Society/Club Members Own Forum

ptc0206

Hi folks, interested in hearing if anyone is in a golf society or club who have their own members forum.

This is a great forum but probably not the best place to bore others with your own Society/Club Members stuff !! :-)

So, looking for info on:

* Platform or software to use, good open source options
* Useful topics
* Usage
* Links to samples

Any info is appreciated.

Cheers, P.

prawnsambo

Just on the open source software options, phpBB is very popular and easy to install and set up. Also regularly updated, so should be fairly well protected.

But a word of warning. Running a forum is time consuming. You have to carefully monitor registrations otherwise you'll be spammed to death. Literally. You need a lot of time on your hands and a good few volunteers to help out. THe only way to properly keep spammers out is to have registration by administrator. Which means a lot of time spent vetting registration requiests. You can shortcut that by using captcha and other bot eliminating facilities, but there's still a lot of elbow grease in making sure only legit posters can post.

And that's before you start moderating it. Because you will have to do a lot of that. People going off topic, people spamming or pushing their products/services, rumours and gossip that cross the line and get you in hot water, the list is endless.

Might be better having a dedicated thread here.

mighty magpie

how did i do have a section for club members threads and posts only.

private facebook group?

spacecoyote

Pretty sure that this is the provider our club uses for the club forum:

https://www.kunena.org/

ShriekingSheet

No exactly like a forum, but WhatsApp groups are emerging among certain groups in our club. A bit cliquey at first, but seems to be good.

Knowing how to mute the groups is key of course.

ptc0206

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I reckoned that moderation and admin could be tricky. However, there's only a few hundred members so it should be manageable.

Cheers, P.

prawnsambo

ptc0206 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I reckoned that moderation and admin could be tricky. However, there's only a few hundred members so it should be manageable.

Cheers, P.

In that case, you should have closed registration and add the members from the admin side. That will eliminate all the little spam bots.

To do it online, you're going to need a domain name and web hosting. Choose a provider that allows you install and manage something like phpBB rather than a regular web hosting service. Obviously one that gives you a few more options than just one piece of forum software so you can make a choice that best suits your needs.

Seve OB

whats wrong with the Boards.ie Golf Society?

I'm pretty sure we have our own forum

ptc0206

Hey Seve OB,

Nothing wrong with the Boards.ie Golf Society, in fact it's very good. 👍

Interested in setting one up for a different Society/Club for it's their members and club issues only.

Cheers, P

Seve OB

ptc0206 wrote: »

Hey Seve OB,

Nothing wrong with the Boards.ie Golf Society, in fact it's very good. ðŸ‘

Interested in setting one up for a different Society/Club for it's their members and club issues only.

Cheers, P

Ah just thought we might be able to persuade you guys to ditch wathever setup you have at the moment and join ours instead

ptc0206

:-)