Jason76

With phpBB, the avatar comes on the right side. It's the only or maybe one of the few to do that, but you can use a mod or theme to get it on the left-side.

I don't like focusing on SEO, aside from just making good content. I don't like being policed on everything I do.

I'm not good at unless there was some AI help, but I can possibly figure out how to upload graphics, however.

Some free software like SMF, MyBB and WordPress (bbPress, WordForo mods) are self-updating, and of course, paid stuff (XenForo etc ) is, but self-updating still requires some user help, with the exception of WordPress maybe.

People are oversensitive about politics causing outright hostility or "the cold shoulder". I mean, it's worse than dating, lol.

My forum is open to all ages because I don't allow stuff that's not minor-appropriate to be on there.

Sometimes you can get stuff that is just as good for free. For instance, a lot of people are into premium software, but often you can get "good enough" mods for free software and there are even free mods for premium software.

Testimonies from everyone don't hold equal value. For instance, I'm very cynical about cheap traffic sources, and unless I see real, verifiable testimonies from companies, I don't want to buy.

Credit systems are fun to implement but they can a pain to figure out. It took me awhile to get the hang of the XenForo Dragon Bytes points back in the day.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

I don't think this is much a concern for forum owners, unless you ran some huge forum, and in that case, I don't see the big deal with data collection, as long as it wasn't used for stalking or something.

Another problem with a lot of ads is it can drag down the site speed. That would hurt SEO.

What do you mean? I'm confused. Do you mean people making a whoop and holler about nothing? Well, I can understand why, but a lot of times the forum can eventually match the dream (the expectation). Anyway, I've had to so many forums that I've stopped creating that it's become a joke, but my newest forum is something I want to stay for at least 10 years, so I'm putting my "all in all" into it.

For a minute, I thought you said Glamification. :p Yeah, point systems and the like are fun, and I have used them in the past on XenForo. Anyway, I'd like to try it on a phpBB forum, and I've seen one forum use some unofficial point system (not approved by phpBB.com).

It can be done, but it's not a clickable (automatic) solution like with WordPress, XenForo, or SMF. Has anyone tried to update phpBB? I know this forum was once phpBB so there has been some stories from here.

A good situation to put this into play is when the forum is trying to sell something. For instance, let's say you have an SEO forum, and you can provide a lot of testimonies about your SEO work. Well, that can lead to a lot of money. ;)

I used to run math and drumming forums, so someone might be cynical and think I'm being some show-off. Anyway, though, the situation "was what it was" because there's nobody else to post, not because of some show-off, lol.

Don't worry, I got Elon on the job. ;)

I studied math and science at university. I've always been highly interested in it. Note: some big math forums are: https://mathhelpforum.com/community/ https://www.freemathhelp.com/forum/ Mathematics & Science Forums (This is a new one I just discovered.)

Yeah, it's kind of a no-brainer, so using MyBB's default theme is a "bad way to go", lol.

I'd be lucky if I could get anyone to join my forum, even after all the material I put into it. Well, it requires a huge investment just to get people to join, but I don't think I would need to rely on invite-only access, that seems like overkill.

I don't use ads on my forum because it's a Christian forum (ethical concern). However, though, I did use them on employment blogs in the past and it worked wonders (could have just as well been an employment forum), but that niche is highly favorable to ads (people visit the site to click the ads, generally), unlike others where they need to be toned down to various degrees. Note: even on the employment blogs I had, I tried not to go into overkill, and, for one thing, too many ads just look ugly, honestly.

I haven't tried this sort of thing, but it does work. I mean, whether it's a McDonald's McRib promo (non-forum example) or a forum posting contest, it does generate a lot of attention.

I didn't really overcome much DIY, lol. I just installed it and it worked. For some reason, though, the last time I installed it, there was failure. Maybe I had missed a button in the admin area, maybe.

Hopefully, people will comment on the threads saying which ones like they like the most.