Your 1 Post Advice/Suggestion for SMF Beginners.

[alex30]

Just post one useful advice/suggestion that you think will help people who just start using this wonderful software. This thread should look like a little library of helpful advices.

Thank you for participating.


My advice: Make sure to have reputable web hosting before setting up a SMF forum in order to avoid future interruptions and instability.

[Arantor]

My advice: Unique content rules everything; no need to create yet another forum on a topic that already has 1001 of the same. Be brave: be unique.

[Liam.]

Take a look through the forums, docs, and mod/theme sites. You'll get used to how SMF works VERY fast, and also get some more advanced questions answered. Also, the mods/themes will make your site more unique than others, but don't have too many themes, and don't overwhelm your site with mods.

But, what Arantor said still rules.

[ApplianceJunk]

My advice: Unique content rules everything; no need to create yet another forum on a topic that already has 1001 of the same. Be brave: be unique.

Good advice.

The combination of unique content and time. To many people start a forum and expect to see results the next week or month.

[Jade Elizabeth]

This is what I usually say:

I will tell you what I tell all new forum owners: Running a forum is HARD WORK. You need to be the one who's active. You need to start the conversations.

Until your forum is beginning to generate its own topics, you need to push it. The more topics you create, the more posting opportunities there are. Don't start topics with an attitude that makes the reader think you're desperate for activity or you think there will be no replies. You should start topics confidently, and users will respond confidently.

Your users may be waiting for the opportunity to post. Give them opportunities. Ask your friends to sign up and start some topics if you can.

You also need to respond to every topic, especially in the early days. Heck, I still do (my forum is over a year old). I have over 80,000 posts and about 125 members, and I still have to create new topics and reply to everything. When I stop, the posting slows down so much it's scary  .

When you get more members you can ask staff, or certain members to try to post a new topic every few days. I did that, I posted a topic asking for 5 blind volunteers, and then told them to go post 5 new topics (via PM).



When doing this, however, you need to provide a consistent stream of topics. Not just 6 on Monday, and none until those die. You need 2 on Monday, 2 on Tuesday, etc, etc.


Additionally, members want to be involved. They want to feel engaged in the forum. You can involve members by:

• Posting! (ha ha thought you got rid of that one didn't you? )
• Competitions (offer Karma, money, items, enhanced privileges or subscriptions, maybe banners or logo comps each month or something?)
• Membergroups and Teams (feedback, advice, tech guys, anything. We had people who were good for advice and we grouped them. We had guys who could help with technical issues, and we grouped them too. Start an exclusive club. Put entrance to that into a competition.)
• Asking for advice/feedback on forum enhancements (every so often we ask the members what they want, or what they need, or like, don't like, without them coming to us. It shows them that we care about their feelings towards the forum and want to make it a happy place for them to be)

There are other ways, but those should help you out for now .

[Blah blah]

Don't start a forum unless you have at least 10 other friends that post on forums. It just makes it easier on you so you don't have to do ALL the posting and trying to get new members. They will tell a friend that tells a friend, etc. 10 can turn into a thousand before you know it

[dWhite]

My advice: NEVER GIVE UP!

[sangwe11]

My advice: NEVER GIVE UP!

My advice: Don't use a host like advertised in your signature.

UNLIMITED RESOURCES IS IMPOSSIBLE !

[Liam.]

My advice: NEVER GIVE UP!

I go against this. There is an old saying "you can never win until you have truly lost". Although not in all cases (Family Guy for example), this is true. You might have to try three or four different techniques first before you eventually get something that works, but you will never get it without experience.

[Arantor]

My advice: NEVER GIVE UP!

My advice: Don't use a host like advertised in your signature.

UNLIMITED RESOURCES IS IMPOSSIBLE !

Interesting. May want to apologise as that looks to me as though it's run by the person who posted. Please do not make what amounts to a personal attack.

Oversellers provide a valuable service to webmasters - getting their first leg up on the ladder. I started out on oversold hosting. While it may be 'bad' in your opinion, it isn't bad for everyone and I know many customers that are satisfied with their hosting, be it the above, GoDaddy, HostGator etc.etc.


Another one line of advice: Encourage your posters to perhaps consider the implications of their post.

[Liam.]

I know many customers that are satisfied with their hosting, be it the above, GoDaddy, HostGator etc.etc.

Hello I use JustHost which claim to oversell, but they really don't! They may have cheap services for good things, but the thing is that they have overpriced domains and account upgrades; so getting the basic package is nothing for them.

[sangwe11]

My advice: NEVER GIVE UP!

My advice: Don't use a host like advertised in your signature.

UNLIMITED RESOURCES IS IMPOSSIBLE !

Interesting. May want to apologise as that looks to me as though it's run by the person who posted. Please do not make what amounts to a personal attack.

Oversellers provide a valuable service to webmasters - getting their first leg up on the ladder. I started out on oversold hosting. While it may be 'bad' in your opinion, it isn't bad for everyone and I know many customers that are satisfied with their hosting, be it the above, GoDaddy, HostGator etc.etc.


Another one line of advice: Encourage your posters to perhaps consider the implications of their post.

I feel in no way that my post was a personal attack, and while overselling may be a market strategy, I highly disapprove of any hosting using that method of selling.

Why lie to get your presence know in the community ?

Anyhow, apologies if you found my comment insulting, as it was not mean't to be.

[dWhite]

I go against this. There is an old saying "you can never win until you have truly lost". Although not in all cases (Family Guy for example), this is true. You might have to try three or four different techniques first before you eventually get something that works, but you will never get it without experience.

One of the main reasons why websites fail and fall apart under themselves, is when the owners give up on it.

[dWhite]

I feel in no way that my post was a personal attack, and while overselling may be a market strategy, I highly disapprove of any hosting using that method of selling.

Why lie to get your presence know in the community ?

Anyhow, apologies if you found my comment insulting, as it was not mean't to be.

We don't oversell, it's as simple as that. We don't offer paid hosting with outrageous plans like $5 a month for ridiculous space and bandwidth and then suspend your account even when you can't even reach it.

And we can offer unmetered space/bandwidth on free hosting, we have the equipment for it. After all, we've been in business since 1997 and are one the last few remaining web hosts that offer unlimited (unmetered) space and bandwidth for free hosting.

Every web host you come across has some sort of marketing strategy. Look at HostGator for example and their massive overselling offering "unlimited space and bandwidth for $8/month". I used HostGator once, they shut my site down even before I used 50gb of bandwidth and only 50mb of space.

If you don't have anything good to say, please don't say it, especially when it comes to you trying to ruin my company's reputation in a public forum. You don't see me coming on this forum going after people and their companies solely based on their marketing strategy, do you?

[sangwe11]

I feel in no way that my post was a personal attack, and while overselling may be a market strategy, I highly disapprove of any hosting using that method of selling.

Why lie to get your presence know in the community ?

Anyhow, apologies if you found my comment insulting, as it was not mean't to be.

We don't oversell, it's as simple as that. We don't offer paid hosting with outrageous plans like $5 a month for ridiculous space and bandwidth and then suspend your account even when you can't even reach it.

And we can offer unmetered space/bandwidth on free hosting, we have the equipment for it. After all, we've been in business since 1997 and are one the last few remaining web hosts that offer unlimited (unmetered) space and bandwidth for free hosting.

Every web host you come across has some sort of marketing strategy. Look at HostGator for example and their massive overselling offering "unlimited space and bandwidth for $8/month". I used HostGator once, they shut my site down even before I used 50gb of bandwidth and only 50mb of space.

If you don't have anything good to say, please don't say it, especially when it comes to you trying to ruin my company's reputation in a public forum. You don't see me coming on this forum going after people and their companies solely based on their marketing strategy, do you?

I don't either come into this forum to do that.

I came into this community to share my skills, and help others.

I gave my advice, like it or not.

[TheListener]

Don't be afraid to approach sites which allow banner links.

(via twitter 2 of my forums have received banner link exchanges)

[dWhite]

I don't either come into this forum to do that.

I came into this community to share my skills, and help others.

I gave my advice, like it or not.

No, what you did is look at my signature and then personally attack me and my company straight off the bat.

[sangwe11]

I don't either come into this forum to do that.

I came into this community to share my skills, and help others.

I gave my advice, like it or not.

No, what you did is look at my signature and then personally attack me and my company straight off the bat.

I looked at your signature, straight away saw the big UNLIMITED and the price, and posted I advise people to stay away from oversellers (sites like yours)

[TheListener]

I don't either come into this forum to do that.

I came into this community to share my skills, and help others.

I gave my advice, like it or not.

No, what you did is look at my signature and then personally attack me and my company straight off the bat.

On a forum such as this one there is no reason as to why not web hosting can be advertised in a signature.

On a forum with a certain type of theme however then I would either place the banner as an advert or use a topic where people can mention other forums for this. ( I use the signpost as a topic title for this.)

[Arantor]

There's a lot of tension here.

dWhite, I understand where sangwe11 is coming from. If you look through the majority of posts in the support boards for 'my forum is slow', I can guarantee you invariably it is an oversold host at work. Thus his reaction is understandable from an outside observer's POV.

I do appreciate that it looked like a personal attack. It wasn't meant as such.

sangwe11: I appreciate your fervour for qualitative hosting out there, however there is no need to criticise anyone's choice of hosting simply because of its type. Reseller/shared hosting, even oversold is not necessarily a bad thing.