I know this may sound strange, but i'd like to discourage use from a forum!<br />I run a car website, and just lately the off-topic forum is being used more and more, the site is turning into a general chitchat dating site! I dont want to switch it off completley and annoy the users, i just want to gently push them into using the site for what I intended it for, to be used for car chat/advice.<br />Is there anyway to hide a certain forum from the activetopics list? <br />If anyone has any general advice i'd be welcome to hear it.<br />TIA

I know what you mean, my site is vehicle oriented... but now, the off-topic area is way more busy than all of the other forums combined. It was bothersome at first, but the more I thought about it I realized that the people came to the site for one reason.. for the information. Then while there, they make friends who share similar interests, and then spend time chatting.<br /><br />I think the biggest thing to be concerned about is to make sure that ALL off-topic chat is contained in the forum setup for it. Be very strict with that so that all of the technical forums and such are just that. I found that without a place for people to chit-chat and just talk leisurely, then the off-topic dribble gets brought into other forums, and causes more problems.<br /><br />I supposed you could add a small hack or something that limited the number of posts in a certain forum per day or something, but I think like you said, you will start to upset people and may cause more problems.<br /><br />Sorry I can't be of much more help, just some of my own observations from running a specific vehicle forum for 3 years <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Another option is to make it group based and only allow certain users into the group, all others wouldn't be able to see or post in it. I have a couple of them setup that way on my site.

Yeah, make it so only paying members can post there. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /><br /><br />Or tweak it so that the off topic forum doesn't count for post count. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> But maybe that's not their motivation.

[]JoshPet said:<br /><br />Or tweak it so that the off topic forum doesn't count for post count. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> But maybe that's not their motivation. [/]<br /><br />i was going to ask that but didnt think it was possible!<br />so it is possible?

Yeah I've done it here so navaho can't bump his post count in the test forum. LOL <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /><br /><br />Let me see if i posted instructions and/or write something up.

Hi,<br /><br />"Or tweak it so that the off topic forum doesn't count for post count."<br />Ooohh, I like it <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/threaddevil.gif" alt="" /><br />We have a forum called the Board Bar in which pretty much anything goes (with exception of flaming and such) and we have had many, many posts in there of people posting only to increase their postcount.<br /><br />Would be a hoot to add this <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /><br /><br />Sanuk!<br />

OK - here's what I've done here...... <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Replace "test" above with the board keyword to exclude.<br /><br />If you have more than one board to exclude.... do the line like this:<br /><br /><br /><br />or <br /><br /><br /><br />Hope that helps. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Cheers m8!

Hi,<br /><br />Thanks.<br />Now I am debating whether or not to implement this and risk getting lynched <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /><br /><br />Sanuk!<br />

[]ksanuk said:<br />Hi,<br /><br />Thanks.<br />Now I am debating whether or not to implement this and risk getting lynched <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /><br /><br />Sanuk!<br /> [/]<br />Maybe they won't even notice. I mean, don't even tell them. Let them figure it out on their own, if someone asks, then explain it to them <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

it took people here about a day to notice. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

... Navaho is still not aware <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Sshh don't tell him though....

LOL<br /><br />I think he noticed right way. LOL He no longer posts there. :lol:

Since the addition of Josh's Google-friendly mod on my forums, I don't care what my mostly-teenage members are posting about, as long as they're posting. I'm very strict about ensuring that "chit chat" stays in the "off-topic" forums, but I don't mind if they want to talk about homework or complain about their parents or review the new album by P!NK. I link to one of my other sites in my footer file, so every new page which my members generate is another page for Google to crawl, and another backlink for my other site. It also ends up driving new members to the board, because my forums now show up in search results for hundreds of different topics, not just the main topic of my board. I used to be very strict about what could and could not be discussed, but then I realized that the kids saw the board members as "family", and so I changed my thinking to make the best of the situation.<br /><br />To keep other forums on-topic, I try to facilitate discussion by giving the members "topic starters".