How to build a successful forum

Started by Noddegamra, August 23, 2007, 09:47:41 AM

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jamesandersonicb

This is a nice idea try to get the member which are interested in your forum. Try to make your forum customizable. Keep try add up new ideas in your forum.

leylasanai

Hi there,
Apologies in advance if this is a really stupid question. I have absolutely no experience in setting up forums (fora?) But recently, I had the idea for one. I am thinking of setting it up with a view to making it a small business to make a living for myself. Please excuse my ignorance, but is it possible to use a free provider(or system, or whatever it's called) like Simple Machines Forum, for a forum that is intended to eventually generate income for myself via advertising? Or would I need to 'rent out' a forum template (or operating system, or provider, or whatever it's called) if I have commercial interests? And if I wish to own the rights to my forum, and perhaps even sell it on one day?

I'm sorry to seem so green, but my own personal work experience is in the NHS in the UK, where if you even so much as *thought* of an invention while you were on NHS time, they immediately owned the rights to that invention. It just seems counterintuitive somehow to get something for nothing - ie the SMF template for a forum, free of charge, and yet own the rights to that forum.

Also, with regard to advertising, is it yourselves that rents out space for ads to generate income, or could I theoretically do so myself if I opened a forum using your template (or system, or whatever)? And if it is the former, does that mean that my only option for making my forum into a business would be to charge users? Personally, I wouldn't want to charge users because I think there are so many free forums out there that no one would choose to pay to join an unknown new forum.

Thank you in advance for any advice :)

Biology Forums

Rent out server space -- as little as $3.
Install SMF
Ad your ads to the templates, namely where topics are displayed.
I'll PM you

Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen

Quote from: leylasanai on November 09, 2019, 06:12:54 PM
Please excuse my ignorance, but is it possible to use a free provider(or system, or whatever it's called) like Simple Machines Forum, for a forum that is intended to eventually generate income for myself via advertising?
In short, SMF as a software is free always, but as far as server providers go, no - you usually have to choose to either pay for the service or give the possible ad income to the server provider.

Quote from: leylasanai on November 09, 2019, 06:12:54 PM
Or would I need to 'rent out' a forum template (or operating system, or provider, or whatever it's called) if I have commercial interests? And if I wish to own the rights to my forum, and perhaps even sell it on one day?
You can customize SMF as much as you want, and use it commercially, and hold all the rights to the contents of it - if you don't go for a free provider, and pay for a service that allows you to make working offsite backups of the forum files and database. ( Most paid hosts will, no problem. )

Quote from: leylasanai on November 09, 2019, 06:12:54 PM
I'm sorry to seem so green, but my own personal work experience is in the NHS in the UK, where if you even so much as *thought* of an invention while you were on NHS time, they immediately owned the rights to that invention. It just seems counterintuitive somehow to get something for nothing - ie the SMF template for a forum, free of charge, and yet own the rights to that forum.
SMF is developed and supported by volunteers, for free, and the software is free to use for any purpose you wish. All we ask is that you support the project by keeping our copyright notices and credits visible, even though you are legally allowed to remove them as well. ( We reserve the right to deny support for forums that remove them however. )

Quote from: leylasanai on November 09, 2019, 06:12:54 PM
Also, with regard to advertising, is it yourselves that rents out space for ads to generate income, or could I theoretically do so myself if I opened a forum using your template (or system, or whatever)? And if it is the former, does that mean that my only option for making my forum into a business would be to charge users? Personally, I wouldn't want to charge users because I think there are so many free forums out there that no one would choose to pay to join an unknown new forum.
You can get ads from an advertising network such as Google Adsense, and insert the ads in the forum - or you can rent space directly to advertisers. That is up to you, and there are mods to make this easier.
You can also keep the forum free, and still offer paid memberships that allow access to closed areas of the forum, so it's not necessarily one or the other - you can do both.

Quote from: leylasanai on November 09, 2019, 06:12:54 PM
Thank you in advance for any advice :)
You're welcome. :)

https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Installing

If you come up with other questions, please feel free to ask.
Slava
Ukraini!


"Before you allow people access to your forum, especially in an administrative position, you must be aware that that person can seriously damage your forum. Therefore, you should only allow people that you trust, implicitly, to have such access." -Douglas

How you can help SMF

Kindred

I think the biggest confusion that you have is the difference between our software and the hosting.

SMF is free software (as stated and explained above)
In order to USE the free software, you will need a hosting package on some server.
There are hundreds of hosts out there, ranging from "free" (which we never recommend) to managed, private servers (which can cost hundred each month)

Simple Machines itself does not provide hosting. We only make the software.

We have a board where hosts are listed and reviewed:
https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?board=4.0


then, to reiterate what has been said above:   SMF is free software.  If you like it, you can donate to the project.
Many modification packages (mods) are free - and can be used to add to or extend the functionality available in your forum.
Many Themes (templates) are free - and can be used to change the look and layout of your forum.
Some themes or modification packages are "premium" and require payment to use...  that is between you and the author of the theme or mod. We don't sell mods or themes on this site.
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Creole Barbie

Hello, I am a newbie. I am so lost on this site. I joined for curiosity's sake. So far either by my ignorance or because I just don't want to read "newbie directions", I was hoping to troll the dark web so to speak. Bottom line, am I on the right platform, or did I just spend good money for nothing?  I am not a computer geek but have a doctorate degree and sure I could contribute meaningful insight to almost any subject regarding psychology and social sciences. I joined to have joined to have a dark web experience and seek out interesting information. Am I lost or just on the wrong platform (website)? To go to some interesting sites...how do I get there? Creole Barbie

Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen

Quote from: Creole Barbie on July 08, 2022, 02:40:23 AMI was hoping to troll the dark web so to speak.  Bottom line, am I on the right platform,
No.
Quote from: Creole Barbie on July 08, 2022, 02:40:23 AMor did I just spend good money for nothing?
Registration here is free, so if someone sold you something it wasn't us.
Quote from: Creole Barbie on July 08, 2022, 02:40:23 AMTo go to some interesting sites...how do I get there? Creole Barbie
Google is your friend.
Slava
Ukraini!


"Before you allow people access to your forum, especially in an administrative position, you must be aware that that person can seriously damage your forum. Therefore, you should only allow people that you trust, implicitly, to have such access." -Douglas

How you can help SMF

bluevoodu

Quote from: GigaWatt on March 29, 2018, 09:02:51 AMThe question template does wonders ;). I even dropped the cpatcha, haven't had a bot register for 2 weeks now ;) :).
@GigaWatt --> it's been awhile, but following up again.  I've had spam bots break thru about 7 times in about 5 years.  However, the last changes have kept them at bay. Very happy with this... 7 times is way less than the hundreds or thousands I had to deal with in the past over TONS of incidents.

Still trying to figure out how to get more users and retain.  40-ish of our old forum members joined the new forum I created in 2018. They were excited at first, but About 6 stayed active overtime.  Seems to be the trend these days... but we have a good 6-7 members still active. Several just lurk while many others went the route of creating their own platforms - twitch and spending time on their own content.  Nothing wrong with that, but it's a noticed change.
We want you to join:
Chicken Dinner Gaming Community

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