What you must do when you create a new forum

What are some of the things you always do first, the settings you change, the default settings that bother you if they are left untouched, etc. when you have just installed your new forum?

I know I generally go through the vBulletin Options in the Admin CP and make sure everything is how I want it. Then I usually setup usergroup permissions to what I use across all my forums. Some of this gets a little annoying - I wish I knew how to save and import some of my settings every time I create a new forum.

 

I run through all the vB Options too. First thing I change is the meta tags, then go through and setup imagemagik, then a bunch of things I turn on and off based on the site, mainly just by visual memory couldn't tell you them off hand. Then I go through and setup the catchpa properly and tweak the attachments section. From there I normally create a new usergroup for 10+ plus and give them pretty much every thing then tweak the registered users group leaving them with little privs and setup a UG promotion.

Then comes the hacks. WebTemplates and Paul M's Unread Posts are a must, the rest are dependant on the site.

 

The first thing that I always do is play around with the settings. It's an OCD thing - I must do that before doing anything else.

 

Pray

 

:p

 

Lol, me too! I think we're very similar in this aspect. :lol:

I usually like to create the forums and sub-forums in the beginning, too - it's a way to get my ideas out and in a way, "on paper". The earlier I set up the boards, the more time I have to reconsider the setup, adjust things and essentially decide what I like and don't like.

Other than that, I usually do what most of the others have mentioned.

 

I usually configure the vBulletin Options, then create forums, then create/edit usergroups and then permissions. Once I've finished that I will try and find a nice skin before I add mods. Then the rest just pretty much leads on from there.

 

Two words: debug mode.

When installing a new forum, I run make sure that the config.php is set up for debug mode and to auto-skip to the next step.

Once it is installed, I restore my backed up settings.xml file. Quickly verify them, reset the URL if necessary.

Create my forums, use the quick permissions editor to set up the basic permissions.

Bring it online. Import style, make changes if needed.

Go Live. Can be done in an hour.

Over time, I'll install and test addons either on a test suite or live depending on the site.

Could shorten it and just use a .sql file and restore it.

 

I will need to try this. First I'll need to create a forum and make everything exactly how I want it for a template for my future forums.

 

I always go through and tweak the vB Options before anything. I take my time going through each section trying to customize as best I can. After that, I'll create the basic forums structure and appropriate usergroups. Then I try to find a style that fits the forum or tweak an existing one. I tend to be pretty slow when doing all this, maybe a day or up to a week to actually get the board live.

 

Quick reply settings
forum depth settings
usergroup settings (I reeally wish there was a way to edit ALL usergroups at once. Like have an option to say that such and such change should be applied to ALL groups rather than having to edit each one. ugh)
Adding Forums
Forum permissions
Skinning
Add crucial hacks
make a welcome post of some sort

go live.

 

Ugh, how could I forget about playing around with the forum permissions? I spend at least an hour perfecting those down to the last security measure.

 

These always give me a headache. I'm a huge fan of being able to conjure up just about any permission setup imaginable but I wish it was as easy as telling my computer what I want and it doing it for me. Oh, don't we all. :p

 

Yes, a voice activated permissions system. Imagine the ease of use. :p

 

Introducing: vBulletin 5.0.

 

vBulletin 5.0: Chris Edition.

 

the creation of a forum by me and my co-admin

we wanted to replace two forums which shared a lot of members, and one admin stepped down to become a normal member, and made me admin. me and the other admin talked things through and decided to make a new forum to replace them both, that would be even better.

first we talked things through, what we wanted to see in a forum, what we should name it...should we go with the same hosting as the previous forums or go with another one that we liked better. we looked through all of the different options available, what we wanted....then settled on phpbb and made a forum.

the first thing that happened in the forum was my co-admin made the forum, sent me the link on msn and made me admin. then we explored the admin stuff, looked at how to do things. then my co-admin went to bed and i stayed up til 3am adding different sections.

in the morning we had a look through different skins you can install on your forums, and what we wanted....found a perfect one (default skin looks a little bit boring and not unique enough, wouldnt start a forum with it).

testuser was born.....and we had a look from a members point of view..can they post, see the forum, not see the bits only admin are supposed to see...then we messed around with the permissions a bit and added a few mods