Member Avatar for globalbook

Hi

I've read different threads about building online communities and forums.
I've registered my site with DMoz, I've gone to related forums for tips but getting very little interest so far.

The concept I have is sound... I think :rolleyes:
The presentation is okay.

But still.... not a sausage :sad:

I use the Invision Power board for my forum ... Anyone know how to edit meta tags within it?

Just incase anyone here is interested - it's a website dedicated to creating a story with board members adding to the content. Not really something I can keep posting on my own to keep it alive :o

GlobalBook

cheers

GB

  • 5 Contributors
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  • Latest Post Latest Post by roryt

Dani AI

Generated

For 's collaborative-story project the core challenges are discoverability (search and social) and lowering the friction of contribution. Replies from (wiki idea), (gateway page), (seed existing groups) and (get a proper domain) cover the right directions; the notes that follow turn those suggestions into concrete, low-effort steps that work together.

When forum software does not expose the global head template, a small front page on controllable hosting can carry clean title/description and Open Graph tags and then redirect to the forum. A compact example front page:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>Project Title — Collaborative Story</title>
  <meta name="description" content="One-line summary of the interactive story project.">
  <meta property="og:title" content="Project Title — Collaborative Story">
  <meta property="og:description" content="Short pitch for social sharing.">
  <meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/">
  <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="1;url=https://example.com/forum/">
</head>
<body>
  <p>Redirecting to the forum...</p>
</body>
</html>

Notes: meta refresh is a quick workaround; a server-side 301 is preferable when a proper domain/host is available because it preserves link equity. Apache example for a full-site redirect:

# in old host's document root
Redirect 301 / https://newdomain.example/

Operational and community tips: seed the project with several ready-to-go starter threads, publish short contribution templates (one paragraph or one scene), and keep contribution rules minimal. Use a wiki or static pages for canonical character/location bios (this implements 's idea) and link those pages into forum threads so contributors can reference them. Run short, time-boxed writing sprints and promote the project in tightly targeted niche communities (as suggested) rather than broad posting. Finally, prioritize meaningful <title>, <meta name="description"> and Open Graph images over meta keywords, and expose a simple RSS/Atom feed or sitemap.xml so aggregators and search engines can pick up updates.

Recommended Answers

All 6 Replies

Member Avatar for wally_lawless

Hey, checked out your site, it's a neat idea, but I am wondering something. Why would you use a forum to do this? A Wiki would be a much more dynamic and interesting way to grow a story. It would be possible to have links from say character names to their bio and backstory, same for locations and events. You could practically build an entire universe.

Just a thought, but I like the idea.

Wally Lawless
www.power-coder.net

Member Avatar for UberAAZ

Just a suggestion: You could create some type of 'gateway' page, which was pumped full of meta tags instead of fiddling with IPB. This 'gateway' could automatically redirect to the forum after 1 second or something.

Member Avatar for globalbook

Hey, checked out your site, it's a neat idea, but I am wondering something. Why would you use a forum to do this? A Wiki would be a much more dynamic and interesting way to grow a story. It would be possible to have links from say character names to their bio and backstory, same for locations and events. You could practically build an entire universe.

Just a thought, but I like the idea.

Wally Lawless
www.power-coder.net

The forum would be the place to add content and discuss ideas. But that wiki idea looks like it could be an excellent place to develop characters in the story.

Member Avatar for webecedarian

Not to hurt your feelings, but I don't see why anyone would want to contribute to this out of the blue.

The concept would make more sense if it was added on to - or in conjuction with - an existing forum. That way there would already be a group of people who share some interest and have some sense of each other. For instance, this would make sense if it were a story project attached to a forum for amateur writers, or a forum of people interested in WWII and were writing a war novel, or science fiction readers working on a s.f. story, or aspiring actors creating a Hollywood novel.

I think you have to have the group in place beforehand to really make it take off.

Member Avatar for globalbook

Not to hurt your feelings, but I don't see why anyone would want to contribute to this out of the blue.

The concept would make more sense if it was added on to - or in conjuction with - an existing forum. That way there would already be a group of people who share some interest and have some sense of each other. For instance, this would make sense if it were a story project attached to a forum for amateur writers, or a forum of people interested in WWII and were writing a war novel, or science fiction readers working on a s.f. story, or aspiring actors creating a Hollywood novel.

I think you have to have the group in place beforehand to really make it take off.

Don't worry, my feelings are not hurt :mad:

I have looked around different writer websites but generally writers are a very protective bunch. They seem to be focused on their own works and unwilling to work on anything but their own projects... maybe understandably.

When I suggested the idea I got the response from some of "Write your own book", which is missing the point.

The thing is the site/project isn't really aimed at people who are professional writers, it's aimed at people who'd like to contribute a small bit of creativity to a larger project.

GB

Member Avatar for roryt

I think to get some more visitors you should put your site on a proper domain name not a freewebs domain. However it's a great idea and it is a nice looking site.

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