Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Help please: Recommendations for threaded discussion boards

Here's the situation: I am working with a group that would like to do a yearly Bible reading program. Some people will be responsible for getting the discussion/comments started each week, but they anyone to be able to add comments to the discussion.

I am looking, therefore, to create something that basically looks like a blog (or wiki), is as simple and easy as a blog to create posts and allow non-technical users to join in the discussion with their own comments AND sorts the comments into a tree-type threaded discussion display. I am also hoping to find something that is free or relatively cheap (to get rid of ads). I also want it to be able to filter out spam. I have found that many less technical people are not likely to register (even if it is free), so I am thinking using captchas is probably a better option. (But has anyone else noticed how difficult the captchas are to read here on Blogger? Usually takes me at least twice to get the right read...)
Google Groups kind of does what I want, but it doesn't have the graphical appeal of a blog, and it could be a bit more simple to use.
I have also looked at MyFreeForum. It creates very nice forums, but it doesn't really do threading.
Anyone have any good suggestions or can point me to sites where this Bible reading sort of thing is working successfully? Thanks!

7 comments:

  1. Two beta tools that look like they will have the potential for this in the future are:
    You version
    http://youversion.com
    Logos Global Bible Reader
    http://www.logos.com/beta/gbr

    Right now a blog is probably the easiest solution...but I'm not sure which one is best for supporting trees...

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  2. Thanks for asking the question, I need something very very similar for PodBible, I've been wondering about a customised WordPress installation on our server... But I don't know... It would not - I suspect - be able to thread...

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  3. What about vBulletin or Joomla? Of course that depends on whether or not you will have your own server where you can upload a content management system.

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  4. http://www.pikiwiki.com

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  5. vBulletin looks geeky, like the phpForums, and at least in my case I don't want a Wiki for this job, something between the extremes of "anyone can edit anything" and "only the 'authorised' can write. So Joomla looks like a good possibility but I might find it easier to discover a volunteer Wordpress tweaker than a volunteer Joomla giant?

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  6. Here --> http://moodle.org <-- is what Mounce is using for his online course @ http://www.teknia.com/classes/

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  7. Sorry I missed that comment about Moodle, the service I use to track comments just notified me TODAY!

    Moodle is a great suggestion and I should have thought of it, we use it for our classes at college ;) it does just what's needed, and I'm pretty sure can be either open or closed membership...

    Thanks!

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