Who uses Enjin.com? What do you think of it?

I'm looking at enjin.com for Minecraft community hosting. What is your experience with them?

 

They are fine themselves, but their template sucks :/

 

deltahat I used them for about a year and a half. The free version is okay if you don't have a big community or want a lot pages. Its best if you go with the "advanced" plan. IMO

 

Important thing to consider (that I haven't researched myself) about this sort of service: If you want to leave them, can you take all of your data, your users, etc with you.

 

This is somewhat reassuring, from the TOS:

I'll email them about their data portability policy.

 

Honestly, I'd rather setup my own website for $5. I can't stand Enjin templates. It's all personal opinion of course, but I think spending a little more time (and money) will pay off.

 

Enjin makes my eyes bleed. Legit.

 

This exactly. Haha. I've seen a few where I was okay with it. But it seems the majority of people lay a bunch of widgets on it that's completely unnecessary (do I really need a clock on the webpage?). So its a stack'o widgets on relatively ugly templates (this is all personal opinion). Stacks on stacks on stacks.

 

Ok. So your complaint so far is not about Enjin as a technology platform. Instead you don't like the tasteless aesthetic decisions of some of its users.

Has anybody used Enjin to try to run a community?

 

http://www.legendarycraft.com/

 

Just got this back from their pre-sales support:

Sounds like they won't go out of their way to help you leave, but won't try to stop you like Facebook would.

 

The page you linked to in the OP has links to a bunch of them..
http://www.legendarycraft.com/
http://www.minetown.net/
http://www.shadowraze.net/
http://www.obsidiancraft.com/
http://www.lostcraft.net/
http://www.blockempires.com/
http://www.spookycraft.net/
http://www.mineheroes.com/
http://www.savagerealms.net/
http://www.mcgodworld.com/
http://thecitycraft.co.uk/
http://www.beyondminecraft.net/

 

Indeed it does. I was hoping to get a first-hand account from somebody running a community on Enjin.

 

ik its a gaming community you want but i found i liked my own hosting plan and and forum software i can control I started out with this http://www.smfforfree.com/
and later got my own website and used there software simple machines you can set your own meta tags which makes it easier for google and other search engines to find you

 

For me, data portability is one of the most important requirements for managing a community. You can't maintain backups if you can't get at them. What if enjin goes down, or decides your site violates some terms of service and takes it down? You lose everything.

If you're planning on running this community for a year then letting it die, then don't worry about the risks, it's just a year. If you want to establish a community that could last a decade, run your own site.

 

You never defined as a technology platform previously, so I think we all gave opinions based on our first thought of enjin.

 

I personally use enjin for my server. I use the Advanced plan. Lately my server has been low on funds so we are back to the free plan. I love enjin Easy to use and set up, and tons of customizability. You can create great looking websites within a few minutes (If you already have graphics, such as the logo and buttons). The only complaint I have is that it doesn't support php so if you want php code on your website you need to host it on an external site and embed it through an iframe.

 

You are right. I should have been more clear. I value your opinion and am sorry for the confusion.

 

I've been using them to host my forums for awhile now, its a nice service if you dont want to spend the time setting up your own site/forum or don't already have your own web hosting. I use it because it allows my staff without html experience to make changes to the site when needed. The free plan can be limiting but works fine. Most of the advanced minecraft features require a paid plan though.

 

sorry if this is necroing an old thread but this is important.

I suggest y'all STAY AWAY FROM ENJIN!

Because once you go to enjin you are stuck. They offer forum imports but whenever you ask about export they say "not at this time" and have been saying that for years. They want you to move your phpbb or vbulletin forums to enjin and once there, you can't migrate to anywhere else anymore.

For that reason alone, I would never risk starting a community on enjin. Even if you don't pay for premium access, they make money on your traffic with ad impressions. Either way, they are very motivated in keeping you stuck there and this would make them full of excuses on making export unavailable I'm sure.

The most important feature for me is ability to back up my forum. Having the database dump, I can do whatever I want with that, convert it, re-import, etc.

Good luck!

 

Hi Whammy,

I know you feel very strongly about an export tool, and we actually plan to have this ability. So if you do need to export your forums from an Enjin website, it will be possible soon.

 

Enjin is a great community easy to create sites with, easy to be social. Easy cms system. Easy server-to-site management. Enjin is great!

 

I'm pretty happy with Enjin. People on Bukkit seem to hate it, but the service is good and it's easy to use.

Yeah, sometimes pages can look cluttered, but if you put enough effort in they won't.

 

I'm not really a fan of enjin, I personally don't like the look and feel of any website using the software. My servers forums are using Xenforo (what this site is), I feel it's a lot more user friendly and it's a great forums out of the box, albeit the license is pricy. This is just my opinion though, enjin is an extremely popular software for minecraft servers and will be successful despite my opinions about it's look and feel.

 

If you know how to make and maintain your own website do it, if not, use Enjin, it will simplify your life. Thats my opinion