forums
Dan and I have been thinking for a while about the value of implementing forums at signposts. We would like to know your thoughts.
The idea would be for the forum to be run on the same lines of the signposts blog. It would operate on a subdomain of signposts and be accessed through the signposts blog. The advantage of forums over a blog format is that the discussion doesn’t require a post to stimulate discussion but rather anyone can post up their own threads.
We are considering using the opensource phpbb software to operate the forums. So, if anyone has any experience with phpbb let us know or if you know of better software to run the forum.
Please let us know what you think about this idea. Advantages? Disadvantages? You may also want to suggest some forum topic areas.
February 11th, 2007 at 9:05 am
I like the idea, but I have a caveat about implimentation. I don’t like the idea of having two places to discuss the same thing, so I’d suspect that I’d prefer for comments to be turned off on the blog, which each blog entry being linked to a forum thread.
So thered be a forum with lots of threads, some of them would be linked to by the blog authors to form the content for the blog. The blog post could be about someone elses thread or create a new thread.
This does start to lead you away from wordpress though (if implimented in the nicest way). I know some sites use a system where certain data in the forum database is used to generate the content for the non forum sections of the web site. Such systems are alot of work to create though I’m sure, but some of the open source content control systems might do it.
February 12th, 2007 at 9:51 am
I use phpBB and its lighter cousin, PunBB, on several sites.
At the moment, I’m recommending PunBB because it’s much smaller and easier to install and is generally less subject to spam and hacking, simply because it’s less popular than phpBB.
Also, phpBB does not do some basic things out-of-the-box, such as list all users for the administrator, without some MODs.
As to the question of whether to have forums…keep in mind that it’s one more place to lose things. You seem to have no trouble getting comments, and if long comment discussions get off-track a lot, it might be worthwhile. I don’t see a reason to give up the comment feature in WordPress, given the amount of effort that’s already been put into it. But if a forum could hold some of the off-topic discussions or tangents, go for it.
February 12th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I have been watching signposts for almost a year now and have enjoyed, not all, but a lot of what I’ve read here. One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most is the dynamic involvement of your readers in the dialogue and discussion. I can’t imagine why you would want to put a spanner in the works of that kind of momentum. There are bloggers all over the world that would give their right arms to have the kind of interaction you experience here.
Another thing to consider is that blog comments keep the discussion focussed and on track. Forums will give all and sundry the chance to divert the discussion into a miriad of potentially useless topics that will simply water down what you’re trying to achieve with your blog.
However, if you must go the way of forums, let me mention that a friend of mine had phpbb installed on his site and it was a spam magnet. No matter what security measures and mods we put into place, we couldn’t stop the flood, so the forum is no more.
Having said that, I began blogging using Wordpress but in the end made the move to Joomla. I know it’s a totally different platform, but its security features are phenomenal. The control you have over how everything looks on the page is second-to-none and there are some very good forum plug-ins available for it if that’s the way you want to go. I can’t speak highly enough of Joomla.
February 12th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
To be clear, comments would remain on the posts. And we are not wedded to it doesn’t work well. Thanks for your thoughts voiceovers. We are certainly not wanting to put barriers in front of our commeters or lose the momentum. There are a range of reasons why we are considering the change.
February 12th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
You could just ban me, and all your problems would be solved.
February 12th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Lance, you have been trying to get us to do that since you started commenting. You must be losing your touch.
February 12th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Voiceovers you make some good points: we are still thinking through the pros and cons.
Anyone else have an opinion? Ofcourse you do - its signposts!
So, let us know
February 12th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Ban Lance. Ban Lance. Ban Lance…
February 13th, 2007 at 7:42 am
Lance who?