How to start a Forum?

[SirLouen]

It depends on a lot of factors.

If you don't know how to code, I will go with 100% with Discourse. It's a fully featured modern forum that is similar to what we are already used to in the social networks like Facebook. All big sites that are introducing a forum are using Discourse nowadays

If you plan to do the next BHW, then Xenforo is the way to go, the massive amount of features they implement is overwhelming, though is not free.

Personally I love BBpress (the official Wordpress forum). Why? Because I like to code features in Wordpress and I can do weird things with the forums that make them very unique. I found difficult to code in other PHP forums like phpBB or SMF, this is why I ended choosing BBpress for convenience...

For example, the last plugin I coded in BBpress, is a way to warn the forum users that certain user's opinions can be hazardous (in a health forum context).
Instead of having to ban them, by doing this, the disturbing users are unaware of whats going on while the rest are aware of their shit opinion (also called honeypot). From my experience, If I simply banned them, they will keep creating new accounts period and making me lose huge amounts of time (I'm sure the BHW forum mods have experienced this a million times)

 

[Nut-Nights]

You need to target niche which is paid one but you are providing it for free, that the only way you can have a successful forum in 2020.

 

[webtrader]

I have not seen it mentioned here yet so SMF is also a good free forum you can use. vBulletin is the best IMO but as you said you are on a budget.

 

[TrendWatchersAlerts]

What are they using instead of forums and the theme is specified

Facebook groups are basically the newer forums.

 

[macdonjo3]

What are they using instead of forums and the theme is specified

there's this new break through over the past 2 decades called....

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

[JeanFerreira]

phpBB is the best for sure, you just need basic skills to admin, regarding what's better than a Forum I agreed FB Groups are great and the new generations luv it

 

[YujinTan]

I used to think setting a forum many years back but it seem quite hard for a noob like myself. Set up is one thing , is about manage it . Mods to monitor etc worst getting bad mods will screw the forum if u using it for ad revenue. Yes forum is very good for ad revenue to be frank. People will share the forum link, if someone post some viral post . Members in the forums sharing it , your forum will gain traffic of course so do your ad revenue for the ads in the forum. i think data base also a key point? need big server as forum membersship grow ?

but beware , I does see some forums don't active. The members never post much or no body register for it. Just rotting there till it close.

 

[gdgtzz]

What's that old one called? Bulletin BB?? I think BHW is built on it (just guessing). Classic, and free

 

[Jokull]

What's that old one called? Bulletin BB?? I think BHW is built on it (just guessing). Classic, and free

BHW is built on xenoforo

 

[OVM]

I want to start a porn a like Community :/

for porn Community best is phpbb and simple machine forum using both software you will get multi thousand free singup and auto post throw lots of bot seller.

 

[gdgtzz]

BHW is built on xenoforo

That's very cool to know! Thank you! And please excuse my ignorance in thinking it was vbulletin

 

[Martin Moun]

IP.Board & XenForo : My 2 favourites
I love ipb skins

 

[barzorrr]

I understand your idea of the concept but I don't really see the charmes of a porn forum. I think you should abort this mission because a porn site should be efficient like YouTube with thumbnails.
I would only click a link if it says '' Drunk girl swallows a baseball bat like a sword''

 

[oatmeal]

there's this new break through over the past 2 decades called....

SOCIAL MEDIA

I disagree. The problem with facebook, or other social media is you can't really continue a discussion or debate because those platforms
do not have a clear, sortable, viewable archive of ongoing topics and discussions. All they are good at is having a short and witty comment that can
get the most views for the moment.

Have you ever tried to scroll through a fb page or group to discuss anything? It would take you hours to scroll down and look for something in the history to discuss about.
Forums keep everything sorted, visible, categorized, easy to search, and ongoing discussions even if they are years old can continue.

I post comments all the time on youtube videos and facebook posts, but 10% or less of the time, is there actually any meaningful communication. Nobody is really discussing anything except just trying to get their own views out there and posted. It's like having a million voices all talking over each other. Maybe entertaining and amusing but you
don't get any real good discussions.

At least in a forum, you can carry on a discussion.

 

[SellingStealth]

vBulletin is a good one, i know a few forums that make good money and seem to be built from it. the key is to find your niche

 

[oatmeal]

I used to think setting a forum many years back but it seem quite hard for a noob like myself. Set up is one thing , is about manage it . Mods to monitor etc worst getting bad mods will screw the forum if u using it for ad revenue. Yes forum is very good for ad revenue to be frank. People will share the forum link, if someone post some viral post . Members in the forums sharing it , your forum will gain traffic of course so do your ad revenue for the ads in the forum. i think data base also a key point? need big server as forum membersship grow ?

but beware , I does see some forums don't active. The members never post much or no body register for it. Just rotting there till it close.

Well there is a secret sauce to keeping it active.

If someone builds a forum and just starts posting topics, nobody is going to join or stay or stay long enough to keep it alive. The forum itself cannot maintain itself until it has a large active user base and those users have an emotional/mental investment in it as their go to source page to discuss certain things.

What you need is to support a forum in the beginning until one day it is strong enough to stand on its own legs.

Here is a great example. Do you guys remember IMDB forums? It was the #1 forum for discussing movies. It doesn't matter if youtube or social media is around. IMDB forums was still the best place to discuss and talk about movies. Why they shut it down, is beyond me. Now I never go there anymore because I don't go to imdb just to check out the synopsis or reviews of movies. IMDB attracted me because you could actually search each movie and each movie had it's own forum so you can discuss it with others. Every time I finished watching a movie (a new one or and old one doesn't matter), I'd head straight over to IMDB forums and search the movie and start discussing forums because I'd always have questions about the movie I just finished watching. That's why the forums could stay alive....people are constantly watching movies and after they watch it, they want to talk about it.

Sure you could post stuff on youtube videos but very rarely will anyone really carry on a conversation with you....besides your comment will get buried in the masses almost nobody will read it unless you are early and one of the first commenters to get it liked and pinned near the top.

 

[oatmeal]

phpBB is the best for sure, you just need basic skills to admin, regarding what's better than a Forum I agreed FB Groups are great and the new generations luv it

I agree that the new generation are conditioned to just chat on IG, Twitter, FB, or YT comments section...but this is also very limiting. It's cashing in on the short, concise, terse, catchy, outrage, trend we are in. But more and more people are growing tired of it and longing for the old form which is called "long form communication".....want a good example of it? Joe Rogan Podcast/youtube. At first, you think, what's so special about it? All he does is talk on microphone with his guests for 2-3 hours and it's the #1 podcast / interview show on youtube. Why?? Because people are longing for long form again. They are tired of these edited, manipulated, controlled forms of communication. People are longing to just have real and raw talk that is unedited and kept in it's natural state...... There are many more interview / talk channels like Joe Rogan ....called the Intellectual Dark Web and many of these people are starting their own long form shows.

I believe forums are like the long form of communication. Until neural link comes out where we don't even have to type, speak, and read to communicate anymore, I personally believe, if done right, forums are still going to be huge and make a bigger comeback.

 

[oatmeal]

Here's one more example. Take for instance BHW forum. This forum is 100x better than any fb group about blackhat. I've joined quite a few of those over the years and it's just so difficult to communicate because you can't even find topics and discussions unless you do some digging. The way FB groups is organized is like piling one sheet of paper on top of another in a vertical format. Imagine having 1,000 posts per day and trying to find a topic buried somewhere down at #204 out of 1,000. On this forum, everything is more horizontal. Tons of topics/categories neatly organized and arranged so that you join in on specific topics.

Imagine if this forum was just one post piled on top of the next with no categories and no threads. It's just over saturated with 1,000 posts per day and whatever you posted 5 minutes ago is already buried 500 posts down never to be seen or heard from again. That's the futility of fb, twitter, ig, yt .....forums are so much better for discussion.


Another example like Quora: not a great place for ongoing discussions but if you have a question and you're just looking for a quick answer, you might find it useful but even still, not many people reply and your question quickly becomes irrelevant and never to be heard from again in a very short time. Don't like it for discussion. Quora is just fun to quickly answer questions of all kinds when you are bored.