| Introduction | | | | schools and other public places, keeping it clean will |
| | | | always attract more traffic. |
| In recent years forums has emerged as a great tool | | | | Pruning is regular deletion of dead posts. Don't use |
| for sharing resources, ideas and views worldwide. | | | | auto pruning for useful boards as they may be viewed |
| Even, search engines are now giving more value to | | | | even if there is no new replies, but it is always good to |
| forum posts. One can create a forum and can enjoy | | | | set auto pruning of chat based and test area boards. |
| high traffic on there site. Creating a forum needs | | | | |
| nothing but any of the free forum software installed on | | | | 3. Adding Moderators |
| your webserver. I will give some basic terminological | | | | Adding global moderators is one of the best loads |
| details - | | | | sharing exercise for any webmaster. Moderators are |
| General Description and terms used | | | | normal user with some extra capabilities like - editing |
| This topic can only be better understood if you have | | | | any post, warning any user, changing and setting user |
| knowledge for few basic terms. If you are aware of | | | | profile. |
| following terms just skip it for the next heading. | | | | |
| Admin - Admin is organizer of the forum. He can add | | | | 4. They never click on ad |
| or delete any user, can ban any IP address, manage all | | | | It is usually seen that member never click on ad. This |
| forums and boards on the forum and do all house | | | | is a problem for administrator to generate money by |
| keeping activities.Topic - Topic appear as menu on | | | | using Ad-sense type of ad. One thing can be done - |
| any board. Usually, every topic is replied. The topic and | | | | put ad on your forum on the basis of number of prints |
| replies together make any discussion.User - Simple | | | | instead of number of clicks. Try to join some member |
| visitors of the forum. They have a User ID and a | | | | exchange drive of few companies like - ebay, my |
| password. They can also add image called 'avatar' | | | | space etc. where you can earn good money by |
| and a signature.Posts - Any topic or reply is called a | | | | making your members joining these community. |
| post.Profiles - Every user has a profile, it contains - | | | | |
| user id, date joined number of posts, date of birth, | | | | 5. Once a trouble maker , always a trouble maker |
| signature and other details (Email id, AIM, YIM | | | | If you think that a member is not following the rules of |
| etc.).Banning and warning users - If any user goes | | | | your forum take quick action. The proper way of |
| beyond the rules of the forum, he/she should be | | | | action is usually - first warning him/her and then one |
| banned or warned. Warning means a tag is added to | | | | can consider banning him. A rule of thumb is - Once a |
| the name of member, while banning means that | | | | troublemaker, always a troublemaker. So make take |
| member cant login and even cant create a new login | | | | quick action against such members. Even you are |
| from his/her IP address.Pruning - Some boards are set | | | | losing one member you can make sure other will not |
| as auto pruning, this means all dead and useless topics | | | | leave due to that troublemaker. |
| are deleted automatically after some time.Bulk mail - | | | | |
| An admin can send mail to all the users. This is called | | | | 6. Increasing Traffic |
| bulk mailing.Forum skin - The overall look and feel of | | | | Usually all search engines give a higher rank for any |
| the forum is governed by forum skin. Admin can add | | | | forum post. Like if you are searching for any topic and |
| new skins to any forum. Some forums offer their | | | | there is a forum post regarding that topic, you will see |
| users ability to select any skin from a list. There is at | | | | that search engine will place forum topic first in its |
| least one skin called default. | | | | search. With this in mind one can say that, more the |
| Some valuable tips | | | | topics posted more the traffic it will attract. One can |
| 1. Choosing topics | | | | also opt for advertisement drive; this will help in |
| When creating the forum, be careful. In my opinion try | | | | establishing the forum. Once we got a good number of |
| to stick on one domain, instead of, putting all-in-one | | | | members just stops advertisements. |
| forum. For example if you are taking jokes as the | | | | |
| base of your forum don't mix cooking in it. Better you | | | | Conclusion |
| open two separate forums for that. Periodically | | | | |
| consider to open new boards. | | | | Forum administration is an integral part of forum |
| | | | health. A good forum is one which achieves its goal |
| 2. Censorship and pruning | | | | and members found it useful. I am not in favor of |
| Censorship not only helps your board to be clean and | | | | strictly administrating everything, but I am in favor of |
| trouble free but also keeps members visiting. If your | | | | friendly administrating it.Manu Dutt Tripathi is a DBA |
| forum allows using inappropriate words, you will soon | | | | working in Bangalore India. He is also webadmin of |
| see that many members have left your forum. Make | | | | some forums. He likes sharing his views with other |
| sure that your forum is viewed at - home, office, | | | | people. |