Forum education centre
Guides for people starting and running forums
Practical, honest guides to creating a forum and making it work: from choosing software and connecting a domain to stopping spam, moderating fairly and finding your first hundred members. Useful wherever your forum is hosted.
Getting started
In reading order: what a forum is, how to plan one, and the practical steps to get it online.
What is an online forum?
How forums work, and how they compare with groups and chat apps.
How to start a forum
Subject, boards, anti-spam, seeding discussions and opening day.
Create a forum in seven steps
The practical route from idea to a live forum.
Your forum’s domain name
Choosing, registering and connecting it.
Installing forum software
Softaculous, field by field, and the first ten minutes after.
Set-up planner
Three questions, one personalised checklist.
Forum software
MyBB, phpBB and SMF are all free, mature and one-click on Traxio.uk. Choose one, then learn its admin panel.
MyBB vs phpBB vs SMF
An honest comparison, with a two-minute quiz.
Getting started with MyBB
Your first hour in the Admin CP.
Getting started with phpBB
Your first hour in the ACP.
Getting started with SMF
Your first hour in the Administration Center.
Themes, plugins and extensions
Customising your forum without breaking it.
Keeping forum software updated
A fifteen-minute routine for safe updates.
Running a forum
The routine jobs that keep a forum healthy, safe and pleasant to use.
Boards and permissions
A structure that looks alive on day one, and who sees what.
Preventing forum spam
Layered defences for MyBB, phpBB and SMF.
Moderating a forum
Members, moderators and difficult threads.
Backing up your forum
Files and database, and testing a restore.
Securing admin accounts
Passwords, two-factor login and staff access.
Community guidelines
Writing rules people read, with a template.
Growing a forum
Where members come from, and what makes them stay and post.
Moving to a forum
Bringing an existing community to a forum of its own.
Hosting help lives on Traxio.co.uk
These guides are about forums. For the hosting underneath (DirectAdmin, DNS, email, SSL, databases and backups) the Traxio knowledgebase has step-by-step articles, and the guides here link to them where it helps.
Domains
Nameservers, A records and checking a domain is connected.
Email deliverability
SPF, DKIM and making forum email arrive.
Backups and recovery
Creating and restoring DirectAdmin backups.
Who writes these
The guides are published by Traxio, which is run by Jason Plant, and the software guides link to each package’s official documentation so you can check the detail. Menus and labels do change between versions; if you spot something out of date, please say and it will be corrected.
Start a forum while you read
The free 30 days are the complete hosting account with no card required. Install MyBB, phpBB or SMF and follow along with a real forum.
Start your forum free Plan my set-up
Free for 30 days with no card details required. Then £0.99/month if you choose to continue.