Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Design and Content : Making up a forum - a few questions.

[SCOBAHCAN]

Hi

I am thinking of making up a forum or possibly more and as I am new to doing this I would like to ask you some general questions.


1 - When make up a forum do you have to moderate it ?


2 - if you do, how do you go about getting moderators ?


3 - For a beginner, making up a forum what are some of the “things” that you should have in place
and do in order to succeed ?



4 - What types of forums the most popular and successful ?


5 - This question may be a hard one to answer, but I'll ask it anyway.
What is the average length of time it may take in order for an individual to start reaping the benefits
from a forum even though they may be small at first ?


Thank you Craig

[bobitza]

1 - When make up a forum do you have to moderate it ?
NO, although as forum administrator you can do that too. Theoretically if all the users behave you don't need moderation at all.

2 - if you do, how do you go about getting moderators ?
If you don't moderate it, you might need some help from other people (moderators). How to get them? Well, try and find active people you trust to be impartial.

3 - For a beginner, making up a forum what are some of the “things” that you should have in place
and do in order to succeed ?
Are you referring to technical "things" like forum type, mods, etc? Or things like getting traffic, exposure, etc. ?

4 - What types of forums the most popular and successful ?
vBulletin, phpBB

5 - This question may be a hard one to answer, but I'll ask it anyway.
What is the average length of time it may take in order for an individual to start reaping the benefits
from a forum even though they may be small at first ?
Money benefits? Authority?

Thank you Craig
You're welcome

[SCOBAHCAN]

Thank you again Bobitza

The answers you gave me did help me quite a bit.

[040Hosting]

Originally Posted by SCOBAHCAN

1 - When make up a forum do you have to moderate it ?

Note that some countries try to limit freedom of speech and do hold the owner of the site responsible for what is published. Same counts for other illegal activities which may take place in a forum. (exchange of links to illegal software etc).

So in that sense you could be held responsible for moderating your site.

Most Forum software do help you with this though and have all great features to make your life easier when it comes to moderating.

[jerett]

I would like to suggest a great place that can help you get started and answer many of questions ... ForumUniversity.com. Please check it out. They are always willing to help.

[zoobie]

whatever you do, make sure to nip bad posters in the bud. some didn't and now, they're stuck with 7 or so lamers that drive everybody off because they didn't ban them in the beginning

[Swelly]

As stated earlier just check out ForumUniversity if you have questions about the forum process. Very good group of people over there, that really know what their talking about.

I can tell you that when the forum gets big, YES you will have to moderate it. Otherwise, it will be filled with Junk. Just imagine if Web Hosting Talk was not moderated. I mean wow. Its not all about freedom of speech. How about spam, ads, fights, etc. Yes you will need to moderate it for sure.

[jerett]

Originally Posted by zoobie

whatever you do, make sure to nip bad posters in the bud. some didn't and now, they're stuck with 7 or so lamers that drive everybody off because they didn't ban them in the beginning

how do you get "Stuck" with lame posters? If you have admin access you can easily remove these members and all threads/post associated with them. never use "Stuck". there is always... ALWAYS... away to remove bad or "LAME" posters.

[zoobie]

they get stuck because, in the beginning, some forums are desperate for members...bad posters should be nipped in the bud

I know of a few sorry sites paying a huge price for not having done this

yes...you can always delete them but in the beginning, the owner may be reluctant to do so

be strong and don't let this happen to you!