ADVICE ON STARTING A FORUM
Discussion
Due to the great number of hits on my website, I have considered starting up a forum.
Can anyone give me some insight into the pros & cons.
How do I start it.
How much does it cost.
How much time do I need to set aside to maintain it.
Do I need to employ a webmaster, or can I do it myself.
Any legalities that I need to beware of.
Any advice gratefully accepted.
www.berlinetta.co.uk
Can anyone give me some insight into the pros & cons.
How do I start it.
How much does it cost.
How much time do I need to set aside to maintain it.
Do I need to employ a webmaster, or can I do it myself.
Any legalities that I need to beware of.
Any advice gratefully accepted.
www.berlinetta.co.uk
Edited by 360boy on Friday 10th August 14:31
360boy said:
How do I start it.
Depending on your Web hosting company you can get a forum installed at the click on a button for free. My perferred choice of forum software is phpBB.
360boy said:
How much does it cost.
The software is free for phpBB. If your hosting company offers a one-click install then that is free too. If you want to pay someone to install it for you then it'll cost you a little bit. The main cost (if you choose not to do it yourself) will be modifying the forum to look and feel like the rest of your site.
360boy said:
How much time do I need to set aside to maintain it.
Maintainance is pretty easy once it's up and running. You'll need to dedecate some time in the beginning to set up different rooms etc, but once it's up and running all you really have to do is attract members and moderate content.
360boy said:
Do I need to employ a webmaster, or can I do it myself.
Nah!
360boy said:
Any legalities that I need to beware of.
Have a good T&Cs and policies such as no naming and shaming etc will save you time and hassle.
You're biggest problem will be attracting members and keeping your forum busy. An empty forum will turn people off very quickly.
Hope that helps!
Edited by slapmatt on Monday 29th January 11:25
slapmatt said:
360boy said:
How do I start it.
Depending on your Web hosting company you can get a forum installed at the click on a button for free. My perferred choice of forum software is phpBB.
360boy said:
How much does it cost.
The software is free for phpBB. If your hosting company offers a one-click install then that is free too. If you want to pay someone to install it for you then it'll cost you a little bit. The main cost (if you choose not to do it yourself) will be modifying the forum to look and feel like the rest of your site.
360boy said:
How much time do I need to set aside to maintain it.
Maintainance is pretty easy once it's up and running. You'll need to dedecate some time in the beginning to set up different rooms etc, but once it's up and running all you really have to do is attract members and moderate content.
360boy said:
Do I need to employ a webmaster, or can I do it myself.
Nah!
360boy said:
Any legalities that I need to beware of.
Have a good T&Cs and policies such as no naming and shaming etc will save you time and hassle.
You're biggest problem will be attracting members and keeping your forum busy. An empty forum will turn people off very quickly.
Hope that helps!
Agree with most of the above except for the phpBB bit, spambots luurve phpBB forums, probably because they are so popular, the phpBB team keep updating the software mind, depends on your webhost as to whether they update the scripts for you though, otherwise it can be a pain.
I would suggest you take a look at www.simplemachines.org/ for forum software.
Invision Power board is also good (but not free...)
Check out my profile, then click the banner up top 
The VDS Pro comes with free, quick install of PhpBB, so two clicks and the latest safe version is installed and running for you (make sure you always use the latest, as with anything, the older versions have holes in!)
Once it's up and running, it's just a case of getting it advertised and getting the users to post.
We host hundreds of Forums on Register1, just recently of the guys got so big he's upgraded to a Dedicated server (100 online users at any time!!)
It's all about having the right content, posts and moderation!
J
The VDS Pro comes with free, quick install of PhpBB, so two clicks and the latest safe version is installed and running for you (make sure you always use the latest, as with anything, the older versions have holes in!)
Once it's up and running, it's just a case of getting it advertised and getting the users to post.
We host hundreds of Forums on Register1, just recently of the guys got so big he's upgraded to a Dedicated server (100 online users at any time!!)
It's all about having the right content, posts and moderation!
J
Thanks for the advice Jamie. You have been highly recommended to me by a few people, so I would be interested in receiving some pricing for hosting of my existing site and/or another.
The only problem which I can see at present, is that my webmaster actually owns the search engine on my site, for which I have to e-mail changes changes to him.
Am I going to have problems getting you to host a site with his search engine?
Re starting a forum. Is it best to link it to my existing site or design a totally new website with a new domain name, specifically for the forum?
If you would rather e-mail me the details rather than posting them on the thread, please contact me via my profile.
Many thanks.
The only problem which I can see at present, is that my webmaster actually owns the search engine on my site, for which I have to e-mail changes changes to him.
Am I going to have problems getting you to host a site with his search engine?
Re starting a forum. Is it best to link it to my existing site or design a totally new website with a new domain name, specifically for the forum?
If you would rather e-mail me the details rather than posting them on the thread, please contact me via my profile.
Many thanks.
360boy said:
Thanks for the advice Jamie. You have been highly recommended to me by a few people, so I would be interested in receiving some pricing for hosting of my existing site and/or another.
The only problem which I can see at present, is that my webmaster actually owns the search engine on my site, for which I have to e-mail changes changes to him.
Am I going to have problems getting you to host a site with his search engine?
Re starting a forum. Is it best to link it to my existing site or design a totally new website with a new domain name, specifically for the forum?
If you would rather e-mail me the details rather than posting them on the thread, please contact me via my profile.
Many thanks.
The only problem which I can see at present, is that my webmaster actually owns the search engine on my site, for which I have to e-mail changes changes to him.
Am I going to have problems getting you to host a site with his search engine?
Re starting a forum. Is it best to link it to my existing site or design a totally new website with a new domain name, specifically for the forum?
If you would rather e-mail me the details rather than posting them on the thread, please contact me via my profile.
Many thanks.
You definately need to sort something out, your search engine on the site doesn't display any results when hunting for a registration; it's also desperately slow.
I've no problems posting here..
If he's written bespoke content that you've paid for, then simply instruct him to port it to your new hosting.
he'll invariably demand money for this, and if you pay will depend on what sort of contract you have with him.
As for the forums, they can be skinned / tweaked / redesigned by anyone with a half decent HTML skillset, or I can put you in touch with several designers & coders whom would be able to bespoke it all for you anyway.
J
If he's written bespoke content that you've paid for, then simply instruct him to port it to your new hosting.
he'll invariably demand money for this, and if you pay will depend on what sort of contract you have with him.
As for the forums, they can be skinned / tweaked / redesigned by anyone with a half decent HTML skillset, or I can put you in touch with several designers & coders whom would be able to bespoke it all for you anyway.
J
Technical stuff has already been covered, so I wont go over that.
However, running a forum, is where it gets interesting.
The biggest bit of advice I can give you, and this is the gold plated Tinman rule of forums - do not create hundreds of sections from the start unless you want the Tumbleweed Effect. (Tumbleweed Effect(TM) by Tinman, 2007)
On a new forum create maybe 1 or 2 wide general sections. Only create new sections when the you see a pattern, eg people are interesting in Subject X, create a Subject X section.
Don't even do it with projects, eg Project 2007 has its own section, and Project 2008 gets added in 11 months time regardless of traffic in the 2007 section. Just have a single Projects section. Only move to segmentation when there is a high amount of traffic.
Here is the reason - if you create sections where there is no traffic you create what i call the Tumbleweed Effect. Essentially, you are creating a ghost town. People don't live in ghost towns - they pass through. Thats what happens to forums that suffer from the Tumbleweed Effect.
There are two ways that this effect comes around. Firstly, create loads and loads of sections from the beginning. You will have nearly no users and a huge ghost town. Secondly, as things pick up, you get a bit carried away with creating sections, and the forum becomes the ghost town.
This second issue is the bit that kills lots and lots of forums. They have a initial flurry of activity, the admin thinks "I need new sections to make it all nice and neat". He creates the sections galore, the hardcore group using the forum then gets spread out over a much wider forum. And at this point the Tumbleweed Effect kicks in. There aren't enough users to keep these sections alive, and because you've pushed everyone across the forum, they are not together anymore, and rather than increasing traffic, you actually destroy what you had because the users go somewhere else that is more "alive".
With http://forum.staples2naples.com i was very careful to make the back pressure before creating the forum and new sections.
I was pestered for absolutely ages to set it up, but setting it up when there isn't enough pressure creates the ghost town from the start. People stop by for a drink so to speak, and then move on. Only when I felt there was enough pressure to make the initial forum work did i set it up.
The forum was then just one event and laid out for each particular part, eg hotels, teams, cars, and a couple of other things. This was just enough (and copied by every other StreetSafari clone) to get things moving without the Tumbleweed Effect kicking in.
As the number of events grew (in effect Projects), they got their own sections. But occasionally you get a Tumbleweed Section or two, so I amalgamated all the Event sections together. eg S2N2006 hotels, S2N2006 teams, S2N2006 preparation, all came under one heading of the event name itself, simply S2N2006.
You will also notice that unless you sign up, you don't see the whole forum either. This is deliberate.
There is nothing worse for a new user to see billions of sections. Where do they start? By giving them a small introductory part of the forum they can see, it encourages them to come in. Once they have signed up, then they see the history of StreetSafari events.
You will also notice that finished event (project) sections are locked. Again, deliberate. Once a section has finished its useful life, lock it to prevent changes and additions. If someone wants to talk about Home2Rome 2005, then the place is in the chat section, rather than the depreciated H2R2005 section. It encourages the user to meet new people and to draw them in, rather than allowing them to stay in a part of the forum that has become deserted.
Finally, if you are not asleep by now, don't do a forum unless its beneficial to the business. A forum thats dead does more damage to the business than good. Essentially, a dead forum tells the prospective punter that the company is dead. They don't see any activity on the forum, so they don't percieve activity within the company. The best way to counter this effect is to engage in a bit of chatting.
Get a bunch of friends/employees together and pay them to post once every couple of days. Its gonna cost you a few rounds at the pub, however you create the illusion in the short term of a town that isn't a ghost town. People/customers from outside see a happy lively forum and take part.
I've done this with new sections before on the BBS i ran many years ago. We had a set of users who were core, and when we started a new section, i got them all in the new section to chat away merrily. This encouraged others to follow etc. By the time i finished I had one of the largest in the Mac BBSes in the UK in under 8 months.
However, running a forum, is where it gets interesting.
The biggest bit of advice I can give you, and this is the gold plated Tinman rule of forums - do not create hundreds of sections from the start unless you want the Tumbleweed Effect. (Tumbleweed Effect(TM) by Tinman, 2007)
On a new forum create maybe 1 or 2 wide general sections. Only create new sections when the you see a pattern, eg people are interesting in Subject X, create a Subject X section.
Don't even do it with projects, eg Project 2007 has its own section, and Project 2008 gets added in 11 months time regardless of traffic in the 2007 section. Just have a single Projects section. Only move to segmentation when there is a high amount of traffic.
Here is the reason - if you create sections where there is no traffic you create what i call the Tumbleweed Effect. Essentially, you are creating a ghost town. People don't live in ghost towns - they pass through. Thats what happens to forums that suffer from the Tumbleweed Effect.
There are two ways that this effect comes around. Firstly, create loads and loads of sections from the beginning. You will have nearly no users and a huge ghost town. Secondly, as things pick up, you get a bit carried away with creating sections, and the forum becomes the ghost town.
This second issue is the bit that kills lots and lots of forums. They have a initial flurry of activity, the admin thinks "I need new sections to make it all nice and neat". He creates the sections galore, the hardcore group using the forum then gets spread out over a much wider forum. And at this point the Tumbleweed Effect kicks in. There aren't enough users to keep these sections alive, and because you've pushed everyone across the forum, they are not together anymore, and rather than increasing traffic, you actually destroy what you had because the users go somewhere else that is more "alive".
With http://forum.staples2naples.com i was very careful to make the back pressure before creating the forum and new sections.
I was pestered for absolutely ages to set it up, but setting it up when there isn't enough pressure creates the ghost town from the start. People stop by for a drink so to speak, and then move on. Only when I felt there was enough pressure to make the initial forum work did i set it up.
The forum was then just one event and laid out for each particular part, eg hotels, teams, cars, and a couple of other things. This was just enough (and copied by every other StreetSafari clone) to get things moving without the Tumbleweed Effect kicking in.
As the number of events grew (in effect Projects), they got their own sections. But occasionally you get a Tumbleweed Section or two, so I amalgamated all the Event sections together. eg S2N2006 hotels, S2N2006 teams, S2N2006 preparation, all came under one heading of the event name itself, simply S2N2006.
You will also notice that unless you sign up, you don't see the whole forum either. This is deliberate.
There is nothing worse for a new user to see billions of sections. Where do they start? By giving them a small introductory part of the forum they can see, it encourages them to come in. Once they have signed up, then they see the history of StreetSafari events.
You will also notice that finished event (project) sections are locked. Again, deliberate. Once a section has finished its useful life, lock it to prevent changes and additions. If someone wants to talk about Home2Rome 2005, then the place is in the chat section, rather than the depreciated H2R2005 section. It encourages the user to meet new people and to draw them in, rather than allowing them to stay in a part of the forum that has become deserted.
Finally, if you are not asleep by now, don't do a forum unless its beneficial to the business. A forum thats dead does more damage to the business than good. Essentially, a dead forum tells the prospective punter that the company is dead. They don't see any activity on the forum, so they don't percieve activity within the company. The best way to counter this effect is to engage in a bit of chatting.
Get a bunch of friends/employees together and pay them to post once every couple of days. Its gonna cost you a few rounds at the pub, however you create the illusion in the short term of a town that isn't a ghost town. People/customers from outside see a happy lively forum and take part.
I've done this with new sections before on the BBS i ran many years ago. We had a set of users who were core, and when we started a new section, i got them all in the new section to chat away merrily. This encouraged others to follow etc. By the time i finished I had one of the largest in the Mac BBSes in the UK in under 8 months.
360boy said:
Justin.
Fab reply. Thanks for that.
I see that you use PHPbb. How do you rate it?
Fab reply. Thanks for that.
I see that you use PHPbb. How do you rate it?
Its okay. I suppose. But then i've never used any other forum software as a user (forum owner). From a sysadmin point of view its pretty neat and easy to live with, unlike a couple of others that are total pests if something goes wrong.
(Personally I dream for the day of setting up FirstClass again and doing a general forum like back in the "old" days
)tinman0 said:
lots of useful stuff about running a forum
I see where you're coming from with all of the above, with the exception of closing down the sections for previous events.
As an S2N'er I wanted to chat about my particular event when I got back, however the event forum was locked.
This didn't make me post in the general section, as that's for general stuff not event specific material. It just made me not post at all.
In fact I rarely check the site these days, whereas if 2006 S2N veterans still had their own event forum to gab away on I'd be checking regularly.
The above should in no way be taken as a criticism, just a comment from a user's point of view.
Edited by k50 del on Monday 29th January 17:17
k50 del said:
tinman0 said:
lots of useful stuff about running a forum
I see where you're coming from with all of the above, with the exception of closing down the sections for previous events.
As an S2N'er I wanted to chat about my particular event when I got back, however the event forum was locked.
This didn't make me post in the general section, as that's for general stuff not event specific material. It just made me not post at all.
In fact I rarely check the site these days, whereas if 2006 S2N veterans still had their own event forum to gab away on I'd be checking regularly.
The above should in no way be taken as a criticism, just a comment from a user's point of view.
During the event its corresponding "Event200X Preparations" section gets locked. A new section then gets added "Event200X I Was There". When that section has run it course, usually about 2 months after the event, it gets locked also.
I'm not sure why you thought the S2N2006 section was locked though. Sometimes it takes a day to open the new section as we are totally knackered after the event and can't get online to create the "I Was There" section.
As an update to this thread.
You may like to know that I considered all of the valuable advice given and plumped for the php format.
I would like to thank james28uk for his valuable help with the setting up of the site.
The response has been fantastic so far, with over 1000 signed up members within just 3 weeks.
Thank you all for your advice.
Check it out at www.pl4tes.co.uk
You may like to know that I considered all of the valuable advice given and plumped for the php format.
I would like to thank james28uk for his valuable help with the setting up of the site.
The response has been fantastic so far, with over 1000 signed up members within just 3 weeks.
Thank you all for your advice.
Check it out at www.pl4tes.co.uk
Edited by 360boy on Tuesday 10th April 07:03
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff