Alliedenemies HALO Clan [Æ]

[Furr]

Hey Guys,

I am new to managing and maintaining a website since our previous Forum manager left the clan 4 weeks ago, and so we needed to get a new site up and going promptly........it has been a very steep learning curve.

I must say, I am impressed by how user friendly the SMF software has been for a noob like me to jump in and use. I have not had too many issues......... our main one was how to enable the alt code we use for our gamer tags ie. [Æ]

Anyhoo....please feel free to come have a look at what we have done so far and you are welcome to register as well.


Any suggestions would be appreciated 

Cheers [Æ] Furr

EDIT: Link removed...no longer valid.

[Skhilled]

Hi Furr and welcome aboard! I am an old school gamer and used to run a CS server some years ago. Sadly, I do not play much anymore and don't have the time if I wanted to. 

A few questions and suggestions...

1.  Backup, backup, backup. Did I say backup?  Before you install or remove anything always backup. You will never know when you accidentally hit the delete button by mistake!  If you have R1Soft Backups on your server you can always use that to restore your forum from the day before as your hosting will always have backups ready for you to restore.

2.  What forum software did you use before SMF (if it was not SMF)? If you still have the database intact from it you still may be able to convert it to SMF which may allow you to keep your previous members, posts, pm's etc. This will save you a lot of time later and will give the appearance of a more established forum instead of looking like you are just beginning or starting over...not that it is a bad thing.

3.  when installing mods and themes it is always best to install themes first then mods. Mods will look for themes that are already installed and will automatically install their code to them so they work properly. If you install a theme after installing a mod you may have to find the code needed for your mods to work with the theme and add the code yourself.

4.  If you haven't already, I highly suggest you install anti-spam/hacker mods like stop spammer and httpBL. The first uses stopforumspam.com's database of spammers and hackers to help block them before they can register. You can also check current members t osee if they are in the db. The second, searches for them using projecthoenypot.org's db. There are others available too.

5.  I was the former admin for SMF Arcade and can tell you that it may work but is very outdated. I do not recommend using outdated mods because if you must upgrade SMF it can possibly break your forum. So, if you must use it I highly suggest backing it up before installing it and uninstall it before upgrading SMF! I cannot stress that enough!

6.  Your forum is about Halo but I see nothing about what Halo is or if that is the only game you guys play. Are there and new games coming out, any upgrades to Halo coming out and if so, what new features will they have. What are your takes on it? Any info about what you do should be added so new users can learn more quickly. This will also give the appearance of you and your staff being very knowledgeable.

7.  Having things for users to do and talk about other than gaming will make for a nice break.

8.  Always be kind and courteous to your users, even when banning them!  Trash talking is fine in a game but not so much outside of one and can drive your users away.

There is a lot of info here that may help you. If you have any questions do not be afraid to ask.

[Skhilled]

Hmmm, you may also wish to install a portal like I have here. You can squeeze a lot more info onto a page this way. BLock are specific to membergroup permissions so if I only want certain groups to see certain things only they will see it. Things with personal info I block guests from seeing.

You might also wish to read the articles in  the block titled SMF 2.x Security here as well as some of the others. There is also some server and seo info here as well.

If you need free images designed for your forum go to http://www.pixelmansion.com. The staff are very friendly and helpful.

[Furr]

Hey Skhilled,

Thanks for your reply and suggestions on how to improve our new website, I will be discussing some of the options with my clan mates in our AE Only section not seen by Guests. We mostly use our Ventrilo voice server to discuss matters and socialize, you are welcome to use it also, we have made it a public server...

Allied Enemies Ventrilo Server details:
IP Address: V52.DARKSTARLLC.COM
Port: 4279
Password: spray

Download the Ventrilo client here=> http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php

Our previous Forum was not SMF it was vBulletin ....I do have a complete backup of the old Forum packed into a RAR .tar.gz file that was downloaded the day before it expired, it is parked on our webhost site. You say we might be able to "convert" that to SMF? Could I maybe create a sub domain on our webhost and do that? Everything relating to the previous domain name was dot.NET ....our new one is dot.COM would that be an issue?

Our last Forum had an Arcade mod (caused nothing but grief I am told) so I am reluctant to go down that path again, even though some members have requested it. I reckon if you want to play arcade games, there are plenty of stand alone sites available that can be linked to, and won't affect our site.

Thanks for the tip regarding spammers...I couldn't believe the amount of Russian and French multi posting within the first couple of days our site was active...I deleted all those accounts and added the HALO question at registration page, this seemed to halt that rubbish. Do they really think anyone would act on those links posted?.....** I am still waiting to hear back from that Nigerian Prince** .....

We agree about members and guests being polite and courteous to others, so we promote both as a rule "in game" and on the Forums                 
** No swearing and keep talk clean & polite **

Do you know how to partition off a sub domain for use as a "Downloads" library? We have a downloads mod installed, but it forms part of the Forum when doing a backup. I wanted to make a section that was not part of the main Forum where we could upload and share larger files like videos and mappacks  and not have to be included in the backup files. (otherwise it would be HUGE) Could a sub domain with its own version of SMF be an option?


Thanks again for the warm welcome and advise,

Cheers Furr

[Skhilled]

Hey Skhilled,

Thanks for your reply and suggestions on how to improve our new website, I will be discussing some of the options with my clan mates in our AE Only section not seen by Guests. We mostly use our Ventrilo voice server to discuss matters and socialize, you are welcome to use it also, we have made it a public server...

Allied Enemies Ventrilo Server details:
IP Address: V52.DARKSTARLLC.COM
Port: 4279
Password: spray

Download the Ventrilo client here=> http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php

Thanks for the invite. I have not used TS or Vent in a few years...since I accidentally stepped on my headset. I have not purchased another set yet but need one for Skype. When I do get another set I'll stop by.

Our previous Forum was not SMF it was vBulletin ....I do have a complete backup of the old Forum packed into a RAR .tar.gz file that was downloaded the day before it expired, it is parked on our webhost site. You say we might be able to "convert" that to SMF? Could I maybe create a sub domain on our webhost and do that? Everything relating to the previous domain name was dot.NET ....our new one is dot.COM would that be an issue?

Excellent! All you'll need is the db, any custom images, and any files that you use for downloads. You can find the conversion tool for vB here:

http://download.simplemachines.org/?converters

I suggest doing this on a test forum to iron out any bumps before you go live with it...it is not hard to do and if you need help, just ask. You'll find instructions on how to do it here:

http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Converting

.net or .com does not matter. However, there will still be posts, etc. that will say .net. You can easily change this sitewide with a db query using phpmyadmin. I'll show you how to do it when you get to that point. You would only need to use a subdomain if you plan on keeping both the current site and the live site. After you make sure the conversion works you can make it your live (primary) site.

Whatever you decide, I suggest you create a test forum to try things out on before adding them to the live forum. The test forum should be an exact duplicate of your live site. In this way, if you run into problems you can either learn how to fix them or just scrap the idea if you can't fix it instead of having something go wrong and inconveniencing your users.

Our last Forum had an Arcade mod (caused nothing but grief I am told) so I am reluctant to go down that path again, even though some members have requested it. I reckon if you want to play arcade games, there are plenty of stand alone sites available that can be linked to, and won't affect our site.

True... There are many of those available. The only problem is that most do not integrate into SMF so that your users will not have a separate login.

Thanks for the tip regarding spammers...I couldn't believe the amount of Russian and French multi posting within the first couple of days our site was active...I deleted all those accounts and added the HALO question at registration page, this seemed to halt that rubbish. Do they really think anyone would act on those links posted?.....** I am still waiting to hear back from that Nigerian Prince** .....

LOL, with my lengthy post I forgot to mention using the verification questions. Just make sure that the answer is not a number, color, or something else that would be easy for a bot to guess. However, it should be easy enough for a real person to figure it out.

We agree about members and guests being polite and courteous to others, so we promote both as a rule "in game" and on the Forums                 
** No swearing and keep talk clean & polite **

That is great. A lot of people on gaming servers will trash you, call you a noob, etc. which takes away from the gameplay. Trash talking is fine but there is a limit.

Do you know how to partition off a sub domain for use as a "Downloads" library? We have a downloads mod installed, but it forms part of the Forum when doing a backup. I wanted to make a section that was not part of the main Forum where we could upload and share larger files like videos and mappacks  and not have to be included in the backup files. (otherwise it would be HUGE) Could a sub domain with its own version of SMF be an option?

That is not hard to do. But as far as backup files go, that would depend on what you use to backup your files. If you use cPanel's backup feature it tends to backup everything...on most servers. It can be configured by the hosting to do partial backups like certain folders but most just backup everything. I find it easier to select the folders you wish to backup then use the File Manager to compress them and download them. This way, you only get what you want and nothing else.

For the downloads, having it integrated into SMF will make it a lot easier to control it using SMF permissions and membergroups when you decide who shall access it and how they will access it. You can just put the file in a folder and password protect it but then if the password gets out someone can wreak havok on your files. If you find a good program that will work separately from SMF you still will have to make your users login into it, etc...if you choose to do that.

Thanks again for the warm welcome and advise,

Cheers Furr

No problem. Glad to help.