Comments on: forums http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/ musings from those on the journey Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:17:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: phil http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156116 phil Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:42:31 +0000 http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156116 Lance who? Lance who?

]]> By: Lionfish http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156107 Lionfish Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:46:18 +0000 http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156107 Ban Lance. Ban Lance. Ban Lance... Ban Lance. Ban Lance. Ban Lance…

]]> By: phil http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156089 phil Mon, 12 Feb 2007 06:56:44 +0000 http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156089 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 :) 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 :)

]]> By: dan http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156081 dan Mon, 12 Feb 2007 05:47:43 +0000 http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156081 Lance, you have been trying to get us to do that since you started commenting. You must be losing your touch. Lance, you have been trying to get us to do that since you started commenting. You must be losing your touch.

]]> By: Lance http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156078 Lance Mon, 12 Feb 2007 05:04:51 +0000 http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156078 You could just ban me, and all your problems would be solved. You could just ban me, and all your problems would be solved.

]]> By: dan http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156074 dan Mon, 12 Feb 2007 03:40:16 +0000 http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156074 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. 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.

]]> By: voiceovers http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156064 voiceovers Mon, 12 Feb 2007 01:33:32 +0000 http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156064 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. 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.

]]> By: justinbaeder http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156059 justinbaeder Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:51:26 +0000 http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156059 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. 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.

]]> By: Gareth 'LovesTha' Pye http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156040 Gareth 'LovesTha' Pye Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:05:46 +0000 http://www.signposts.org.au/2007/02/10/forums/#comment-156040 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. 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.

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