Running a Forum?!
Discussion
For some reason I really can't fathom,( 
) I've been asked to look into what's good and what's not about running a forum.
personally the only thing I know about forums is this is a good one and they are prefect places to while away those useless hours between driving to work and driving home again, so...
what software is good, what's not,
what costs are involved,
what sort of admin time is involved for a small forum.
what other questions should I be asking you lot.
Obviously I don't want it to look like I'm trying to get out of doing any work on this, but I couldn't think of a good way to disguise the fact that's exactly what I'm doing.
Ta.
) I've been asked to look into what's good and what's not about running a forum. personally the only thing I know about forums is this is a good one and they are prefect places to while away those useless hours between driving to work and driving home again, so...
what software is good, what's not,
what costs are involved,
what sort of admin time is involved for a small forum.
what other questions should I be asking you lot.
Obviously I don't want it to look like I'm trying to get out of doing any work on this, but I couldn't think of a good way to disguise the fact that's exactly what I'm doing.
Ta.
Davi said:
1. what software is good, what's not,
2. what costs are involved,
3. what sort of admin time is involved for a small forum.
1. VBulletin (PHP based), best in the game IMO
2. Software - Ranging from free to a couple of hundred quid - I'm guessin the PH bulletin software was written from scratch, so a lot more.
3. Quite a bit - user admin, then you need trusted mods, people to maintain it if it breaks etc.
HTH
I have no tec knowledge about this sort of thing at all but I would say that one of the most basic questions you need to ask is what sort of Forum is it and how large is the membership?
With this place there would need to be (I estimate) 3-4 mods on the boards at most times between 8am and 12 midnight and 1 or 2 over nighters.
Then again all but a very few (Shareheads, Lottolouts, etc) of the forums on here are open to the entire world and it’s a large, well known site so you need a number of mods about all the time an need to keep strict(ish) rules in place.
Contrast this with a private forum I frequent with less than 100 members and little or no moderation. That one requires little or no work to keep it running so far as I’m aware (a few hours a month at most I would guess after the initial set up).
With this place there would need to be (I estimate) 3-4 mods on the boards at most times between 8am and 12 midnight and 1 or 2 over nighters.
Then again all but a very few (Shareheads, Lottolouts, etc) of the forums on here are open to the entire world and it’s a large, well known site so you need a number of mods about all the time an need to keep strict(ish) rules in place.
Contrast this with a private forum I frequent with less than 100 members and little or no moderation. That one requires little or no work to keep it running so far as I’m aware (a few hours a month at most I would guess after the initial set up).
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