phpBB Weekly #134: Promotional SCOFFing
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Episode Duration: 1:16:46
On This Episode: Douglas Bell (Fountain of Apples), David Lewis (Highway of Life), and for SCOFF News: Handyman, Al Falfa, Marv Ellis, and Benji the Horse
Happy New Year, Happy New Decade, and Happy New Everything Else! It’s phpBB Weekly’s third anniversary and the start of our fourth season of episodes. We kicked off the year with the news that we have more Chinese downloads than any other country–who knew? (Although for our Chinese listeners, the “Happy New Year” ovations are still about a month and a half early.)
On this episode, we take a look at the MODX Generator, a new MOD Team tool that runs in the command line generates MODX installation scripts based on doing a diff between two different versions of phpBB installations. Then we share ideas and experiences on good and bad methods to promote a new community, borrowing lots of ideas from Patrick O’Keefe’s awesome book, Managing Online Forums. And finally, a new SCOFF News episode is out, and we play the then-world premiere of the new news report, featuring a brand new correspondent to the SCOFF team!
Our Discussion Question of the Week asks you to share your suggestions and experiences on promoting a community. This new segment of our show will introduce a new discussion topic on our forum every week, and on the following episode, we’ll feature some of the most interesting responses on the show.
The MOD of the Week is BBcode Buttons for 3.0.6 Quick Reply by SyntaxError90, and the Style of the Week is Frozen Phoenix by Mighty Gorgon.
Join us on Saturday when we will interview guests Russ Jackson and Paul Lush of StopForumSpam.com!
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Hey guys,
Thanks for the mention and the kind words. I appreciate it.
Re: post exchanges and paying for posts; mostly they were covered for completeness. In the book, I don’t really say they are a good idea. What I said is pretty much in line with what David said.
At the same time, I don’t feel they are bad ideas, either, which is why they are included. It really depends. They are a legitimate means of growing a community, when monitored. I haven’t used either of them them on any of my communities, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have some value. If you do them, I feel that it is dishonest to have one person pose as multiple people; and that is what I spoke to in the book.
Thanks again,
Patrick