Ever wonder just how difficult it is to run a forum?

Kester Pelagius · June 08, 2007, 07:06:14 PM

Despite the fact I can never seem to keep up to date on the threads I post to half the time, often coming back to (whatever forum) finding they've gone on for pages and pages, often mooting whatever trivial comments I might have made I decided to find out just how difficult these modern day forms are.

But why would anyone waste money, you ask?

I didn't. Believe it or not there are free forum hosts out there. No idea how good they are but, well, with RPGnet down I figured what they hey and now there's The RPG FunZone. Ayup, it's still a work in progress, and I'll probably be an absentee landlord but, what the hey, right?

Kester Pelagius · June 09, 2007, 02:22:05 PM

The RPG FunZone has now been up and running since midday yesterday. So far I've discoverd that forums are both easy and very hard entities to wrangle, it just depends on what you're wanting to do and what the restrictions of the interface/your own knowledge is.

So far I've put in some fresh graphics, tweaked some minor behind the scenes config stuff, picked up a Mod (with his own forum), and been totally unable to figure out how to update the stock TOS boilerplate you see when you first log in. Which, in a way, is pretty funny because it's probably hidden behind some config util that I've looked at a hundred times.

Now to figure out how to get the word out that it exists and draw people to the forums to give the site a work out and see what else needs working on...

Makes you think twice about just how tough Mods and Admins of larger sites must have it, I tell you what.

Dr Rotwang! · June 09, 2007, 02:33:01 PM

When I try to confirm my registration by typing in my username from the e-mail, it says "Name does not match" etc.

EDIT: Never mind.

EDIT: No, wait, DO mind. Logs me in but won't let me post about ideas in the shower.

Kester Pelagius · June 09, 2007, 02:44:32 PM

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!When I try to confirm my registration by typing in my username from the e-mail, it says "Name does not match" etc.

EDIT: Never mind.

EDIT: No, wait, DO mind. Logs me in but won't let me post about ideas in the shower.

As it so happens I have the Admin panel open in an other window. Let me see what I can see. . .

Dr Rotwang! · June 09, 2007, 02:47:51 PM

Thanks, Kester.

Kester Pelagius · June 09, 2007, 02:49:48 PM

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Thanks, Kester.

For whatever reason your account was tagged as needing to be validated. You're good to go, and now I must go and see what strange wondrous button I accidentlly clicked to turn validation on. :deflated:

Kester Pelagius · June 09, 2007, 11:58:13 PM

And RPGnet is back up. I know this because, as I was hacking around in the Admin panel a few hours ago, I popped out to check a minor change and noticed the handful of people that had discovered the board and seemed, for a while, to be fairly active weren't. Which teaches us the most important lesson of all about how difficult it is to run a forum. . .

The user base. If you have one then you have a message board, if you don't you have a URL squatting somewhere in cyberspace. Which brings us to the next lesson to come out of all this. . .

Free forum software is nice but it lacks the bells and whistles to draw a crowd. Heck I never really paid much attention to that sort of thing but, you know, sitting here I just realized that theRPGsite actually offers quite a lot of resources. You can post reviews (which I have), and blog (which I have not, unless you count this thread

), and, huh, never noticed there was a games tab.

What in the world does that lead to, said Kester as he hit the submit button so he could find out.

J Arcane · June 10, 2007, 12:50:25 AM

Eh. I wouldn't give up on it too soon. Takes time, and promotion effort to get something like that off the ground.

I think it's more a matter of reaching out to the people like me, who are actually looking for someplace else to frequent, as opposed to jsut killing time while thier favorite site is down.

beeber · June 10, 2007, 02:14:09 AM

true, that. each board has it's own feel, or attitude. i left others because i just didn't care for the vibe around them, but also having discovered an alternative. and also because i found that these other places really didn't fit the need that i felt, both for information and, well, comfort reasons. gaming is a hobby, and something i should feel comfortable hanging around and talking about. if the vibe at a place isn't conducive (sp?) to me, then i won't hang.

there are always exceptions, right? the board for the specific game will tend to be the one that answers the technical or mechanical questions best. fr'ex, i may not care for the d20/whatever incarnation of d&d, but if i have to run it and need an npc, the first place i'll go is enworld. same for other focused sites.

more power to you, trying to do this, to add to the morass that abounds in the ether. it seems to be quite a bit of work for a lot of potential aggravation

NYTFLYR · June 10, 2007, 08:30:34 AM

yeah, running a board is a royal pain in the butt, been doing it off and on now for over 12 years, everything from PBP boards, BBS message boards, CP fan boards and the official RTalsorian Boards. with RPG.nets issues Im thinking about it again, but this time making the focus on my BBS... I dont know if it will come to fuition though...

HinterWelt · June 10, 2007, 10:23:32 AM

FYI - I still have not got my sign up email.

Bill

Kester Pelagius · June 10, 2007, 10:24:50 AM

Some reading this may be wondering why create a forum and talk about it?

The answer is simple. Having read posts here and there in which people complain about this, that, or the other thing I decided to roll the dice let them fall where they may.

Quote from: J ArcaneEh. I wouldn't give up on it too soon. Takes time, and promotion effort to get something like that off the ground.

Well RPG FunZone is only three days old. So not throwing in th towel quite yet. It's still a baby!

Quote from: J ArcaneI think it's more a matter of reaching out to the people like me, who are actually looking for someplace else to frequent, as opposed to jsut killing time while thier favorite site is down.

Good point. What can we do to make you feel more comfortable?

Is there anything in particular you'd like to see in a message board?

Kester Pelagius · June 10, 2007, 10:26:38 AM

Quote from: HinterWeltFYI - I still have not got my sign up email.

Bill

FYI - I validated your account yesterday.

I think it's a gmail problem. I had to validate another gmail account manually yesterday. Did you check your junk mail folder?

Kester Pelagius · June 10, 2007, 10:31:29 AM

Quote from: NYTFLYRyeah, running a board is a royal pain in the butt, been doing it off and on now for over 12 years, everything from PBP boards, BBS message boards, CP fan boards and the official RTalsorian Boards.

BBSes were easier to modify though. There are simple things that I want to do, which I should be able to do, like change basic stock boolean strings, and so far I'm about as clueless as cafeteria worker on Hell's Kitchen trying to figure out how to make a sorbet.

Quote from: NYTFLYRwith RPG.nets issues Im thinking about it again, but this time making the focus on my BBS... I dont know if it will come to fuition though...

There's always RPG FunZone. Right now the board is rules lite and I'm open to creating hosted forums. Everyone is welcome, granted the Admin staff approves your request, but so far they've been fairly good about that.

Kester Pelagius · June 10, 2007, 10:38:33 AM

Quote from: beebertrue, that. each board has it's own feel, or attitude. i left others because i just didn't care for the vibe around them, but also having discovered an alternative. and also because i found that these other places really didn't fit the need that i felt, both for information and, well, comfort reasons. gaming is a hobby, and something i should feel comfortable hanging around and talking about. if the vibe at a place isn't conducive (sp?) to me, then i won't hang.

Feel free to lurk at RPG FunZone. Guest posting is turned on in all save one or two forums, and so long as we don't get spammers (or a Moderator doesn't turn it off for their forum) you should be able to see what's going on and post comments to see if you like the feel of the board.

Just keep in mind it tis a wee infant.

Quote from: beeberthere are always exceptions, right? the board for the specific game will tend to be the one that answers the technical or mechanical questions best. fr'ex, i may not care for the d20/whatever incarnation of d&d, but if i have to run it and need an npc, the first place i'll go is enworld. same for other focused sites.

If you don't like D20 then the forum you want is Dragon's Foot (dragonsfoot dot org) as they cover most pre-D20 incarnations of the game. There even a few free modules for download and 2nd ED splat book thingys. (It's a technical term.)

Quote from: beebermore power to you, trying to do this, to add to the morass that abounds in the ether. it seems to be quite a bit of work for a lot of potential aggravation

You're welcome to visit. And, BTW, if you would like to host your own forum just ask and you can jump in the morass with the rest of us!