How long did it take you to make your forum the way it is today?

[fruity20 19]

I'm trying to take my time with mine since I'm in the outlining stages of it. But the folks who have their forums, how long did it take for you to work on? Like for code, writing, preparations and so forth.

[Elena 546]

1-3 months before the first invitations (betta members), and 1-2 months more until the official opening.

[Morrigan 1,826]

For Realm of Roleplays? Took me 1 week but I also didn't have a lot of actual RP prep to do. I had a few articles and that was it.

 

I'm working on a more involved project and we don't have a set time frame so it could be 6 months before it's ready.

[Arceus 1,082]

Basically, three days. I can code up a theme in no time anymore, if I want to, and I knew exactly what I wanted with the site and how to get it.

My last forum took three or four people about two years to build.

[Kit the Human 759]

2 months to opening, but that was me pottering around without any sense of urgency.

 

I'm always updating and critiquing my work though so I would be more inclined to say 6 months, from the day I created the forum to today. You don't need to think that everything is set in stone and just so when it opens.

[Kazetatsu 263]

A lot of forums are constant works in progress. every once in a while a new code is incorporated or a new bit of lore is added or the rules are tweaked. rp forums are evolving things. they change as the admin adapts to the needs of the community or discovers how to add new features. 

 

that said, ready for open is different. The forum I was most recently on opened as soon as it had a skin and a few rp boards. I was with a bunch of friends who were making a home together to it didn't have to be all set in stone then. A forum can be soft open for friends very early on, especially if you aren't building the software/base structure from the ground up.

[Verridith 66]

...16 years? xD LOL! But like others have said, a role-play forum is an ever-evolving thing. The level of changes in just my forum is absolutely astounding: everything from new lore (which usually happens monthly) to new skins, new coding, new systems, new software... everything!

 

I think our current iteration, though, took maybe... six months for a total recode + art assets + skin + plot revamp? At least, that's how long we were on hiatus for back in 2016. xD We have changed a LOT since then, but that may be my best example that didn't spend my site's entire life, haha!

[StormyWays13 91]

It usually takes me two to three weeks to get everything on a brand new forum setup exactly how I want it. Of course, once it's setup I am forever tweaking as new things come about. I don't think that the job of creating a forum is ever really done though.

[Huskerdust 625]

About 3 weeks. Most of that was just finding a theme and messing with/editing it, tbh. The documents took about a week to write and we also moved threads over from another forum, which took several days. 

[Suzi 20]

It perhaps took me about a week to set the site up for a soft open - we invited our closest RP friends to join at the beginning and it did grow pretty quickly towards where we are now! 

We recently changed to a new skin which took me a couple of days to perfect (still updating some images here and there, but that's a non-essential task)

I'm always about trying new things here and there though - so I guess it has always been worked on to get to where we are now!

[Muse 121]

Two, maybe three weeks to set up and style the phpBB forum for Beta Testers. Another month (half of it in parallel with the forum set up) to get the Lore (MediaWiki) basics down. Both the forum and the lore are always growing, so that was just planting the seeds and opening the doors. 

 

I'm more into iteration and gradual improvement than final form (graphic designer's curse, that is ... lol), so yeah, 2-3 weeks is sort of the barebones, "Let's write, fam!" 

[Rhindeer 217]

SotE is over 18 years now, and it's a constant work in progress, so...18 years? xD

 

But when I initially created it, it took about a week. But the SotE of today is VASTLY different from the SotE of 18 years ago, so much so that if you compared them side by side, they have close to nothing in common. It's been 18 years of growth and development and evolution, and will continue to grow and evolve as it keeps on aging.