Website forums

WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD A WEBSITE FORUM?

One of the most powerful ways to learn about a particular subject, or in many cases make friends, is to participate in forums, also know as bulletin boards!

If you decide you would like to add a forum to your website, there are many options available. You may want a forum that is totally open to the public, or it may be a better option to limit membership. This is a very important decision, and should not be taken lightly. Forums take a tremendous amount of time to administer, and members of questionable integrity are not a rare occurance. Depending on your goals, it may be worth dealing with the misfits that frequent forums just because the great information contributed by strong members outways the negative influences of the bad.

As with the design of your website, there are many different "themes" available for forums. Some bulletin board software gives your members the ability to choose the look and feel of their experience.

To begin, we recommend you experience forums for yourself, before making this vital decision. The following are sources used by Advantage Website Designs to provide forums.

http://www.simplemachines.org/

http://www.vbulletin.com

http://www.phpbb.com/

http://www.invisionpower.com/community/board/index.html

Please take the time to explore all of the above, and form opinions of what you would like to see in your own forum.

Are you computer savvy?