I went to your site and looked at your forums. After 10 minutes of registering with Cool Board. After finally getting it to log me in and not whisk me off the to cool boards homepage, I tried posting a reply to one of the messages in your forum. Specifically the one about a bug in the Outlook Express 5.5 beta. I kept getting 404 errors and it wouldn't let me post my reply.
I had thought that since you were using Coolboard and that those forums had been recommended on this site that there would be no problem. You should try to get these errors fixed and maybe your postings will go up.
------------------
Wayne Luke
WR Moderator
Internet Media Provider
That wasn't the first problems I have had with a coolboard. From my personal point of view its too much trouble and I will probably not use any coolboards on sites anymore.
(This is the third User ID I have created at cool board because they tend to disappear in the ether.)
------------------
Wayne Luke
WR Moderator
Internet Media Provider
I can't suggest any free and remotely hosted board because I have never looked into them. I have always been of a mind that having remotely hosted scripts is just asking for trouble because you have no control over them. At least if the forum is on your physical location you can control it better.
For free scripts you can try Ultraboard or the free version of UBB. There is also a new script for ASP that resembles UBB that is worth looking into. The ASP script is located on www.asp-dev.com/.
------------------
Wayne Luke
WR Moderator
Internet Media Provider
Too bad about coolboard, I was hoping to be able to recommend it to people looking for remote hosting of their forums.
Let us know if you find a good one.
I have been looking at many scripts and have not found one I like.
Personally, I don't like the format of UBB or Ultra Board. It must just be me, since these are very popular.
I prefer the format of Matt Wright's WWWBoard. The regular script is too limiting, but there are different upgrades for webboard available that I might go with.
But first I will try Anyboard from Netbula.com, It looks pretty nice, I downloaded it and will install it later. At first glance it seems like there might be a lot of configuring to do.
I went and signed up for your new board. It was much easier. I like the layout better as well.
Now your at a catch-22. To get people to post you need posts. Mention the forum in your newsletters with a little blurb at the top for a few issues. Maybe offer a contest with a decent prize or prizes to people who sign up a post.
------------------
Wayne Luke
WR Moderator
Internet Media Provider
Maybe you could promote it more on your homepage than just a 'hot' graphic...
Under the Headlines you could mention the "New & Exciting Forum" and go into detail of the kinds of topics...and you could then offer a contest or free-be for posting. You should post at least once yourself to explain and welcome visitors to the topics.
And of course promote the forum when you send out your newsletter...maybe other sites that have your link on them can also help to promote your forum Keep mentioning it whenever you email or send out any correspondence...
------------------
WebKat's PawPrints "Let's keep Ethics on the Web"
In response to the problem of getting posts, a cheeky solution is to post some comments as different people, so that it looks like your forum is more active than it is ;-). Keep these "alter-egos" going for a while until there are sufficient numbers to warrant not needing them any more and drop them off, one-by-one. Naughty, I know.
------------------
The Fixed Odds Forum
http://members.tripod.co.uk/ffo/
Keep mentioning it whenever you email or send out any correspondence...
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks