Resources
Helpful information for making the smart decision of moving to and getting started with Vanilla Forums.
All Hip Hop
When 'Grouchy' Greg Watkins found out that AllHipHop.com's forum had been hacked by exploiting a SQL injection vulnerability, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was time to migrate the growing community to a modern platform.
Launched in 1998, AllHipHop.com is a diversified media company that has been called the CNN of Hip Hop. Co-Founder and Co-CEO Watkins understands the value of community: "We've been able to grow to become the biggest online Hip Hop community and attract an impressive audience of 18-34 year-old lifestyle consumers. Our growth has been 100% organic and has come from our strong editorial content and from content generated by our community."
When it became clear that AllHipHop's self-hosted community software was no longer up to the task, they set out to look for the modern replacement of the self-hosted bulletin board.
"AllHipHop is a media business, not an IT business. Our staff needs to be focused on keeping our audience engaged, not worrying about server and software issues. More importantly, we need to look to the future and make sure that our community can compete for the attention of our visitors who have more choice than ever in terms of where they want to hang out online."
Since the migration, the AllHipHop.com community has been able to resume its growth trajectory and put forward a better offering to its audience and advertising partners.
"Vanilla took pains to understand our community's unique culture and worked with us to customize some of the functionality to really engage our membership. Now that our community is secure and SPAM free, we can do a better job of monetizing community traffic."
Undertaking a migration of an active community can be a scary prospect. AllHipHop worked with the Vanilla team and its community moderators to ensure that the change would be a positive one for members.
"The transition went very smoothly and we are seeing our traffic and participation grow each day. Words cannot describe the positive impact that this decision has had on all aspects of our business."
