Website/forum help

doodah

doodah

doodah

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
28,481
Location
London
My boss has just picked my brain about a website/forum he would like to create. I showed him OcUK as an example of a high throughput, well moderated and community based forum.

The website is aimed at children/parents who suffer from a specific heart condition and would like a medium for those affected to discuss ideas, question medical professionals and share stories/insights. A forum sounds the best fit but I know nothing about building or maintaining forums. My website skills are very limited, usually use templates. He wants the site to be 'fun and engaging' rather than just some run of the mill information source.

There are probably lots of things I haven't considered but my only task now is to see how feasible the whole thing is. I am worried maintaining such a thing will be too much, I don't really have time to do so. A few things to consider.......?

  • Host/domain service
  • Content hosting/bandwidth
  • Medical consideration/rules
  • Forum template
  • Moderation considerations
  • Anything else?

Thanks :)
 
Ignoring technical problems (those are fairly easy to overcome) the biggest issue with anything like this is getting people using the site. It's a chicken and egg problem. People see a forum with low activity so don't post. Unless the forum is very specific and there's nowhere better to ask the questions it's very difficult to get a community going.

If you already have a popular website it's easier, but it's still a difficult thing to start.
 
Thank you for your response, especially the part about the technical problems being easy to overcome :cool::o.

AFAIK there currently isn't a resource like this. One of the stake holders has produced a brilliant cartoon about the condition (very much aimed at the younger audience), I will check if I can link it here.
 
xibinim said:
  • Host/domain service - choose any registrar I use nameco and they haven't let me down.
  • Content hosting/bandwidth - shared server will suffice for a small forum until you start seeing the 100s requests per minute I wouldn't really bother with VPS. Most shared hosts have unlimited bandwidth and are limited by simultaneous connections. They should renew quick enough on a shared host for a good while.
  • Medical consideration/rules - disclaimer/ T&Cs professionally written. It's a dodgy area as I'm not sure you can absolve the website of all liability.
  • Forum template- most come with their own template you can modify or a quick google search will bring up some premium templates ~£45.
  • Moderation considerations - I assume it's a joint project in which case start out with a few of the main members modding. Once you start getting traffic a few members may stand out as possible candidates to take the reigns. At that point the currents mods have had enough time to experience what does and doesn't work for the forum.
  • Anything else? - you've got the basics covered.
Click to expand...

If you need any help feel free to shoot me a trust. If it's to help people rather than profit I could do pro bono :).

The fun and engaging bit is down to the users. The actual site makes little difference for example this forum on the looks is rather bland but it's functional and for the most part fast. It's the users that make it an engaging place to come.
 
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Real website designers and developers could have provide you with great and immediate results. You should probably start up with a domain name, hosting plan, search engine optimization, Blogs, Article Submissions and after that rotating your business website at High PR business listings.
 
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the hardest part about running a forum is keeping the spammers at bay, and once you've done that there is of course the petty fallings out that members have at each other, good luck!
 
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