Blog question - revisited: Xenforo as blog?

[Doctor]

Hello - I only recently learned of Xenforo after returning from a long absence to a forum where it is now used and liking what I found. Prior to discovering this, had always thought VB was the "only game in town" at the top non-free level. Used to post on various VB forums and sometimes still do. Have been publishing for years myself but have never published a forum or a "real" blog yet, except for using the time consuming blog feature with Weebly as a side section or an even worse method. My overall web dev skills are not the greatest, but not the worst either. Finally ready to go into blog/discussion mode for real, with a view to eventually probably also going into full forum mode. I've been doing some due diligence here searching the forum because I'm interested in how I might use Xenforo as a blog-only to start, while also allowing reader comments. Is that a good idea, or should I just go with another option like WP and use Xenforo when I'm ready to go into full forum mode?

I also have this idea: what if I have WP installed and am using that in a folder or subdomain e.g. Example.com/Blog or Blog.Example.com so that if or when I'm ready to go into full forum mode, I can keep all that content while having Xenforo installed and used on the main domain Example.com. Would that work and not be a problem for them to coexist like that?

Here are some of the search links I've just been checking out here:

https://xenforo.com/community/search/8552524/?q=blog&o=relevance&c[title_only]=1

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/blog.97312/

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/xenforo-blog.110026/

https://xenforo.com/community/resources/good-enough-blogs.5081/

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/best-blog-article-add-on-system.117086/

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/wordpress-blog-xenforo-blog.106050/

Noticed one of those options has been made "defunct."

Boiling it all down then, as of September 2016 what is my current best and simplest option now to do this, or is that not a great idea? Thanks...

 

[Doctor]

P.S. Also, could someone please post examples of sites that are doing this with Xenforo if any of them are now? For instance, are the three sites mentioned in https://xenforo.com/community/threads/blog.97312/ actually using Xenforo (www.spigotmc.org, www.hypixel.net, and www.bukkit.org), or is that just a list of illustrative examples of the kind of site the OP was trying to do whether they are using it or not?

 

[m1ne]

Best choice: https://xenaddons.com/store-products/article-management-system/

 

[Doctor]

Interesting, thanks for the post. Now, I'm only interested in being able to have a blog appear as the main content of the site which allows comments, but not allow others who have signed up to also have blogs on the site. Would this enable that?

 

[Sadik B]

Interesting, thanks for the post. Now, I'm only interested in being able to have a blog appear as the main content of the site which allows comments, but not allow others who have signed up to also have blogs on the site. Would this enable that?

Yes. AMS is an excellent piece of software, you can control with permissions who has access to creating articles. From what you say, it would be perfect for your needs.

 

[TPerry]

You can restrict by permissions who can enter new articles and also who can comment on them.

 

[Doctor]

Yes. AMS is an excellent piece of software, you can control with permissions who has access to creating articles. From what you say, it would be perfect for your needs.

You can restrict by permissions who can enter new articles and also who can comment on them.

Thanks for posting that graphic, Tracy, that's great. Thanks both.

What about my question regarding using WordPress in a folder or subdomain, and having Xenforo installed later on the main domain? Can I do that without any problem? Can I leave WordPress installed when I'm ready and want to also install Xenforo?

 

[TPerry]

What about my question regarding using WordPress in a folder or subdomain, and having Xenforo installed later on the main domain? Can I do that without any problem? Can I leave WordPress installed when I'm ready and want to also install Xenforo?

It should not be an issue having it on a sub-domain as long as your vhost definition points at the correct location for the sub-domain.
You would (most likely) need a landing page in the main domain for a redirect to the WordPress install.
You should be able to install XF later and then remove the index.php/html you used in the root domain (because most people will probably not browse directly to the sub-domain but the main domain name initially).
I'm assuming you want to use something like blog.mydomain.com to address it - that would require the vhost definition. If you only wanted mydomain.com/blog, then simply putting WordPress in a sub-directory would work, but you would still need the landing page to redirect to it or temporarily have your your vhost pointing at the wordpress install for the main domain.

 

[Doctor]

Thanks, Tracy. That kind of redirect is exactly what I'm thinking of. Then I would just leave the blog.example.com or example.com/blog WP implementation alone after installing XF for people to encounter on the main example.com root. Still not sure what I will do now, however, since I've also been getting great info and advice on use of XF and addons for blog mode as well. My tentative plan is WP/Disqus, then XF for full forum mode; or just XF plus addons from the start. Since I've never published like this before, I'm still in the planning and "baby steps" mode.

 

[Sadik B]

Hi @Doctor

Speaking from several years of experience here, what you are thinking of is high maintenance. You will always have problems with managing two disparate systems even if you have the best of "bridges". Unless there is a very strong compelling reason to use both wordpress and xenforo which will justify the several hours you will have to recurringly spend, don't do it.

 

[Doctor]

Hi @Doctor

Speaking from several years of experience

Thanks for your post, Sadik.

My tentative plan if I do not jump into XF for this from the start is only to use WP plus Disqus until I do. After that, I would basically completely ignore that part of the site and just let it sit where it is. If people were to still occasionally show up there to make comments via Disqus after that, such as if they happened to come across articles through search, so be it, but there would be no focus or effort there. All focus would shift to going into "full forum" mode centered on the main Example.com root with XF, and the root would of course no longer be forwarded to Blog.Example.com or Example.com/Blog. That "Blog" section would just be left to sit like a trunk kept in someone's attic and virtually never even be looked at.

Still a problem, or when you hear that does it not seem okay?

 

[Sadik B]

This is going to sound vague...

There is no right or wrong solution for you. What you end up using is dependent on your interest and time. Climbing the ladder making mistakes is better than being parachuted on the right solution...

 

[Doctor]

Yes, that is a good post. I am concerned about making the "wrong" choice. Since I'm not ready to run a full-blown forum yet, I'm concerned that if I start with XF I would be biting off more than I can chew right now. Right now I'm doing everything, and I don't want to be needing any assistance such as having to recruit moderators and such. So I have this idea that it would be easier to just start off with "baby steps" using the WP/Disqus option. But I definitely do want to progress to the point where I jump into full-blown forum mode, even perhaps for more than one site. Before I discovered XF, I used to think VB was the only real game in town, having also spent much time on VB forums. But after doing research and seeing how XF works for myself, and how certain other forums have switched to XF, I like XF personally. From what I've read, Disqus is great for automatically dealing with spam. And on the other hand, I'm also concerned that perhaps XF would not be too much to handle right away, and that perhaps I would be making a mistake and missing out on some great potential benefits even if I were to just use it as a blog-only with reader comments in the short term till I was ready to expand into full-blown forum mode.

 

[Infopro]

[8wayRun.Com] XenPorta 2 (Portal) PRO might be worth looking at. You can enable blog type layout w/comments area using disqus, facebook, local, depending on your needs. IMO, using both wordpress and xenforo is a lot of overhead to manage. Both have addons that'll need updated, often. Styles management, comments management etc.

 

[Doctor]

[8wayRun.Com] XenPorta 2 (Portal) PRO might be worth looking at. You can enable blog type layout w/comments area using disqus, facebook, local, depending on your needs. IMO, using both wordpress and xenforo is a lot of overhead to manage. Both have addons that'll need updated, often. Styles management, comments management etc.

Yes I was looking at that on Tuesday: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/8wayrun-com-xenporta-2-portal-pro.3894/

Really? If I really wanted to use Disqus with that addon, added to XenForo, I could do that? Is that right? So by "local" I assume you mean the built-in commenting capacity of XF to begin with instead of any of the others you mentioned, right?

 

[Infopro]

Correct. Options settings in xenporta:

 

[Doctor]

Thanks, Infopro. That's remarkable. I also like that FB can be integrated.

As much as I've been thinking about Disqus to start with, I'm also now wondering if maybe skipping that and using XF's own commenting feature may be a better idea after all because one can ad advertising, especially in empty signature spaces. I post a lot with Disqus in various places myself, and it does seem like there's virtually nothing happening in terms of using that space productively as the publisher. I definitely have some choices to make...