Anybody Got Any Good Advice of Running A Forum?

[HeIsRisen2018]

I already asked Nick this but I figured since I know for a fact that some of you have told me that you ran a forum before, any tips on getting started with it and creating one in the first place and the best software to use and all that? Preferably free software since I don't have all that much but I still really want to do it if possible but so far unfortunately I have been having complications with it.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

Oh and don't worry I'm still planning on being a member here as well. I'm not going anywhere lol!

 

[Knotical]

I know there are some solutions through Joomla, which is website building software and content management system. There are third party plugins to handle the forum part of it, so you don't have to know how to build it on your own. The problem you will run into, in case Nick has not already mentioned it, is a forum take a lot of time and energy to get going and maintain once it is off the ground. And, unless you are independently wealthy, you need to find a good way to support it, otherwise you will spend yourself into the poor house just on hosting costs alone.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

I know there are some solutions through Joomla, which is website building software and content management system. There are third party plugins to handle the forum part of it, so you don't have to know how to build it on your own. The problem you will run into, in case Nick has not already mentioned it, is a forum take a lot of time and energy to get going and maintain once it is off the ground. And, unless you are independently wealthy, you need to find a good way to support it, otherwise you will spend yourself into the poor house just on hosting costs alone.

Really? Because the forums I tried starting in the past were totally free including hosting costs, I didn't even have to download them. The only problem is that insisted upon showing my email address. You wouldn't happen to know how to create a fake one would you that might solve all of my problems. Well, not all of my problems as I am currently fighting off allergies and an army of ants that suddenly has taken over my bathroom, but all my problems technology wise. And we don't seem to have that kind of forum anymore which hopefully it's alright that I posted it here instead.

 

[stovebolts]

To have an effective forum, you have to have an effective domain name, and not some random name nobody knows.

Then, you have to know about security so you dont get hacked.

Then you have to know how to manage your forum software.

Then you have to know how to set up SEO search engines know how to find you and your content.

Then you have to generate a lot of content so the search engines know things are changing, so they know how often to crawl your site which will help when people search for certain topics.

This is the basics at a high level.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

To have an effective forum, you have to have an effective domain name, and not some random name nobody knows.

Then, you have to know about security so you dont get hacked.

Then you have to know how to manage your forum software.

Then you have to know how to set up SEO search engines know how to find you and your content.

Then you have to generate a lot of content so the search engines know things are changing, so they know how often to crawl your site which will help when people search for certain topics.

This is the basics at a high level.

Really?? Do you by any chance know the basics at a low level? Lol, if not, I probably might want to rethink this whole entire thing. I mean don't get me wrong, I was sort of looking forward to running my own forum but it seems rather complicated. Besides I enjoy my time posting on here and I got many other social media accounts as well to enjoy.

 

[stovebolts]

Really?? Do you by any chance know the basics at a low level? Lol, if not, I probably might want to rethink this whole entire thing. I mean don't get me wrong, I was sort of looking forward to running my own forum but it seems rather complicated. Besides I enjoy my time posting on here and I got many other social media accounts as well to enjoy.

I have an understanding in the lower levels.

 

[Knotical]

First off, if you know the name of your forum you should head over to godaddy, or the like, and start seeing if the domain name is available. Domain names are relatively cheap.

Now, sure you can get the forum started with some free hosting, but you are limited on the bandwidth your forum will run on. This can become a problem depending on the number of users and posts you start generating on your forum. A free hosting account will basically put your site on a server with other websites, which means it will not be dedicated. In order to get a dedicated server you will have to pay for it. This will all be based on the total amount of storage space and bandwidth your site will require.

There are some easy to set up solutions, and at first you can do it for free, or relatively low cost, but if your site becomes popular you will need to look for people who can maintain it (tech people), and a way to monetize it (generate money).

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

I have an understanding in the lower levels.

Okay, if you think you can explain it to me in simpler terms go ahead. Actually, if you wanted to run a forum with me I would really like that too. However, you would have to follow Naruto and be a Sasusaku shipper lol because that's the whole reason that I wanted to start this forum in the first place,.. to roleplay. Unless we can add a section for that on here. That would be awesome! If you don't know what roleplaying is I can explain it to you, it's pretty much like acting.

 

[Knotical]

Okay, if you think you can explain it to me in simpler terms go ahead. Actually, if you wanted to run a forum with me I would really like that too. However, you would have to follow Naruto and be a Sasusaku shipper lol because that's the whole reason that I wanted to start this forum in the first place,.. to roleplay. Unless we can add a section for that on here. That would be awesome! If you don't know what roleplaying is I can explain it to you, it's pretty much like acting.

I know all about role-playing. Are you sure there isn't already a forum for this online?

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

I know all about role-playing. Are you sure there isn't already a forum for this online?

No, I already looked everywhere for Sasusaku roleplay. Sorry it took me so long to respond by the way but I got a pounding headache and all of that other information didn't help me much lol

 

[Knotical]

Is there enough of a demand among other people who play Sasusaku to make a forum worthwhile? Personally, I have never heard of it, though, I also don't like anime, so I really would not be your key demographic .

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

Is there enough of a demand among other people who play Sasusaku to make a forum worthwhile? Personally, I have never heard of it, though, I also don't like anime, so I really would not be your key demographic .

I'm not sure, but how have you heard of roleplaying? Do you like to do it? By the way Sasusaku stands for Sasuke and Sakura from Naruto. Again I apologize for taking so long to respond but the constant change of weather doesn't usually agree with me unfortunately. I'm not even a hundred percent now but I'm doing a bit better luckily.

 

[Knotical]

Don't worry about response times. Sometimes it takes me days to get back to people depending on what is going on.

Anyway, I mostly play computer-based roleplaying games (dragonage, oblivion, etc...).

As for your forum idea, you may want to put some feelers out there about interest in it from people who play the game. Don't want you to go through all the effort of setting up a forum if no one uses it.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

Don't worry about response times. Sometimes it takes me days to get back to people depending on what is going on.

Anyway, I mostly play computer-based roleplaying games (dragonage, oblivion, etc...).

As for your forum idea, you may want to put some feelers out there about interest in it from people who play the game. Don't want you to go through all the effort of setting up a forum if no one uses it.

True that's a very good point. As long it goes with the rules I think a roleplay forum would be a nice idea here though if I knew that people actually wanted to use it. By the way, Sasuke and Sakura are the two people in my avatar just so you know. But yeah I was just pointing that out for the record when you probably saw I quoted your message and then you never got my reply. I'm just hoping and praying that the weather will make up its mind whether it wants to be warm or cold or rainy or sunny. Summer is looking pretty good right now lol

 

[Knotical]

We are going through some schizophrenic weather ourselves. Today the high is in the 90's, tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 60's with some possible rain. We have yoyo weather here.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

So yeah anyway since you're not a part of the staff anymore,.. StoveBolts, Nick, questdriven, anybody else in the staff who is reading this since we don't have a suggestion forum actively in use anymore, what say you about the roleplaying idea as long as it follows the rules?

 

[JohnDB]

You could probably start one on a social media site...(Facebook) as a private group. Not hard at all.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

You could probably start one on a social media site...(Facebook) as a private group. Not hard at all.

Sorry, I don't have a Facebook or Twitter or anything like that. My friend count in the real world unfortunately is low lol

 

[JohnDB]

Well then... because you likely don't know.

There are many affinity groups on Facebook. From cast iron cooking to electricians. People look for these groups. Then they ask to join the groups... so instant friends.
My Sunday School class has a group. We can talk there if we wished.
But we stick with GroupMe and Sundays And text messages and don't forget the "reply all" email chains a mile long...

Ok.... getting off the subject....now back on.

Facebook groups start slow but can be a beast to manage with huge memberships and trolls and those who wish to cover the board with profanity, selling stuff, or some kind of porn. So constant vigilance is needed. I seen a neighborhood group get absolutely so big that local and state politicians had to be kicked out. (Nobody liked them and they caused trouble)