That is quite a write-up, Daniel! I'm bookmarking it and will digest over the next week(s).

There are 2 main schools of thought around even having comments enabled on your website. Seth Godin does not have them. Michael Hyatt had them, removed them, then brought them back. Copyblogger removed them and has not restored them.

There's a book by Bryan Allain called "Community Wins, 21 Thoughts on Building a Thriving Online Tribe" in which he writes based on the assumption you'll have some way for people to interact. Gary Vaynerchuk, a very colorful (not suitable for work or children) speaker, has comments on his blog via Facebook.

I believe in comments - and forums. I also know there are other places for people to have conversations. This has unearthed some thoughts that are good topics for blog posts.

Thanks, Daniel!

Hello Steve,

A while back, in response to my opening post for this thread, you asked if I received a lot of comments from visitors. The answer is nope. So, I decided to create a section that would encourage people more explicitly to interact with my site's content : Knowing and Believing – the Encounter.

Since I last posted here I did quite a bit of research and testing in an attempt to answer my own question. It is published under Improving a Web Site’s potential for interactivity.

Daniel Garneau
Savoir et croire .ca (Knowing and Believing)

While I haven't had much experience with bbPress or BuddyPress, they are mature enough to be good starts. I did a search and found a few other WordPress forum alternatives and some thoughts on which fits different situations.

Are you getting many comments on your posts? What about social shares? They are good indicators of the type of activity you'll get in a forum. Though, with a few dedicated people and some regular posts, you'll build a good foundation for developing conversations on your site.

Hello,

My WordPress based web site is currently content base, and not interactive at all. However I would like to add some interactivity to it of the type one finds in a forum or a site like Christian Web Resources. It needs to be fairly simple, but on the other hand it has to integrate well with my site.

So, I was thinking of using a bbPress plug-in possibly along with a buddyPress plug-in for the few extra tools it provides. I would be interested in hearing what others think best from anyone interested in sharing.

God bless...

I've been on this journey for quite some time and I have seen some very bustling communities centered around faith and technology dwindle for various reasons. I mentioned several influential Christian communities and forums in a blog post about a year ago. Several challenges exist for a community such as this - creating awareness, building momentum, and sustaining interest.

Then, along comes the rise of Twitter and Facebook - platforms where discussions are more fluid and less structured. I find those effective for quick exchanges, but they have little lasting value as a repository of learning for others. Facebook groups are somewhat better, but a lack of searchability is the major limitation.

For the foreseeable future, Christian Web Resources will be here for people to come and visit, stay a while, and learn and share.

This is probably suitable for a blog post and an updated About Us page.

Why 'Christian' and not just webmasters? As you noted - the technical side is much the same. Do people need to be Christian to find some help here for them as a webmaster? Certainly not. This site is not just about the technical - the "how-to" and "what-to". It is also about the "why-to". Hence, we are Christian Webmasters.

Peace!

Hello Steve,

I would be interested in knowing what the plans are for this site. I am looking for a site where I can share my questions and then the answers I find to them in a context where I can benefit for the occasional advice from other Christian Webmasters.

Why "Christian" webmasters, not simply "webmasters"? Of course there are issues common to all webmasters. But it would be nice to have a place where we could also have a godly perspective. So I would like to know what is ahead of us at CWR.

Thank you

Hi, Daniel - look through these forums, there was a thread about backlinks, but it was about generating more backlinks, rather that evaluating the backlinks you already have, and potentially blocking some.

I don't worry much about the scammy spammers and their links - the search engines are a lot more sophisticated now and the negative impact isn't as great. That's not to say that some will not try to launch a negative SEO campaign against your site, but just as Google and Bing/Yahoo! evaluate the links from your site to determine its relevance, the same is done for the sites linking to yours.

Instead, I tend to focus on those sites that are good references to mine and help them craft the page where I am linked - doing a little SEO for them can boost both our positions.

If you are hosting a lot of resources from your site (PDFs, images, documents, presentations), you might want to consider setting up restrictions for hot-linking. Don't allow other sites to post your resources and use your bandwidth without landing on a page on your site. if you're not familiar with hot-linking, just do a search. There are even WP plugins to assist you.

Glad you found us, Daniel, and took the time to post a note!

Things have been kind of quiet around here for a while, but people still visit regularly. We're due for a makeover and I'm working on that - hopefully some time in January.

Have a look around and let me know what things you like and would like to see improved or expanded.

Blessings!

Hello,

Twelve out of Twenty-Two Domains that have one or more links towards my Web site are from Web Sites I have myself visited. The remaining are from sites that I knew nothing about, and that just happen to find me. Some point to my pdf files and make them available to their users. When I realized this was happening, I made sure I identified every page of every pdf document on my site through my domain name on the footer.

Until a few days ago, I visited every site that pointed to mine to make sure I was comfortable with what they did. But when I tried to access the latest Web site that was linking to mine, I received warning signals from my antivirus software. I then used Scam Adviser. It reported that the site itself was not malicious, but that the a certain number of its users had been contaminated with unwanted programs.

Should I look into blocking access to certain sites that are backlinking to mine? What other course of action should be taken?

Hello,

I wanted to say hello before I do anything else at CWR.

I have been on line since May, 2013. I began with an html and css site that slowly grew from 30 to 90 pages, and from French only to French, English and Spanish. When it began to feel ackward to change any structural elements, like adding or moving menu items, I began to look towards CMS solutions.

By June 2014 I migrated to WordPress, which began to provide me with the flexibility I was hoping for. I learn as I go, being new to all of this Webmastering stuff.

Now I felt I needed a place where I could read-up on issues that have to do with various aspects of running a site, and share with others on specific areas.

My site tries to show relationships between learning, knowing, believing, doing and committing oneself. I write from a conservative evangelical christian perspective, but I also interact with some authors who are considered liberals.

Glad to have found this site. I can't wait to begin exploring its resources and taking part in the forums.