Christian Forum

Hi, can I get some suggestions / feedback on the design of my forum site: christianforumsite.com
It's based on Arty's design but slightly modified to add icons, background, changed font sizes etc. :)

How did you get so many members so quickly? Also curious how you deal with religious disagreements. That always seem to be a problem on forum sites, as well as political stuff or anything to deal with ideology.
 
Looks very good i like your categories icons.
Great job !

Thank you.

How did you get so many members so quickly? Also curious how you deal with religious disagreements. That always seem to be a problem on forum sites, as well as political stuff or anything to deal with ideology.

The growth was gradual. The forum started in December 2005. ;) Disagreements are common. We allow it to a certain extend. If it crosses the line, we warn the participators and close the thread. Thankfully our mod team does a wonderful job there.
 
I recently added Google Adsense. Can someone tell me whether the ads come across to you as intruisive / distracting? Are you more likely to join if there were no ads at all?
 
Why not one in the template ad_above_top_breadcrumb ?

Take a look at my forum is you want see how looks: www.bmwfaq.com

My recommendation is that you insert one below the first post of a thread.
Open message template and insert at final
Code:
<xen:if is="{$post.position} == 0 AND !{xen:helper ismemberof, $visitor, 19,4,5,20,3, your groups that don't see absences}">
  <li class="message">

        <div class="messageUserInfo"></div>

        <div class="messageInfo primaryContent">
            <div class="messageContent">
                <blockquote class="messageText ugc baseHtml">
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
google_ad_client = "ca-pub-_your_number";
google_ad_slot = "your_slot";
width = document.documentElement.clientWidth;
            /* Thread List Below Stickies Responsive 2 */
            google_ad_width = 320;
            google_ad_height = 50;
                if (width > 483) {
                /* Thread List Below Stickies Responsive 1 */
                google_ad_width = 468;
                google_ad_height = 60;
                }
                    if (width > 743) {
                    /* Thread List Below Stickies */
                    google_ad_width = 728;
                    google_ad_height = 90;
                    }
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
</blockquote>
            </div>
        </div>
    </li>
</xen:if>
 
I didn't want to put one on top right away because in 7 years this is the first time I'm trying out Google Ads. I'll be experimenting this for sometime. So far I don't see much revenue but I'll wait. If it's too low, I'll put one on top on trial basis like you showed me and wait again. :) Thank you for your suggestion.

How do we get the ads disabled for one particular usergroup? I have one member who pays me a monthly subscription and I want to give him an ad less forum experience. He is promoted to a special usergroup.
 
I didn't want to put one on top right away because in 7 years this is the first time I'm trying out Google Ads. I'll be experimenting this for sometime. So far I don't see much revenue but I'll wait. If it's too low, I'll put one on top on trial basis like you showed me and wait again. :) Thank you for your suggestion.

How do we get the ads disabled for one particular usergroup? I have one member who pays me a monthly subscription and I want to give him an ad less forum experience. He is promoted to a special usergroup.

Easy use conditionals to tell whats groups don't have to see the ads.

I have the adsense installed in my site in the following way:

For example, create a template called.
ad_sense_Jeffin

Put into:
Code:
<xen:if is="!{xen:helper ismemberof, $visitor, 19,4,x,xx,xxxx}">
<div id="Jeffin_adsense" align="center">
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
google_ad_client = "ca-pub-xxxxxxx";
google_ad_slot = "xxxxxx";
width = document.documentElement.clientWidth;
            /* Thread List Below Stickies Responsive 2 */
            google_ad_width = 320;
            google_ad_height = 50;
                if (width > 483) {
                /* Thread List Below Stickies Responsive 1 */
                google_ad_width = 468;
                google_ad_height = 60;
                }
                    if (width > 743) {
                    /* Thread List Below Stickies */
                    google_ad_width = 728;
                    google_ad_height = 90;
                    }
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
</div>
</xen:if>

In this sentence you tell to template system that only generate the inside code if the member is not in the group 19,4,3
<xen:if is="!{xen:helper ismemberof, $visitor, 19,4,3}">

Later insert your own template in
ad_below_bottom_breadcrumb and ad_above_top_breadcrumb
<xen:include template="ad_sense_Jeffin" />

If you need to modify something tomorrow you have the code centralized only in one template. The ad block are ready for the responsive dimensions, i take from @Brogan resource.
If you don't want that the ad_blocks get centered in your forums remove align="center" from <div id="Jeffin_adsense" align="center">
 
i don't know how thing are done with Christianity but here some things to consider ,
I would add a video block on the right sidebar ( video of the day ) , I'll keep it for the special videos

from what i understand churches has some sort of lectures on Sundays , i would encourage members to practiced by recording these lectures and each Sunday they are posted in a special forum where one of the lectures is chosen to be played on the mp3 block , this probably will help bringing the community together and give them something to be feel common regardless where they come from .

I made the same thing for one of the Muslims forums and the impact were great , the different is our lectures are on Fridays.


the design looks great but i would also consider changing the loge in background , blue doesn't looks right
 
i don't know how thing are done with Christianity but here some things to consider ,
I would add a video block on the right sidebar ( video of the day ) , I'll keep it for the special videos

from what i understand churches has some sort of lectures on Sundays , i would encourage members to practiced by recording these lectures and each Sunday they are posted in a special forum where one of the lectures is chosen to be played on the mp3 block , this probably will help bringing the community together and give them something to be feel common regardless where they come from .

I made the same thing for one of the Muslims forums and the impact were great , the different is our lectures are on Fridays.


the design looks great but i would also consider changing the loge in background , blue doesn't looks right

Thank you Aiman. I am considering a video block in the sidebar. I have installed @Chris Deeming's Xen Media Gallery and we have suggested random media block on sidebar for his addon. It's probably coming out in future which I am very much I am looking forward to. :D The other thing I want to add is online Christian music for members to play while they browse the site. Thank you for your suggestions. :)
 
Need your suggestions again. :)

Would it look better if my forum footer has been slightly redesigned with may be an addition of a faded out forum logo? Or is the current one just fine?
If you were a new visitor what else would you expect from a design point of view. Thanks.
 
Just got this:

An exception occurred: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (111) in /home/jeffinj/public_html/library/Zend/Db/Adapter/Mysqli.php on line 333

  1. Zend_Db_Adapter_Mysqli->_connect() in Zend/Db/Adapter/Abstract.php at line 315
  2. Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract->getConnection() in XenForo/Application.php at line 684
  3. XenForo_Application->loadDb()
  4. call_user_func_array() in XenForo/Application.php at line 921
  5. XenForo_Application->lazyLoad() in XenForo/Application.php at line 952
  6. XenForo_Application::get() in XenForo/Application.php at line 1336
  7. XenForo_Application::getDb() in XenForo/Error.php at line 52
  8. XenForo_Error::unexpectedException() in XenForo/Application.php at line 363
  9. XenForo_Application::handleException()
 
Site is down for me. My internet is fine and all but I get no response from your site.
I just tried to visit. The site will not respond.

I'll try again later.

Jeff

Site is back up again. Had a week long heavy spam attack. It's still going on but my upgraded hosting package can kind of handle it this time. :)
Would love some suggestions. Sorry for bumping this thread. I blame it on the spam bots. :cautious:
 
I am having a terrible time with spam on one of my sites currently. It is my oldest site that is still running vB 3.8. Spammers have made it almost useless. So far, I have been unable to find a solution. I was hoping an change to Xenforo or Invision Power would help.

I'll try your site again and let you know how it is going.

Jeff
 
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