Help with running a message board

Sothis · Post by **Sothis** » 2004-12-29 01:48pm

Well, I finally went and got a message board of my own... any tips on what the best settings to have are? (IE, avatar size, who can/cannot edit posts, etc?).

CDS · Post by **CDS** » 2004-12-29 01:52pm

The hardest part is getting members.. thats not something I can help with.

Get mods/admins who you trust, avator sizes generally get ridiculous at 100x100 (as a general rule of thumb mine is and always are 97x97), the usual rule I see about signatures is "if it's stupid we'll get rid of it", I generally don't lock/remove threads unless it's spam/gets out of control, and I let people edit their own posts (and moderators) but with an "edited by..." tag at the bottom (I don't think phpBB has this option though, which I assume you have?)

Another tip is to never delete posts, always have a hidden "trash can" to move them into.. you never know when you'll need them (to see if a certain person has caused trouble/spammed before, and if you need some kind of proof for ISPs and the like)

Just my personal opinions

CDS · Post by **CDS** » 2004-12-29 02:06pm

Other forums you might consider having is an HQ and (hidden) Mods only forum.. as they do here

Sothis · Post by **Sothis** » 2004-12-29 02:15pm

Cheers for the tips- I'll get on to it

Terr Fangbite · Post by **Terr Fangbite** » 2004-12-29 02:33pm

I generally state that guests can view general boards but can never post (due to the fact my first yahoo groups was bombarded by some yahoo (pun intended) who decided to turn my group into their private porn advertising center). I don't allow edititing (makes for the "i never said that" bull). For whether or not guest/members should be restricted to viewing or posting it depends on the nature of the information. In one board, is purely annoucements for my dnd group. No one but dungeon masters need posting there, so i don't allow anyone but the moderators (dms) to post there, but let members view it. Another board is contact information. I let members post, but don't let guests view it.

The bottem line is just ask yourself these questions:

1)does the group (members, guests etc) need to post information here?
2)does the group need to be able to view the information here?
3)Do i trust the group to post/view the information here?

If you go with those questions, there shouldn't be much problems.