If you are trying to build a community of users, regular interaction is a necessary component of that relationship. Not just interaction with you, oh wise leader, but interaction between members of the community. Forums are a proven way to get people talking about topics of interest, like the trailer for the latest movie in a classic space saga, for example.
Hay muchas plataformas de foros diferentes que puedes usar, pero sabemos que te encanta WordPress y pretendes que todas las cosas se integren con él. Por suerte para usted, al mismo tiempo hay complementos de WordPress que facilitan la creación y administración de foros de discusión.
Este artículo analizará los mejores complementos gratuitos disponibles para crear foros en su sitio Web de WordPress para que pueda comenzar a construir su increíble comunidad de amantes de las bochas, o lo que be que le guste.
The best free plugins for forums
We've picked our top six forum plugin picks below. They are a mixed bunch, with some of them rated a little lower than we would like (yes, we are picky). To make up for that, we've done our best to highlight the issues with lower-rated plugins and why we still think you should consider them. Let's get to work!
1. DW Questions and Answers
En el espacio del forum, hemos visto el crecimiento de plataformas de preguntas y respuestas como Stack overflow and Quora. With more than 10,000 active installations, DW Questions and Answers is a very popular plugin for adding that functionality to WordPress websites. It tops our list with a 4.3-star satisfaction rating.
As a complete question and answer system, DW Question & Answer makes it possible to submit, filter, sort, edit and delete questions. Users can answer questions or comment on other answers, as well as vote and choose the best answer from those already provided. Questions and answers can be configured as private or public, and users can follow a question or answer to receive notifications of the answers.
Reviewers have raised some compatibility issues between this plugin and other plugins and themes, but it has to be recognized that the developers are quite responsive and open to feedback. If you like the question and answer format and are willing to work with the default pages created by the plugin, DW Question and Answer may be right for you.
2. BuddyPress
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This plugin is not a forum plugin per se - BuddyPress It is the social media giant in the WordPress world, but it can be used as a community forum. It benefits from a worldwide community of thousands who use and work with BuddyPress, so we decided to include it.
BuddyPress es un complemento de comunidad extremadamente poderoso y flexible para WordPress. Incluye características como perfiles de Username, grupos, flujos de actividad y notificaciones. De esta manera, su funcionalidad predeterminada podría, de hecho, usarse para proporcionar un foro comunitario para la discusión. Se integra con otros complementos (como bbPress, a continuación) si desea crear una comunidad de foros con todas las funciones.
3. Muut
Discussion is the name of the game, but plugins like Muut are reinventing the form it should take. With only around 1,000 active installs, Muut is clearly still new to the discussion board space, but a 4.3-star satisfaction rating made us think it was worth checking out.
Muut se describe a sí misma como una mejor plataforma comunitaria, y han dado una nueva mirada a cómo ocurren las conversaciones en los sitios web de WordPress. Al combinar el poder de los foros de discusión con la inmediatez de los comentarios, Muut ofrece foros en tiempo real con todas las funciones con comentarios planos o en cadena, filtrado de spam y notificaciones por correo electrónico. Al mismo tiempo es completamente customizable usando CSS para que coincida con su sitio.
Using Muut is completely free, although you can upgrade to a premium account to get more features. This has caused some confusion in the past, but the developers have updated their documentation and the notifications make it clearer. The plugin is still in its infancy, but it represents an interesting direction if you don't like the standard discussion forum concept.
4. AnsPress
The next plugin on our list at the same time uses the question and answer format, identical to DW Question & Answer. With over 3000 active installs and a 4.2 star satisfaction rating, AnsPress it is clearly a good option for many WordPress websites.
Like DW Question & Answer, AnsPress provides a complete question and answer system for WordPress. Basic functionality like adding, editing, sorting, answering, and voting on questions is complemented by nice features like tags (for example, open, closed, duplicate), favorite questions, and a user points system.
Older versions of AnsPress seemed to have trouble with bugs and poor support, but the developers listened to feedback and improved their development processes, so you shouldn't have any major issues working with this plugin. If you are looking for a flexible and customizable question and answer system, it is worth considering AnsPress.
5. bbPress
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There is no way we can talk about discussion boards in WordPress and not look bbPress. With over 300,000 active installs, it is the undisputed leader in this space and supports the most popular WordPress themes (including Total). With a 3.9-star satisfaction rating, he's holding his own in front of newcomers, but has some areas of concern.
The developers describe bbPress as focused on ease of incorporation, ease of use, web standards, and speed. To achieve this, they have kept the main plugin small and lightweight while making it fully extensible through plugins. This approach has advantages and disadvantages, of course, and if you want to replicate the full functionality of another forum system, you may have to implement many different plugins with bbPress.
Many of the complaints about bbPress come from users who may not have fully understood that bbPress was not designed to provide a complete forum system. The core functionality is powerful on its own, but you will surely want to add other features.
6. CM responses
Next on our list is another question and answer style plugin. CM responses has over 2,000 active installs and a 3.8 star satisfaction rating.
Hemos cubierto la funcionalidad básica de preguntas y respuestas antes, pero CM Answers agrega algunas características interesantes para ayudar en la participación del usuario, como mostrar el recuento de vistas para cada pregunta, notificaciones de usuario y registro de redes sociales usando Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn y Google+.
There have been some support issues and many users have had concerns about the depth of functionality that is available only with the purchase of the Pro version or additional add-ons. Since the free version is available, we suggest that you first install it on a test site to see if it meets your needs.
There is no doubt that a well planned and managed forum can help you build an engaged user community. Using a plugin will make setting one up a simple matter so you can go straight to interacting with your users.
From our list above, you should be able to choose the right forum plugin for your needs. So if you've been thinking about setting up a forum, pick one and get started!
Do you have a forum now, and if so, what plugin are you using for it? If you don't have one, what's stopping you? Share your experiences with the forum plugins and anyone you think we've missed in the comments.
