HOW to start a forum? What's the ultimate "checklist" before you activate your Xenforo forum?

NandorHUN

NandorHUN

Active member
Hi Guy!

I started my very first forum, it's still inactive and I want to ask for your help. What's the ultimate check list before I start it?
How would you go about it?
For example
1) Install
2) Translate the forum
3) Create nodes
4) Create ranks
5) Install this and this and this ad-ons.

etc...

How would you do it? Can you help so I dont miss anything ?
Thanks.
 
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Have a target market, have some engaging topics ready, have some threads that would create value to a user. Like a tutorial thread for music. Add-on are just dependent of what type of forum u want. For me I use media embeds so bandcamp links are embedded automatically
 
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Choose a suitable template and style
Create a set of rules for all new members to read
Decide how you are gong to fund or monetise the forum
Choose a reliable webhost - don't go with a free one
Dont set up too many categories
Get a few friends to join and help start threads and make posts
Learn how the email system works (good luck with that)
 
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Pepelepew said:
Have a target market, have some engaging topics ready, have some threads that would create value to a user. Like a tutorial thread for music. Add-on are just dependent of what type of forum u want. For me I use media embeds so bandcamp links are embedded automatically
Click to expand...
Well, if you create a Forum ... I guess the very idea is starts with the part that you mention" have some threads that would create value to a user".

I had an idea, so for that part Im good to go. Im rather interested in the technical parts. Expecially when it comes to Xenforo.
 
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For Xenforo specific addons - here's what I have. Only Xenforo Enhanced Search is paid.

[Andrew] Moderator Panel
Just added - seems a nice central page for moderators

[Mr. Jinx] Forum index tweak
Remove avatar and threads/messages stats column from the forum list

[OzzModz] Gif Avatar Permissions
Prevent users uploading animated GIF avatars

Contact Us Thread
Creates threads for Contact form submissions in a chosen board.

Conversation Improvements
Enables conversation searching, message edit history, and more.

Custom 404 Page
Customize your 404 error page, keep track of missing URLs and redirect them to new pages.

Daily Statistics
Extended Statistics for your forum

Known Bots
Adds additional definitions for bot detection in sessions

Lazy Image Loader
Optimise image loading to speed page loads

Nested Quotes
Allows quotes to be nested more than one level deep. (this replicates previous forum function)

Post Content Find / Replace
Allows an administrator to do a regular expression find and replace in the content of all posts.

Redis Cache
Allows use of Redis cache (I've not found this makes any difference on a board of my size)

Search Improvements
Improvements to search functions

Standard Library
Pre-req for various plugins by Xon

Warning Improvements
Improvements to the warning system

XenForo Enhanced Search
An enhanced version of the XenForo search system, allowing higher quality results and faster searching for bigger installations.
 
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Overscan said:
For Xenforo specific addons - here's what I have. Only Xenforo Enhanced Search is paid.

[Andrew] Moderator Panel
Just added - seems a nice central page for moderators

[Mr. Jinx] Forum index tweak
Remove avatar and threads/messages stats column from the forum list

[OzzModz] Gif Avatar Permissions
Prevent users uploading animated GIF avatars

Contact Us Thread
Creates threads for Contact form submissions in a chosen board.

Conversation Improvements
Enables conversation searching, message edit history, and more.

Custom 404 Page
Customize your 404 error page, keep track of missing URLs and redirect them to new pages.

Daily Statistics
Extended Statistics for your forum

Known Bots
Adds additional definitions for bot detection in sessions

Lazy Image Loader
Optimise image loading to speed page loads

Nested Quotes
Allows quotes to be nested more than one level deep. (this replicates previous forum function)

Post Content Find / Replace
Allows an administrator to do a regular expression find and replace in the content of all posts.

Redis Cache
Allows use of Redis cache (I've not found this makes any difference on a board of my size)

Search Improvements
Improvements to search functions

Standard Library
Pre-req for various plugins by Xon

Warning Improvements
Improvements to the warning system

XenForo Enhanced Search
An enhanced version of the XenForo search system, allowing higher quality results and faster searching for bigger installations.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I have a couple of questions:
  • how can I remove prefixes so that they only show up when I want to add a new thread?
  • how can I add these "bold" "italic" features that this forum has to my forum? (It doesnt have any of this).

Thanks a lot !
 
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Content is all you need.
All other adjustments are there to make your forum more beautiful, but they are not essential to get new members.
Provide unique content that is inviting to respond to.
 
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You should start with enough useful content. In each forum category should be some content. If you don't have enough content you should invite friends to help you. Don't start with many empty forum categories.
 
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Well, I can create threads to begin with, but I wont be able to create useful conversations inside of it alone.

And even with friends it would be just fake conversations in each thread?
 
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We were moving over from another forum whose owner was closing down so we made sure we started letting people on a month or so before that one closed and even pre-created accounts for users from that forum who requested it. The ones who came on early got the ball rolling so that we had threads in place and active by the time the old forum was closed.

The owner of the old site wasn't amenable to use importing the content and, in any case, I am not sure an import would have been possible without a lot of work. That forum was a custom job on a Drupal CMS, not off-the-rack forum software.
 
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Well, ok. But that sound like a special case ... not gonna help me :P
I dont have any users base, so I will start it as a total new one.

I guess I will simply use Facebook and Google ads to get people at the start. I dont know any better way to start it unfortunatelly.
 
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NandorHUN said:
Well, ok. But that sound like a special case ... not gonna help me :p
I dont have any users base, so I will start it as a total new one.

I guess I will simply use Facebook and Google ads to get people at the start. I dont know any better way to start it unfortunatelly.
Click to expand...
What is the target market of your new forum.
I would be pleased to see how your Facebook and Google ads go
Mine is a General Fourm with a heavy political bias, its very busy in my country, but I'd like more members.
 
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What is the Target Market of your new forum

I started mine, with just a few friends, and some dummy members
And then one of the biggest forums in our country announced they were closing their political forums.
So I was able to get some of my members to tell the members of this other site to come over.
And they did about 500 in five days.
 
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DigNap15 said:
What is the Target Market of your new forum

I started mine, with just a few friends, and some dummy members
And then one of the biggest forums in our country announced they were closing their political forums.
So I was able to get some of my members to tell the members of this other site to come over.
And they did about 500 in five days.
Click to expand...
Medical issues.
 
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