My idea, would this work and any advice on software/script

[mally]

Hello

I've recently purchased a domain name chiefconstable .co .uk

I was thinking of developing it but first would like your advice to see if you guys think it would be worth while (or not!)

As most of us know a "Chief Constable" is the highest ranking police offic ers in your local force. (I think there's about 30-40 different forces in the UK)

I was thinking about making a question and answer website, where you could choose your force area, e.g Humberside, then write a post telling the Chief Constable about a particular problem, e.g youth nuisance, anti social behaviour in a particular area etc.

Other people can then answer giving you advice. In a perfect world, I would like a police member for that area to make a response or at least take note of the complaint.

Script/Programming.

I was thinking about using a simple Forum software like vbulletin where I could setup a sub forum for force area. This would also help by allowing only registered posters to post and confirming email addresses during the registration process.

I know using v-bulletin theres an option where you can automatically send an email to a particular email address when a post is made. Most police forces have contact info on their websites, I could maybe add that to let them know theres a new post for them to consider... (with there permission)

Do you think a forum software would be the best option here?

advice

This is really a quick plan, not too indepth but pretty simple. I think people do like to complain and winge these days, especially about the police service.

Income

This is the stumbling block, I'm not sure what users of this type of website would be interested in. Vbulletin is not cheap either!

Any advice or feedback would be apprciated Good and BAD!!

Many thanks

Mally

 

[Admin]

I used PHPBB to start AD for free and then upgraded to Vbull when it got going.

It was a bit tedious to do but worth it.

PHPBB is much more open to spammers as the Admin is very basic but if you want to see how it goes before investing give it a whirl.

Im am all for niche sites but i dont see much market/revenue for this domain based on the effort you are proposing to put into it.

You would be better with something more generic IMO, being Admin on a forum is hard work!

 

[aZooZa]

Forums are indeed hard work and have little scope for income unless you are in it for the VERY long haul. The problem with the idea you have is that it's unlikely that you'll get a police officer of any rank to participate in a formal capacity. So you'd probably end up with loads of opinions from unqualified people -- sometimes giving bad 'legal' advice so you could end up with a potential liability. I'd steer clear of that idea. Nice domain though. I have magistrates(.)net and have the exact same dilemma.

Best of luck!

 

[mally]

Thanks for the feeback!

My first ever forum was with phpbb but I've since worked on a few others with vbulletin and your right its much better as an admin to add mods etc..

I'm hoping once its set up it will workout itself. No doubt there'll be plenty of posts to remove, such as "Joe Blogs burgled Mrs Smith" etc..

I wonder if I can get each police force to sponsor the forum for £50 to help get feedback about their area's lol

 

[aZooZa]

I don't think it would harm to sound out a few forces for sponsorship. You will probably get free advice also about liabilities etc. But NEVER use phpBB as it's chock full of security loopholes. Just my 2p.

 

[GWing]

One big problem that could scupper your idea...

If the conservatives get in at the next general election, they will have an elected person in charge of each Police force.

So I guess if this does happen then people won't contact the chief constable as their first port of call.

Be a shame to put all that effort into a site that could be all but useless within 2 years.

All the best

GW

 

[aZooZa]

One big problem that could scupper your idea...

If the conservatives get in at the next general election, they will have an elected person in charge of each Police force.

So I guess if this does happen then people won't contact the chief constable as their first port of call.

Be a shame to put all that effort into a site that could be all but useless within 2 years.

All the best

GW

GW -- ELECTED? Just like in the USA? I'm leaving the country.

 

[GWing]

It would be fun to watch, you could end up with the local BNP candidate running for Local Police Commander and in places with a muslim majority you could have the local sheria law rep running the place.

Possibly a bit different from the American system as they elect the District Atourney ( I Think ). Which I think would be like us electing the Crown Prosectution service. Still you might have found that people like Tony Martin would not have been prosecuted in blowing that waste of space that robbed his farm, into the next world.

Personally if done right, bring it on. But this is Britain and it won't be and will be a cock up from start to finish.

 

[uglygit]

Mally,

People on the chief constable forum would be expecting a 'chief constable' not a normal (if you can call them that) bobby. Instead have you thought about developing it into a site covering the works of John Constable the painter, geared towards the younger generation (a pic on the main site of the man with a chieftan hat), and some museums covering his works and adsense for reproduction works.

Azooza,

Heres an idea for your magistrates site...

A settling your differences site for kids,spouses etc
front page has an animated magistrate sat in the middle with two textboxes either side, each person puts in their woes and the price their prepared to pay (from your list of adsense/affiliates list box) , the magistrate randomly choses whos at fault and the guilty party has to make the purchase.

what do you think chaps.

 

[mxm]

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mal...

good concept.. there are a number of other "niche" forums doing something of the like... obviously the hard and as stated by other AD members, part,is the long haul of a forum, time envolved, mods to find, spam to bin, etc etc... sometimes these costs outway the effort / profit of such a concept...

we would suggest you stick with your initial concept, but get the feel in the marketplace right first... approach everyone in the industry, not just the forces, to see if they would want to advertise / banner / sponsor a bit of space on the site...

as for the forum... vb / php are both old hat now... the features / hacks in some vb boards are great but regardless of who runs / mods they are all still time consuming... we use a simple bbs approach to forums... when the net 1st started the exchange of data (text) was very simple to flow / control thus you did not get the problems of todays boards... there are 19 (last count) scripts / loop software packages that make multi post / multi spam forum posting a real pain in the butt for the admins / mods and even with todays hacks there are only a few, long established, worth visting forums still going... e.g www.passionford.com one of the best examples online today...

do some groundwork first on what / who will be involved, instead of just "launching" another forum... the research will be worth it...

**********
ugly.. good idea...we had a people V state site... worked a treat! so much so the state bought it!

x Versus x sites / forums always work! here is one of our mod ones.. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/

in fact now this sort of subject has been brought up.. how about a link list forum on AD for "recommended" members sites??

 

[aZooZa]

Azooza,

Heres an idea for your magistrates site...

A settling your differences site for kids,spouses etc
front page has an animated magistrate sat in the middle with two textboxes either side, each person puts in their woes and the price their prepared to pay (from your list of adsense/affiliates list box) , the magistrate randomly choses whos at fault and the guilty party has to make the purchase.

what do you think chaps.

Thanks! I like that - also maybe a sort of 'arbitration by peers' thingie. Good thinking! I was just about to post it for sale but will hang on to it

 

[philliph]

PHPBB is much more open to spammers as the Admin is very basic but if you want to see how it goes before investing give it a whirl.

Is very true, I would stay away from PHPBB, I installed in on a site I've been working on recently to see what its like, although since, their have been 20-30 spam accounts setup each day since.

I'd advise using VBulletin, downside for you would be you have to pay for it.

 

[uglygit]

Glad you like it Azooza,

Get the animation right (like simpsons perhaps?) and you can post it to all the social sites (without worry of being penalised for all sorts of ads that most people do) bit like the way the simpons animated thing took off.

 

[GreyWing]

Is very true, I would stay away from PHPBB, I installed in on a site I've been working on recently to see what its like, although since, their have been 20-30 spam accounts setup each day since.

I'd advise using VBulletin, downside for you would be you have to pay for it.

Do a quote for "VIP CODE" and it puts a stop to spam bots in under 3 minutes. not had one in the last 6 months since installing.

GW