Forum Software for WordPress: Build a Modern Forum

Forum software is the program that runs an internet forum. This video explains the three forms of internet forum software, a hosted service, a separate application and a plugin, and the three questions to ask before you choose.

Transcript

Forum software is the program that runs an internet forum. It stores the topics and replies, manages the members, and applies the rules. It comes in three forms. A hosted service. A separate application you install on a server. Or a plugin on the website you already have. Ask three questions before you choose. Where does it run? A hosted service runs on the provider's servers, for as long as you keep paying. Who holds the data? With a plugin, every topic and every member sits in your own database. And what can you add later? On your own site, the answer is whatever your community needs. Whichever form you pick, good forum software must do six things. Organise by subject. Thread the replies. Mark the best answer. Search everything. Stop spam. And let you set who can do what. Here are the six on a real WordPress site. One. Categories and spaces, so every subject has a place. Two and three. Replies sit under the question, and the one that solved it is marked as accepted. Four. Search that looks inside every topic and every reply. Five. Spam protection, and a moderation queue where reports from members wait for a decision. Six. Permissions. Each space has its own owner, moderators and members, and its own rule for who may join. That last one matters most as a forum grows. Here there are three layers. The WordPress roles you already use. Roles inside each space, so someone can moderate one space without running the whole site. And trust levels. New members start with limits, and the software promotes them as they take part. Modern forum software also goes past plain discussion. An ideas space lets members vote on what you should do next, and a knowledge base space keeps the guides. Building a modern forum this way takes four steps. Install the plugin on your WordPress site. Run the setup wizard, which sets the forum address and your first space. Add a space for each subject, and choose its type. Then open the doors, to everyone or only to your members. Side by side. A hosted forum service means a fee for as long as the forum exists. A plugin is free to start, on hosting you already pay for. The data sits on their servers, or in your own database. Their look and their limits, or your theme and your rules. And if you ever leave a hosted service, you have to get everything out. On your own site, there is nothing to move. A forum grows more valuable with every answer. So the longer you build it on rented ground, the more you stand to lose. Jetonomy is the free forum plugin for WordPress. Choose forum software you own, and set it up this week. Get Jetonomy. The link is below.