generic categories and there is no filtering mechanism, besides search, using which you can find information pertaining to a specific track.
- Race channels: this follows the above. We have official threads for SuperNats - and granted, it’s the biggest race of the year - but there isn’t any other centralized discussion hub for other races. There are scattered discord channels and forums on Reddit - but none of these channels have reached a populace large enough to leverage the same network effect KP can to drive engagement. What if we embed a calendar of races, and with each race open a channel specifically catering to it? Now instead of searching for “ROK Sonoma R1” you access it directly via a channel and all the conversations are immediately visible. Realistically, this may also bring potential for monetization: featured race channels could be sponsored by organizers, teams or vendors, offering visibility and driving engagement with real-time updates, photos, Q&A, and post-race breakdowns. Essentially all under one roof except streaming.
These are just some ideas I have. I love KP and respect the ecosystem the founders have built. But I also think that KP can be refurbished into a ecosystem that offer a more holistic user experience not limited to general / topic-based Q&A.
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mobile itself as a form factor, like you said, doesn’t necessarily add substantial value as there are significant trade-offs you’ll have to consider like server costs. but bringing in new features would. package all of that into a mobile platform such that what you’re dealing with is not just a simple forum but a full-fledged ecosystem of race-specific / track-specific channels would offer, what i’d argue, a unique value proposition that fills a gap. personally i agree with the need to browse for conversation channels specific to races. i’d also add live race results as googling for each one then saving the tab is a headache.
I’ll circle back tomorrow, lots to discuss. We use discourse so I’ll leave this here re mobile app and comes up pretty often among the discourse developer community:
Personally I’m OK with not getting push notifications. On a broader scale, I’d prefer if the forums didn’t add to the noise that we already experience in our digital worlds. I’d rather we continue to build a place that’s worth making time to come to vs prodding people to come back at various times. My thought is that this leads to more intentionality (is that a word?) and generally higher quality conversations.
The trouble with ecosystems is that (in my experience) there really is not enough interest or traffic to gain critical mass in karting. Kartpulse actually started as a social network with a directory for tracks, series and businesses. Galleries, newsfeeds etc etc, all with proximity based filtering too.
Unfortunately it was a (comparative) ghost town.
I’m not opposed to revisiting some aspects of what’s been tried in the past, but the use case needs to be pretty solid.
First order of business is to get rid of the abhorrent google ads. More to follow on that…
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