Discourse

If you know anything about building a brand, you know that community is everything. It’s one thing to have customers that enjoy your products, services, and more. But it is an entirely different thing to have a dedicated group of brand loyalists that enjoy discussing topics related to your niche. Having a community that loves visiting your site every day is one of the most valuable things you can gain for your brand.

But it takes time to build. Adult entrepreneurs need the right forum software and a path to success that will get them there. That’s where Discourse hopes to come into play. They aim to be the last forum software that you will ever need. Whether that is the case or not remains to be seen. At the very least, it’s forum software with a 21st-century mindset.

Made for mobile

Have you ever tried to browse a forum on a mobile device? It can be a fucking nightmare. That’s because, for some reason, too many forums still have not figured out how to look halfway decent on a mobile device. Some of the forums look very stretched out, the words are too small, navigating is tedious, and it just isn’t fun.

Browsing a forum is supposed to scratch that discovery itch you have, kind of like Reddit without all of the hentai. If that sounds like the perfect addition to your adult brand, but you don’t want to risk having a forum best viewed on the aging desktop, Discourse intends to fix that.

In fact, Discourse was created for touch-based devices first. It’s meant to feel as comfortable as navigating Instagram or TikTok on your mobile. Those apps feel natural like they were made for mobile devices. Discourse is the same way. It was created to browse forums as comfortably and seamlessly as native mobile apps.

That isn’t to say that you cannot browse Discourse-fueled forums on your desktop. It works on all devices, with an emphasis on mobile in mind. Of course, users who want a strictly app-based experience can download Discourse for their Android or iOS devices and navigate your forum that way. It’s that simple.

Don’t think that Discourse is a mobile-based forum platform that’s all gimmicks with no substance. Some of the most popular brands out there use Discourse for their forums. Frostbite uses it internally rather than the e-mail to give you an idea of its flexibility. Western Digital also uses Discourse as a public forum. Even Patreon, Docker, Github, and the fucking Bank of New Zealand use Discourse.

They’re not small fries. But even so, they come across as if they want to make your unique community come alive. The best way to do that is to provide helpful forum solutions that Discourse knows how to deliver. Give it a shot and see how modern a forum can feel.

Member moderation system that works

Those who have used forums or owned a forum before know that the look and feel are only part of the problem. What good is a forum if it is full of assholes that keep your community toxic? You cannot have any tolerance for these types of pricks. But keeping them out of your forum and away from the members that want to chill together is difficult.

The traditional solution has been to hire moderators to police your forum. But that’s not a great answer, either. Self-moderation can sometimes work, but it takes finding that special group of mods that work together to make the community flourish. Discourse may have found an answer laying in the cracks between these two variants of community policing.

Discourse utilizes a member moderation system. In other words, it’s a trust system. That sounds a lot like self-moderating, like I mentioned earlier. But the difference is that Discourse incentivizes good behavior and thoughtful conversations.

They make users want to be excellent to one another via likes, badges, and other accolades that follow members around. When they comment on different areas around the forum, their good behavior will follow them. Likewise, if someone is an asshole or a troll, their negative karma follows them around as well. If someone posts a message that the community does not like, all they have to do is flag it, then the content is hidden.

As members continue to have a history of getting likes, badges, and more, they will earn special privileges. This is what sets Discourse apart from the rest of the other platforms like it. The members who prove they have the communities’ best interest in mind are given special privileges. These privileges consist of things like editing, pinning, closing threads, archiving, splitting, and more.

The ones that give a shit about the forum should be the ones running the show. That’s exactly how it all works when Discourse operates your community. From there, they can flag and get rid of spam, harmful content, and so much more without you ever having to lift a finger. Discourse states that this method allows communities to create an ‘immunity’ to trolls, spam, and other ridiculous content.

It is certainly a unique way to tackle the kind of content you don’t want to come across on your forum. If you want content moderation that works naturally, Discourse may have what you are looking for. Give it a shot and see how it compares to the forum software you are currently using!

Less forum, more social network

What the fuck do I mean by that? It’s simple. When Discourse powers your community, your members do not have to resort to browsing a place that feels like a forum. It does not feel clunky, does not look ugly, or is difficult to navigate. It feels like something modern, not a community that is stuck in the past.

In fact, when you are browsing Discourse, it feels more like a social network. The touching, swiping, and jumping around from one section to another feels second nature. It’s incredible, and you will be pleased with how intuitive everything feels.

The remarkable thing about Discourse is that you can make it look like your own unique forum. You do not have to resort to shitty templates or ugly designs that will make your site look like the million other forums that are using the same platform. If you do not believe me, look at the brands and businesses that have built their platform on Discourse’s foundation.

You’re going to tell me that a forum like Car Talk looks just like the forum used on Codeacademy? Get out of here. You can make your forum look like your own when Discourse takes the reigns. On top of that, you can even keep your member’s normal sign-on!

That is correct! If you think you will have to build an entirely new forum and force users to create a new username, think again! It integrates perfectly into your current forum or community. Thus, your users can sign in as usual, and they will see your new and improved forum on the other end. They don’t have to do anything differently – it’s all done for them on the backend!

Because it’s open-source and emphasizes an experience that is simple, clean, and intuitive, using Discourse for your platform can make it feel like second nature. Add to the fact that Discourse utilizes infinite scrolling, so you never have to click from one page to the next to read new threads and the like. You truly do have a 21st-century feel to a decades-old concept.

This is how forum software ought to feel. If you want to build your community from the ground up or revitalize your community and make it even better, give Discourse a shot. It could be the answer you have been looking for, and every brand needs a community as it is. Look into it, and see if integrating Discourse into your adult brand makes sense for you!

Suggestions

Discourse takes the tired concept of forums and breathes new, modern life into them. Made for mobile, open-source, and sporting a member-moderating system that actually works, it’s an awesome method for ensuring your forum and community is thriving. Unfortunately, Discourse can be pricey as it starts at $100 per month.

It may not fit into some people’s budgets. But if it does, it can build your community like never before. Try it out, and it may even result in the retention of dedicated customers that have loyalty to your brand.