Okay it had to come. Here is my .02 for tese forums at this starting point.
First of all, a great effort by the owner in providing valuable information regarding climbing Kinabalu and Sabah in general. Wonderful resource of knowledge.
I think for a one man show, the forums are starting up with too many boards (the terminology in SMF). You will have a tough time keeping things in check. I suggest no more than three (3) CATEGORY sections:
1) Main area targeted for official information with little or no participation from members.
2) Public area for :
- Kopitiam
- Community Boards _ advertisements by members
- commercial sales advertisements and review relating to climbing Kinabalu
3) Admin hidden area for admin/mods collaboration
The public area can begin with as few as two boards with many child-boards to follow. This way, moderators can be assigned specific areas to administer. Placing too many top-level boards is going to complicate administration. I cannot imagine that very many people coming in to help out meaningfully.
I had a similar experience when my friend and partner wanted to setup forums for his condominium under construction. He too started off ith too many boards at top level. We were fortunate to have trimmed that down early stages and had few wonderful souls to help out. I remain admin (without being a resident there, having no interests whatsoever). Check it out at
http://forum.myroyaldomain.com with :
Total Members: 415
Total Posts: 9664
Total Topics: 314
Total Categories: 3
Users Online: 2
Most Online: 26 - June 28, 2007, 04:45 PM
Online Today: 2
Total page views: 607090
Average registrations per day: 1.2
Average posts per day: 27.81
Average topics per day: 1.16
Total Boards: 22
Latest Member: vunjick1
Average online per day: 10.39
Male to Female Ratio: 2.3:1
Average page views per day: 1705.31
Anyways, all the best. Glad to assist anytime!