Do't and Dont's of setting up a new Forum

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gregmcc

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#269871 12-Apr-2020 14:30

Recently one of my favorite (BTW Geekzone is my Favorite Forum) trade based forums has shutdown and moved to Facebook.

Anyway people arn't happy about having to be on FB to access forums.

So I'm looking at setting up a replacement, I've got Server hosting/webserver covered and looking at using wordpress (i'll admit that this is new territory for me and I really don't have a clue)

So give me some pointers on things to do or more importantly things to not do.

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Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#2459925 12-Apr-2020 15:09

Keep on top of any updates - and I mean daily.

Depending who your market is, look at blocking any connections from overseas (ie: Russia, China etc) to avoid spam/bots.

Don't use Wordpress for forums - its more for blogging. The forum options for it are ok, but better off with proper forum software such as phpBB, SMF etc.

Get people you trust as mods.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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jondoublew

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#2459926 12-Apr-2020 15:13

yea i've got a community on facebook, trying to migrate to an independent forum but can't seem to find any good alternatives. wordpress/buddypress are a bit hard to use imo, keen to see what else people put out there.

Andib

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#2459928 12-Apr-2020 15:13

If the main goal of the site is being a forum, Use forum software, Not blogging software that's been adapted to be a forum aka wordpress with plugins.
I'd suggest phpBB if you're after something opensource & free. Ideally it will be a managed install by your webhost so it's automatically updated.

Whatever you decide to use, Take regular backups and KEEP EVERYTHING up to date. Out of date software is one of the easiest ways for people to exploit sites.

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jarledb

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#2459962 12-Apr-2020 15:46

To deal with spam you can use Cloudflare to secure all logins etc. with their "Under attack" feature. It has stopped all brute force login attemps where I am using it.

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ANglEAUT

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#2459964 12-Apr-2020 15:46

Can you take over the previous set up?
1. Contact previous owners & mods?
2. You have a trusted brand & the feel & layout stay the same
Can you replicate the previous forum using the same software
1. if you know what was used
2. Contact the previous owners to find out what they used
Are you a member of any other forums?
1. Do you see something you like?
2. Can you copy that functionality in any way?
3. Can you replicate the old forum using the software from these other forums?
Can you integrate the previous forum into an already existing infrastructure?
1. maybe another trading forum you like
2. maybe a separate / private thread here on GZ

gregmcc: Recently one of my favorite (BTW Geekzone is my Favorite Forum) trade based forums has shutdown ...

Please tell me the name of this forum?

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

gregmcc

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#2459966 12-Apr-2020 15:53

ANglEAUT:

Can you take over the previous set up?

Contact previous owners & mods?
You have a trusted brand & the feel & layout stay the same

Can you replicate the previous forum using the same software

if you know what was used
Contact the previous owners to find out what they used

Are you a member of any other forums?

Do you see something you like?
Can you copy that functionality in any way?
Can you replicate the old forum using the software from these other forums?

Can you integrate the previous forum into an already existing infrastructure?

maybe another trading forum you like
maybe a separate / private thread here on GZ

gregmcc: Recently one of my favorite (BTW Geekzone is my Favorite Forum) trade based forums has shutdown ...
Please tell me the name of this forum?

Electricalforum.co.nz

- tried making contact a while back when the spam attempts started to creep in and offer help/assistance, but received no reply.

I expect the data is lost judging by the lack of response and the sudden demise of the forum, What I did notice which seems to be the root of the spam postings was no approval of membership and no restriction on new members making new postings. Anyway I'm diving in the deep end and trying to do things right from the start

sparkz25

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#2459983 12-Apr-2020 15:59

gregmcc:

Recently one of my favorite (BTW Geekzone is my Favorite Forum) trade based forums has shutdown and moved to Facebook.

Anyway people arn't happy about having to be on FB to access forums.

So I'm looking at setting up a replacement, I've got Server hosting/webserver covered and looking at using wordpress (i'll admit that this is new territory for me and I really don't have a clue)

So give me some pointers on things to do or more importantly things to not do.

Now that sucks, I was always on and off there looking at things!

It was also a really good place for us sparkies to get some insight to a technical question or a reg.

Have you had a look at way back machine? this was from Jan 2020

I also agree Facebook is a crap way to go.

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joshhill96

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#2459990 12-Apr-2020 16:14

Our Forum we use for Freeview Forum is powered by NING

Simple and easy to use and 24/7 support .

Formerly worked at iStore NZ (Rest in Peace), Sky Network Television, Freeview, Apple, Spark New Zealand Trading Limited, DISH TV Technologies.

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mattwnz

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#2460076 12-Apr-2020 17:45

gregmcc:

Electricalforum.co.nz

- tried making contact a while back when the spam attempts started to creep in and offer help/assistance, but received no reply.

I expect the data is lost judging by the lack of response and the sudden demise of the forum, What I did notice which seems to be the root of the spam postings was no approval of membership and no restriction on new members making new postings. Anyway I'm diving in the deep end and trying to do things right from the start

That is a big loss, as that site had a lot of useful information relevant to NZ electrical work, that isn't discussed anywhere else..

Geektastic

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#2460080 12-Apr-2020 17:54

Employ a proofreader...

gehenna

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#2460116 12-Apr-2020 19:18

Use Discourse. It's easy and free and very nice to use.

NPCtom

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#2460137 12-Apr-2020 20:58

If you're looking for an option I'd recommend XenForo, it is paid software but works wonders and has a huge community of developers that create addons and modules.

If you're looking for a free alternative I'd recommend phpBB but it does look dated. I use the open-source forum software Nameless. It looks really nice and is great for people just wanting a forum. You can find it here (https://github.com/NamelessMC/Nameless).

Delphinus

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#2460152 12-Apr-2020 23:42

gehenna: Use Discourse. It's easy and free and very nice to use.

Another vote for Discourse. Easy to setup too with their docker images.

danfaulknor

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#2460153 12-Apr-2020 23:55

Discourse is my pick too. The issue with it is it probably won't work on standard shared hosting if that's what you have sorted. I'm keen to help support (for free) Eletricalforum v2, if you do need more advanced hosting, so let me know (company info in signature)

I was sad to see Electricalforum go as well. I hope Ron isn't too disappointed by its demise so soon after passing over control.

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gregmcc

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#2460163 13-Apr-2020 07:37

it's up and running

http://electricalforum.nz

I'm just trying to figure out if it's at all possible to transfer the old forums across, I have a grab from the wayback machine.

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