Jason76

Those math teachers with a sense of humor and/or better speaking ability are more appealing to people, probably. For instance, there is this one YouTube teacher, and his speaking and explanation ability is just over the top, so it's incredibly enjoyable to watch his videos.

Some people like a dark mode and for dark forums, some like a light option. It's not a big deal and easy to setup. Myself, I like dark better actually, but for my current forum niche, I think light is preferable for the default.

Sometimes it's nice to get know people outside of the forum's main discussion material. It's like at work where you know people, but you don't really know people. Well, I don't really want to know then, ha ha.

For phpBB it's possible. Technically, the mod is for version 3.2, but I got it working for 3.3 for the first time. Anyway, other forum software also has math notation ability (via LATEX language, don't ask me about the name, I think it was some college frat joke, lol), like Simple Machines and XenForo. I don't know about other software having it, though. Does anyone know? Myself, my forum is not specifically about math, but i have a tutoring section for math and science.

If I can't get a free SSL certificate with a domain, then I don't bother. It's too important these days. Well, even besides SEO, the lack of SSL messes up the viewing on some devices. That's a real problem. Note: one way to get free SSLs on multiple domains is to get reseller hosting and then set up a bunch of different accounts for yourself. You get a free SSL for each one. I don't know if that's playing by the rules, though, but it seems to be.

It needs to be good enough to keep them on the page. That's a big thing these days

I really believe content will always be the most important.

The experts wouldn't have jobs if people were too proud for help. Is that good or bad?

It's very tough to come out ahead these days in SEO. You would need a massive investment in new daily content and your competing against many people with a similar strategy.

I would never advertise a forum unless I felt sure I could get profit back (religion niche is one exception). One possible scenario is a hosting forum strongly advertised to the Internet marketing crowd and the other is an employment forum pushed in front of job-seekers.

No, I'm not mocking premium guys as weak, no more than guys who need an auto mechanic.

It depends on how tough as a web developer you are. ;)

Debates can get too emotional and/or lacking in truth.

HGTV forum edition? Your funny [uSER=452]@Community Pete[/uSER] 👍

Bells and whistles are easier to get on free forum software than you think!

People don't really know how to argue professionally. Well, I took a philosophy course in university and we learned about "straw man arguments" and similar things.

I'm not so cynical. In fact, free software of this sort can be fixed up, but it requires some DIY effort.

I suppose they would come if the forum was big enough, but it seems like they all went to social media, lol.

I've never made money from a forum, but I had some employment blogs in the early 2010s that made a few hundred dollars a month. Anyway, if those sites had been forums, it would have been the same, just as long as there are ads on there, so I'd say AdSense (I also had Indeed ads which worked well also) would be fine. Anyway, nowadays, I'm thinking that a classified section on a forum that has real traffic (Probably it would have to be bought, so you'd have to profit exceeding the marketing cost.) would be a good project. Also, another idea is having a hosting (as in selling website hosting) forum with sponsored threads, ads, or, again, a classified section presence. How do you all feel about this?

I think search engines will be impossible to game as far as ordinary people are concerned. Well, in the early days, I was even able make a couple of hundred US dollars from the net (an employment site), but no way these days! And, of course, AI just makes things even harder.

There needs to be something of strong value like professional journalism etc with no ads.

SMF Mods Why do you like them? Have you used them? Are there any premium ones you like? Where can they be found? Are there any mods that need to be made? How would you compare SMF mods to mods in other software?

SMF Website SMF Mods SMF Themes What are your reasons for your opinion? Have you used the software? How would you compare it to other software? Has anyone simply been a member of an SMF forum?

Free SMF Themes from SimpleMachines.org Premium Themes from SmfTricks.com What are you reasons for your choices? Have you used any of these themes or thought about it? Would anyone buy a paid SMF theme?

One way to build trust is to keep posting. Well, on my religious forum I was doing that for a long time, but it has stopped because I haven't been making the time lately.