Adding Blog Functionality on Your Forum

[Nomad]

If you want to add blog functionality to your forum, you can do it in two ways, one, install wordpress on the subdomain or directory and start blogging on wordpress site, or create a blog category on your main forum and start publishing blog posts. I have used both methods. There are pros and cons to both of these methods. By the way, what are your favorite ways to add a blog to your forum?

 

[Tracy]

No, there is actually additional ways dependent upon the script.. as an example, @Bob has an exceptional Blogs add-on for XenForo. I've been tempted to purchase it for my site.. but honestly can't justify it currently.. I do like having the majority of his add-ons in use on my site so that others can see what it offers in actual use (and I point out regularly to admins my use of them)... but I simply can't justify user Blogs with what I currently offer. Could it add benefit to the site.. very possibly.. but it's already costing me a noticeable amount and I simply cannot currently justify the additional expense. I already offer AMS (Articles) and ShowCase for the users... both of which allow them to create content specific to them. I "may" reach a point of allowing users their own blogs... but once more, it's hard to justify for me currently.

 

[Cedric]

No, there is actually additional ways dependent upon the script.. as an example, @Bob has an exceptional Blogs add-on for XenForo. I've been tempted to purchase it for my site.. but honestly can't justify it currently.. I do like having the majority of his add-ons in use on my site so that others can see what it offers in actual use (and I point out regularly to admins my use of them)... but I simply can't justify user Blogs with what I currently offer. Could it add benefit to the site.. very possibly.. but it's already costing me a noticeable amount and I simply cannot currently justify the additional expense. I already offer AMS (Articles) and ShowCase for the users... both of which allow them to create content specific to them. I "may" reach a point of allowing users their own blogs... but once more, it's hard to justify for me currently.

@Bob help this man out. 😄

 

[Tracy]

@Bob help this man out. 😄

Don't expect any "help" from him other than the exceptional service that I currently get from him as a premier Xenforo developer... I hope that he feels comfortable pointing possible purchasers of his add-ons at my site as a simple example of what those add-ons offer... One of the best things that could happen to the XF "core" is that they either hire him at a substantial salary or pay the necessary arm, leg and head for his current offerings to extend the base XenForo abilities. There are VERY few developers in his range of ability.
I simply can't justify user Blogs on my site currently with what I presently offer and the limited activity I have on my site.. if it ever grows... it may be something that I pursue.

 

[Cedric]

Don't expect any "help" from him other than the exceptional service that I currently get from him as a premier Xenforo developer... I hope that he feels comfortable pointing possible purchasers of his add-ons at my site as a simple example of what they offer... One of the best things that could happen to the XF "core" is that they either hire him at a substantial salary or pay the necessary arm, leg and head for his current offerings to extend the base XenForo abilities. There are VERY few developers in his range of ability.
I simply can't justify user Blogs on my site currently with what I presently offer and the limited activity I have on my site.. if it ever grows... it may be something that I pursue.

@Bob is a legend man. XF wouldn’t be where it is now without him and they should definitely ask him as a developer.

 

[Tracy]

One of the other add-ons that I have been contemplating is his IMS add-on... but I don't know how it compares to using ShowCase... I can see a cross-purpose between the two, along with the RMS add-on with IMS.
I think (off the top of my head) the only two add-ons of his that I don't have that would be pertinent to my site is IMS and the user blogs.

 

[Bob]

@Bob help this man out. 😄

Just did... added Item Management System - Premium and User Blogs System - Premium to his account. Happy Independence Day

 

[Cedric]

Just did... added Item Management System - Premium and User Blogs System - Premium to his account. Happy Independence Day

See, this is what I mean. You gotta love this man. ❤️

 

[Ravenfreak]

There's other platforms that also offer CMS too. I use Woltlab for my community, and it comes with a CMS whenever you purchase a license for their forums for no additional cost. Others mentioned the Xenforo extension too. Of course you could use Wordpress and get a bridge for your forum too, but I feel like more people are starting to use extensions designed for the forum software they're using these days.

 

[Tracy]

See, this is what I mean. You gotta love this man. ❤️

He's one of the best developers out there and I have no shame in telling anyone that... in fact, in many ways he's more of the backbone for XenForos continued viability than actually the XenForo developers themselves are.
I've installed the Blog add-on and am in the process of figuring out how to integrate it and then create (for any users) instructions on how to create their own group or personal blogs.
Once I kind figure that out, I will probably play with IMS... I can think of a use for a location for users to keep an off-site personal list of their property... will have to evaluate it.
I'm getting so many navigation links on the nav bar I need to figure out how to narrow them down so that users don't have to scroll left/right. I know I can create a new navigation tab, and then probably move several under it, but I need to figure out how to name it so that it's easy to figure out what's under it.

I use Woltlab for my community, and it comes with a CMS whenever you purchase a license for their forums for no additional cost.

Seems that they havechanged... in the past (it's been years since I checked) you could use the CMS aspect of WoltLab free of charge with the core... it was only when you added in the forums and such did you have to pay. Have they changed that? I honestly haven't been by to check since I brought my Linux site that was using it offline years ago. Now I wish I had kept that domain.. Porkbun LLC snatched it up.

 

[joelr]

I've always had a license to Blogs in Invision Community, which is a first-party application by IPS.

One of my mistakes was that I attempted to start Blogs without the necessary activity and resources behind it. This is a problem that most admins face, when they try to install every feature and plugin without aligning with any specific objectives. I waited several years, and in my most recent re-launch of Blogs, I privately invited 5 superusers to start posting content for 2 weeks in advance. This built a library of content, so when Blogs was opened up to the public, it quickly caught on.

You really need to ask yourself if your community needs blogs? How will you strategically deploy blogs? And how will blogs be separate and additive to your forum discussions?

 

[Cory]

Unless it was coding-related articles, I don't really see much use for a blog on a resource forum dedicated to the forum software itself. There are a plethora of sites that have really good content writers that can put together well-written articles and I doubt I either have as much experience in writing articles or coding itself to make a blog succeed on my type of forum.

 

[kensonplays]

I use @Bob's lovely blog system for my XF site. Though it's just me, at the moment. I do offer 1 blog to people who've made 25+ posts on my site as a requirement, and 3 blogs to paid subs, if they wanted more than 1.

 

[Tracy]

I'm having issues figuring out a use case for IMS if one already has ShowCase... they are very similar in nature.
Anybody got specific use cases of each as an example on their site (both being used at the same time)?
The blog is really easy to figure it's use case for! ✍️

 

[Jason]

I've seen some cool software for XenForo blogs. However, I haven't added it yet. It's a premium addon for around $50 I think.

 

[kensonplays]

I've seen some cool software for XenForo blogs. However, I haven't added it yet. It's a premium addon for around $50 I think.

I really like @Bob's. It has a bunch of nice blog-related features, not sure if that's the one you were looking at, but I feel it's the most feature complete one.

 

[Jason]

I really like @Bob's. It has a bunch of nice blog-related features, not sure if that's the one you were looking at, but I feel it's the most feature complete one.

That's the one I like. 👍