Advise on setting up a forum site

[nameboi]

I recently acquired a great SubjectForum.com domain about the subject that I am very interested in.
What forum software would you recommend?
Also, what are some tips to avoid spam and junk postings?
Should I require registration first and approve each login?
Should I ban all advertising and all links?
Or is one link per signature is OK, but no other links allowed?

My audience will be older people who are also have a serious interested in the subject. Some of them will be real experts on the subjects, and a few of them are making a living from the subject.

I am thinking about only allowing postings from experts to begin with, to get the whole thing started with only useful content.

 

[tristanperry]

I recently acquired a great SubjectForum.com domain about the subject that I am very interested in.

Glad to hear it; best of luck to you

What forum software would you recommend?

I personally recommend SMF (and am actually a beta tester of SMF, so feel free to PM me with any queries you may have if you go with SMF)

For paid, vBulletin is seen as the best. (Although I honestly prefer SMF to vB; the former is more light-weight/is quicker)

Also, what are some tips to avoid spam and junk postings?

Definitely enable CAPTCHA on the registration page. Don't allow posts from guests.

Also look into having custom anti-bot questions on the registration page (SMF 2.0 has this as a default feature, and SMF 1.1 has this as a mod; all forum softwares allow for anti-bot questions to be set, either via a default feature or via a mod)

Should I require registration first and approve each login?

There's no particular need if you have got a solid CAPTCHA and anti-bot questions. The latter in-particular will block nearly all (if not all) bots you get, so you shouldn't worry about spam registrations

Should I ban all advertising and all links?

The rule I tend to use is that members shouldn't directly link to a competitor (i.e. creating a new thread, saying "I seen this article on [link here], what do you think of it), although if a post later on in a thread links to a competitor's site, and it's germane to the discussion, it can be allowed.

It depends though I personally don't think it's good to say "No advertising competitors, full stop.", hence why I do allow linking if it's germane to the discussion's flow.

Or is one link per signature is OK, but no other links allowed?

For signatures, advertising there is fine IMO. As long as it's only a few links and no more.

When members ask where can they advertise, we always just say "In your sig".

Some members will want to advertise their site, so it's best to have somewhere for them to advertise. And sigs are usually a non-intrusive way of allowing this IMO.

I am thinking about only allowing postings from experts to begin with, to get the whole thing started with only useful content.

That could be cool Starting up a forum can be very difficult at first since it's the whole catch 22 situation of 'people won't join with no content. And you can't get content with no people'. But if you can get some experts in and posting, then that could be a great base to work from.

I may lose track of this thread, so feel free to PM me if you want.

 

[renantech]

Thanks for your idea

Great idea in making a forum site but i think setting up a forum site need an SEO Specialist to market the website.

 

[kiezerrence]

nice concept and ideas you have other people are glad if the have problems your types well help other

 

[peterumingan02]

very nice...