What add-ons / plugins are necessary for a forum?

[Cedric]

What are some plugins/modifications that you couldn't live without?
I'll be releasing a list of add-ons we use on AdminJunkies later.

 

[Smokey]

Being that i'm also heavy into the streaming world and have a bunch of friends who livestream on Twitch, Trovo & Youtube, Jaxel's Streams showcase is a must for our forum as it's become a key pillar for the "entertainment" aspect of the site. I would also say that the Xenforo Media Gallery is also a must, and I was always a fan of the username formatting that IGN started back in the early 2000's with their IGNBoards system, so I always try to have some sort of version of that implemented into my forum. when possible.

 

[Cory]

Multi-Quote is so useful on software that doesn't have the feature by default, so that's definitely one of them.

We have a referral code, don't know if it actually gets used much, but it's one way to bring in more members.

The font resizer code to resize the font globally across the forum has proven to be useful.

 

[Nomad]

I cannot say anything about Admin Junkes because I see everything as perfect, however, on my forums, I am trying to add forum credits and ad implementation add-ons.

 

[Arantor]

It really, really depends on what your forum is about, and how it can support your members' needs.

I think a lot of communities would do well to consider something like the database feature in IPS Pages, because you can build out all sorts of things regardless of your community type that way, whether it's recipes, or modded cars, or anything that your members could 'collect'.

Beyond that it *really* gets into the 'what would support the kinds of conversations that your members want to have and talk about'. I've long thought that good wikis for collaborative content (I'm not sure I'd want to hook up MediaWiki per se) are a good choice for some kinds of community.

For mine, the last few years I've been off in the collaborative writing/roleplay arena. A proper sub-account system is a necessity there, along with ability to track topics that you're in but not the last person to reply to it, especially if you can do some way to invite people to topics. (I built all this for my own uses.) Additionally, I thought about doing multiple avatars per sub-account, which has some interesting uses in that space too.

There's also more esoteric things you can do in that space around drawing connections and timelines between sub-accounts, e.g. for pairs (or groups) of sub-accounts, show their common threads to make their shared timeline, perhaps with the ability to manually curate it easily (but leave the basic automated version being around)

I think that's really the heart of the current problem: the basic platform, whether it's XF, IPS or whatever, is broadly 'good enough' for the basic community experience, but that there's plenty of room to do something new and interesting where you support a specific demographic's needs. I've noodled over the years about the notion of 'flavours of forums' - in the same way that Ubuntu has flavours (e.g. Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Mythbuntu) that are remixes of the core Ubuntu setup, there is definitely room for that within forums. Mix and match tools for the job.

 

[Cedric]

It really, really depends on what your forum is about, and how it can support your members' needs.

I think a lot of communities would do well to consider something like the database feature in IPS Pages, because you can build out all sorts of things regardless of your community type that way, whether it's recipes, or modded cars, or anything that your members could 'collect'.

Beyond that it *really* gets into the 'what would support the kinds of conversations that your members want to have and talk about'. I've long thought that good wikis for collaborative content (I'm not sure I'd want to hook up MediaWiki per se) are a good choice for some kinds of community.

For mine, the last few years I've been off in the collaborative writing/roleplay arena. A proper sub-account system is a necessity there, along with ability to track topics that you're in but not the last person to reply to it, especially if you can do some way to invite people to topics. (I built all this for my own uses.) Additionally, I thought about doing multiple avatars per sub-account, which has some interesting uses in that space too.

There's also more esoteric things you can do in that space around drawing connections and timelines between sub-accounts, e.g. for pairs (or groups) of sub-accounts, show their common threads to make their shared timeline, perhaps with the ability to manually curate it easily (but leave the basic automated version being around)

I think that's really the heart of the current problem: the basic platform, whether it's XF, IPS or whatever, is broadly 'good enough' for the basic community experience, but that there's plenty of room to do something new and interesting where you support a specific demographic's needs. I've noodled over the years about the notion of 'flavours of forums' - in the same way that Ubuntu has flavours (e.g. Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Mythbuntu) that are remixes of the core Ubuntu setup, there is definitely room for that within forums. Mix and match tools for the job.

I've said this before but 3rd party devs are the back bone of any software. They make so many great add ons to spice up our communities. I do like your multiple avatars idea and it would be a one of a kind add on. I haven't seen that around. If that's what you mean.

 

[Arantor]

Well, if you're already running multiple sub-accounts on an account (so you can post as different names in different threads), you're already part way there, but spinning it up to multiple avatars per sub-account is where I wanted to go. So I could post in one thread as one character and use different avatars for mood posts, e.g. a happy one or a sad one.

Multiple avatars for an account has sort of been done but in a software that is now defunct.

 

[Moonface]

I've said this before but 3rd party devs are the back bone of any software. They make so many great add ons to spice up our communities.

ZetaBoards is a great example of this for anyone who saw what was made for that service. It practically thrived off the work of third party coders and theme makers, and the former was especially crucial when actual software updates weren't exactly common or contained much in the way of notable features that most sites were obtaining through codes that should've been standard.

 

[Kale]

Being that i'm also heavy into the streaming world and have a bunch of friends who livestream on Twitch, Trovo & Youtube, Jaxel's Streams showcase is a must for our forum as it's become a key pillar for the "entertainment" aspect of the site. I would also say that the Xenforo Media Gallery is also a must, and I was always a fan of the username formatting that IGN started back in the early 2000's with their IGNBoards system, so I always try to have some sort of version of that implemented into my forum. when possible.

I am even considering that for my forum too since that's going to be a secondary aspect for my forum. Totally a good one!

I also was not sure if XenForo even had a sub-account feature like Jcink has. That would be a neat one on a forum where you may just use a general staff account to post announcements, etc.

 

[Cedric]

ZetaBoards is a great example of this for anyone who saw what was made for that service. It practically thrived off the work of third party coders and theme makers, and the former was especially crucial when actual software updates weren't exactly common or contained much in the way of notable features that most sites were obtaining through codes that should've been standard.

It’s more than sad what happened or what’s left of a once great software.

 

[Cory]

ZetaBoards is a great example of this for anyone who saw what was made for that service. It practically thrived off the work of third party coders and theme makers, and the former was especially crucial when actual software updates weren't exactly common or contained much in the way of notable features that most sites were obtaining through codes that should've been standard.

I'm glad there were many inspiring coders there that I met and befriended along the way, otherwise, I probably would have never been a coder myself!

 

[Cedric]

I'm glad there were many inspiring coders there that I met and befriended along the way, otherwise, I probably would have never been a coder myself!

I love how simple it was to make themes, as I have made a couple for them in the past, while I had little to no knowledge of coding.

 

[Cory]

I love how simple it was to make themes, as I have made a couple for them in the past, while I had little to no knowledge of coding.

Yeah, the simplicity especially came along when developer tools became a thing. This is why I like Jcink too, the skin CSS is not massive and doesn't take too long to produce new skins. I remember Dan and Reid were building a theme generator for ZetaBoards, but if I remember correctly Dan accidentally overwrote a bunch of files that kind of killed the project.

 

[Cedric]

Yeah, the simplicity especially came along when developer tools became a thing. This is why I like Jcink too, the skin CSS is not massive and doesn't take too long to produce new skins. I remember Dan and Reid were building a theme generator for ZetaBoards, but if I remember correctly Dan accidentally overwrote a bunch of files that kind of killed the project.

Ouch, wouldn’t want to stand in his feet at the time. Who was Dan though? I remember Reid, he was a great coder.

 

[Cory]

Who was Dan though?

His username was Holy Savior.

 

[Cedric]

His username was Holy Savior.

Oh right, that I do recognize. ZB had so much great coders. I wonder where they all went to. Who do you still have contact with?

 

[Cory]

Who do you still have contact with?

Skyon Archer is the only one, I think. Everyone else has vanished.

 

[Kale]

There was somebody who had themes already made and they added those to my ZB forum. I only think her first name was like Sara or Sarah. She went by MoonKittieKat on my forum as the co-admin. I've not heard a word from her since I closed that forum so many years ago. She did my logos and gfx for me back then. I wish I could talk to her again and did a mass email a while back on my that forum.

Oh, actually here's the old thread she did

Edit: Ah, so she is still active on FP I noticed. I should message her on FP.

 

[Cedric]

There was somebody who had themes already made and they added those to my ZB forum. I only think her first name was like Sara or Sarah. She went by MoonKittieKat on my forum as the co-admin. I've not heard a word from her since I closed that forum so many years ago. She did my logos and gfx for me back then. I wish I could talk to her again and did a mass email a while back on my that forum.

Oh, actually here's the old thread she did

https://community.forumpromotion.net/threads/harvest-moon-universe.37973/

Edit: Ah, so she is still active on FP I noticed. I should message her on FP.

Oh Sarah. She’s awesome. She was my co-admin on Revision Reviews and made many skins and themes for me. She also visits @Cory ‘s forum jCodes frequently. So much talent.

 

[Kale]

Oh Sarah. She’s awesome. She was my co-admin on Revision Reviews and made many skins and themes for me. She also visits @Cory ‘s forum jCodes frequently. So much talent.

I totally was not expecting her to be around online at all tbh. I thought for sure she left forums behind and moved on.

Amazing person but was young and dumb when I met her.