Trying to make a "COMMUNITY" page. Please help.

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  keenanwooten · Member · Mar 4, 2013 at 1:32 am

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  I run a sports blog, AU Nation. I’ve recently made several changes to it trying to get the fans/viewers more involved. One feature I added was the ability to make a FanPost. When someone creates a FanPost, I have to take the post from my email, paste the post into WordPress, and file the post under the FanPosts category. I was thinking that if I could make a new Home page, I could put the FanPosts there and they would not be posted on the actual Home page. If anyone can help me with this it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Mar 4, 2013 at 2:36 am

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  You could use an outside forum and link with a custom menu to that so your readers could post there.

  The only theme which shows posts and comments on the front page is P2.

  Or perhaps if there is not a lot of talk talk you could designate one page for fan comments (linked in the top nav via a custom menu) with the newest comments first:
  dashboard—>discussion—>Other comment settings—>Comments should be displayed with [newer] comments at the top of each page

  IMO, you really want to set up an outside forum for best results of encouraging back and forth conversations…

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  keenanwooten · Member · Mar 4, 2013 at 2:39 am

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  What is the best way to setup and outside forum?

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  1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Mar 4, 2013 at 2:50 am

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  I’ve never set up a separate forum, though I have participated in several. I’d say Google “free forums” to see what is currently available. Then choose one and see how you like its format. Once you find one you like, you can link to it via a custom menu in your navigation bar and promote it to your readers in your sidebar, and even maybe feature some of the popular topics / discussions in posts on your blog.

  The only other real option is to move over to wp.ORG where you could use a more direct link to an embedded forum. At least I think you could do that. My experience with wp.ORG has not so far involved anything with forums. But there is so much more you can do on .ORG…
  Just be aware if you go for that option, you are responsible for taking care of all that can go wrong, whereas here on wp.COM the problems are taken care of for you.

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  1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Mar 4, 2013 at 2:56 am

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  Also, keep in mind that I’m not staff: I’m a volunteer and fellow blogger like you, so that above information is from my personal experience.

  Perhaps other volunteers here will have some other ideas, and most likely you will be able to find a great deal of info about how to set up a forum online.