New Forum is Coming

Forum Coming - Beta TestOne of our long-time forum regulars posted a number of requests that I change the forum to make it easier to use.  As a result, in a moment of enthusiasm, I created a Buddy Press forum for this site.

Quick background: our forum is currently hosted by a separate website, bublaa.com.  That site handles the registration of users and defines the structure and limitations of the forum.

This has been a boon to me, since it is a lot easier to manage than an integrated forum. However, the site has some pretty serious design limitation.  Also, it has been difficult for me to manage the process of reviewing requests to join the forum. There is no obvious way of communicating the fact that I want to know a little bit about people who want to join the forum before I bring them on.  The result has been that the forum has been slow to take off.

BuddyPress is a WordPress add-in that allows me to set up a forum on the MoodSurfing website that has much more flexibility and customizability.  That is both a blessing and, perhaps, a curse.  There is so much flexibility with BuddyPress, and so many choices involved in setting it up that I am sure I will get it wrong.

So this is a warning, the new forum is a “beta” product.

You can find it under the new header “Forum” on the menu bar.

If you click on “Forum” you go to the Bublaa site. If you click on any of the other links you go to the beta site for the new BuddyPress forum.

If you’re excited about new ideas and enjoy helping to create new sites, I invite you to join the new forum.

To do that, you need to become a subscriber to this website.  There is a short form to fill out and then I will be delighted to add you –

Subscribe to the new forum.