vBulletin - creating huge number of subforums

[fanduy]

Hello all,

I'm using vBB and creating subforums which have the same titles, functions, and positions in many parent forums. Is there any way I can just put in the titles of subforums for all forums at the same time?

For example: If my 3 forums are: 'New York', 'San Francisco', and 'Dallas', and my subforums I want to create in each are: Cars, Movies, and Ipods, then is that possible to create Cars just once and it'd appear in all 3 forums at the same display order like this?

New York:

1. Cars
2. Movies
3. Ipods

SF:

1. Cars
2. Movies
3. Ipods

Dallas:

1. Cars
2. Movies
3. Ipods

I asked the question in vBB.org and a guy said that I need to use a script or phpmyadmin to do that. However, I don't know much about phpmyadmin so if any has any suggestion on how to do it or knows any forum that can help a newbie on this issue, it'd be greatly appreciated!

[rogerd]

I would say that cramming new forum data into the database via an external script isn't necessarily a good idea for a newbie. While you can find someone to either code this or do this for you, a skilled coder will take some time to analyze the database structure, figure out what needs to be done, and then do it. This will probably cost quite a bit more than you paid for the software.

If you are talking about a truly huge number of subforums, maybe that's worth it. On the other hand you could also find some reliable but inexpensive clerical help to just enter them through the admin panel.

How many total forums are you contemplating?

[fanduy]

Thank you for replying. I'm thinking of about 90 subforums (from different parents) x 20 (duplicate 20 times).

[fanduy]

actually I can do 1 category w/ 90 subforums in 2-3 hours max manually. The time-consuming part I'd like to avoid is duplicating the subforums of the category 20 times.

[rogerd]

1800 forums is a lot of forums. Automating the creation process may be worth the effort.

I'm not sure if there are any performance issues associated with that many forums - you may want to read up on that. A few basic steps might be to ensure that you don't put all forums on the jump menu (and create a massive list that must be loaded with every page).

[rogerd]

One other question is whether you want to start off with that many forums. I'd suggest with starting off with forums that you can keep busy, and then spinning off new forums as needed.

[fanduy]

Yes, I'm thinking about that too. I think I'll start off w/90 x 4 or 5 first and then if let's see how it goes. Yet, I'm still looking around (mostly for phpmyadmin) to see if there's anyway to avoid the time-consuming part. Thanks so much for replying!

[rogerd]

Good luck, fanduy, and let us know if you come up with a solution.

[hyperkik]

You can probably create one forum and set of subforums, then use ImpEx to import a copy of the forum database into the forum. If you try that, though, do back up the forum. (Import the doubled forum, and that's four copies; then eight, then sixteen....)

[fanduy]

Thank you very much for helping me! I have a question though. I failed to understand fully this part: "then use ImpEx to import a copy of the forum database into the forum". Does this mean I have to use another forum, and create another forum and set of subforums there and then import those to the current one? Or simply just import within the current database? Thanks so much!

[rebelde]

Without understanding the database structure, it will be difficult for you.

With some basic knowledge of databases, you could:
- back up your database
- print out the list of tables with the number of lines
- create a new forum
- compare the list of tables to the previous list to see what has changed. (Just the "forum" table?)
- create one of your 20 categories
- export each of the tables to a text file "SELECT * INTO OUTFILE..."
- edit those lines in the text files to update the forumid, forum names, parent forum, etc.
- back up the database again
- then load those lines back into the database with "LOAD DATA INFILE"
- expect to screw up a few times in the process, and have to restore from your backup!

Then again, you might find it easier to just do it through the adminCP.

[rogerd]

I think one key thing to keep in mind is that visitors will not usually post in a dead forum. They won't make the first post, and they won't post if nobody has posted in days.

I'd really lean toward a smaller launch so that you can guide the growth of the forum. Perhaps you can then start moving topical content to new forums to let them grow.