Use vBulletin Notification System To Increase Activity

Latter vBulletin versions 3.6 and beyond come with a new built in feature called the notification system that is awesome for sparking up some conversation or getting new members helped around the site. Whenever someone decides to join a forum, its usually because they have something to share, or are looking to get information from the forum. Most the time, it takes a great deal of debate from that person if your site is worth the hassle of joining, and then learning how to post.

This is what makes the notification system so great, when used with our vBulletin Guest Registration modification you can instantly increase your forums activity ten fold among the new members.

First you’ll want to ensure you have our latest version of guest redirection system installed as it lets you specify a custom forum id to send new members to after registration. Next open up your adminCP and navigate to the notices menu over on the left hand side.

For our first notice we’re going to setup a basic new member notice that has 0 posts, telling them how easy and fun it is to participate in our forums. At the Add New Notice screen enter the following information. You’ll probably want to customize it some to meet your forum needs.

Title: New Member Posting
Notice Html: <p>Welcome to our community {username}, </p>
<p>Thanks for taking the few seconds to sign up, and we hope it was an easy experience for you. Now that you’re a member you can start making posts, and replying to existing ones. Start by making an intro post in this forum telling us a little about yourself.</p>
<p>You’ll find our staff always friendly and willing to help should you have any problems, thanks for registering and we’ll see you around!</p>

<p>Best Regards,<br />
Forum Staff</p>

Active: Yes
Persistent: Yes (personal choice, can be now as well)

Next we’re going to set the options to ensure only members with 0 posts can view the notice. We don’t want to annoy or upset our current members by displaying something not meant for them.

Scroll down, and about half way down the options check the box for “User has never posted”.

Hit Save. Thats all there is to it, your forum will instantly become more personalized for the new member making them feel right at home. We hope you find this guide useful, and you can put it to good use.