Perfectionism

[Cosmic]

How much time do you spend on the small details before launching a new forum?

I'm talking about ranks, emoticons, getting rules exactly right. Tweaking things that don't by themselves make or break your forum, but contribute to the feel. Things like finding emoticons that fit the mood of your forum, adding custom BBcode, and other things like this. Do you spend much time on these things, or rather on posting discussions and whatnot, particularly when you initially launch a forum?

For me, this can be a bit of a problem sometimes. 😛 I'm a perfectionist, so it can take me some time to get everything right before I'm willing to launch a site.

 

[John]

I took a month to launch WF. Most of the time was spent attempting to get to 1,000 posts; so we wouldn't be completely blank with conversation when the time came to open. I couldn't have waited much longer than that. 😛

 

[drucrazy]

I don't think this just applies to forums, I spent plenty of time working on my websites before they are launched.

Any type of website requires work before you launch it to make sure you've provided the best possible experience for your users or even customers. You may call people like this perfectionists, but I think its just standard for launching any type of website to take some time and do what you need to do.

 

[Lucas]

I work on my localhost forum since April 2014

It's getting in my own way, but will take longer to put it in the air.

 

[Cierra]

I think around month or two of planning the basics, and then we heavily added things as we went along during the first six or so months. Kind of done with major stuff now, but we're still making tweaks and minor changes.

 

[Forces of Steel]

Takes quite a bit of time. I believe in quality before quantity.

 

[Darthmaul]

For me it took about a month to get my forum where I wanted it before launching. I didn't really add a bunch of small things, mostly just got a nice theme up and did a lot of posting before launch. I actually added a lot more small details as I went along. I really just wanted to see the forum in action, and figure out what I needed from my members. They would suggest a lot of stuff that I would eventually add, and I would just find things I wanted to add as well 🙂

 

[JohnyAF]

to me, i just launch the site, and then i will fix it slowly. when your site have no trafic, no need to make it beautiful. Just make it a good SEO standard! 🙂

 

[Zion]

As a recovering perfectionist, I completely understand your concerns and possible frustrations. But, let's be honest, you have to put perfection aside when it comes to launching a new forum. I am not saying open up an undeveloped forum, but you have to lay down the foundation and then open your doors to the public. I genuinely believe you could spend years upon years perfecting your forum prior to launch, because there's always going to be something you can better. However, it's best to just let the occasions arise naturally. Let's say you have default emojis, well guess what? It's going to be okay. Add emojis if your members desire more emojis.

Moving on to the main point, you have to understand perfection cannot be achieved. You need to get your forum ready for launch, set an opening date, and cover the "MUST get done's" before you cover the "I wish this was done's". Hope this helps! Recap: Lay the foundation, open your doors to the public, and build upon what you've already established.

Goodluck! :great:

 

[Thomasss]

As a recovering perfectionist, I completely understand your concerns and possible frustrations. But, let's be honest, you have to put perfection aside when it comes to launching a new forum. I am not saying open up an undeveloped forum, but you have to lay down the foundation and then open your doors to the public. I genuinely believe you could spend years upon years perfecting your forum prior to launch, because there's always going to be something you can better. However, it's best to just let the occasions arise naturally. Let's say you have default emojis, well guess what? It's going to be okay. Add emojis if your members desire more emojis.

Moving on to the main point, you have to understand perfection cannot be achieved. You need to get your forum ready for launch, set an opening date, and cover the "MUST get done's" before you cover the "I wish this was done's". Hope this helps! Recap: Lay the foundation, open your doors to the public, and build upon what you've already established.

Goodluck! :great:

I honestly could not agree more. Perfectionism will never be achieved, as nothing could be perfect. It could be perfect for you, but it won't be perfect to others. Forums are one of those things that have to be community driven to work. Like Zion said, you can lay the foundation but the rest really has to be up to the community members to do; that's how a forum works. Not everything can be done through the administration.

 

[IvanN]

to me, i just launch the site, and then i will fix it slowly. when your site have no trafic, no need to make it beautiful. Just make it a good SEO standard! 🙂

Yup! I agree. Just make it a good SEO standard. 😀