Forum

[slowhost]

How hard is it to set up a forum and how would i go about setting a forum up and adding one to a site, alot to ask but i know how helpful this forum and the ppl on it have been to me.

thanks for any help

 

[dw1973]

It's a hard question to answer without knowing your level of technical skill and depending which forum software you use.

Do you know how to upload files via ftp?

Do you know how to set up a sql database and user via your hosting?

How complex do you want your forum to be (most forums have loads of mods available...installing those is usually harder than installing the forum itself)

Do you want the style of your forum to match the site you are adding it to?

I've used phpbb quite a lot and it's pretty straightforward once you've set up the database...I think it's 4 or 5 clicks. It has plenty of mods, some easy to install, some harder.

You can either add it to your site as forum.yoursite.com or yoursite.com/forum

Hope this helps.

 

[DaveH]

Setting up a forum is easy.

Getting visitors posting and staying in a new and empty forum is extremely difficult. Also monetising tends to be hard too.

 

[Alien]

Try looking here for advice/tips/info etc:

AdminFusion :: Get Connected with Forum Owners

 

[Admin]

Be prepared to spend a lot of time on the site, but the kudos reward is high.

Monetisation is indeed difficult so if your only motivation for doing it is money, do something else.

Admin

 

[slowhost]

thanks for the feedback, i imagine my question is something a few learners like me would like to know, i think a forum would be great for any site as well as bringing extra hits to a site and potentionally making more money of clicks, asking and answering questions helps everyone interested in the chosen subject! there seem to be 2 gud forums that i have found 1st the same as this 1 vBulletin - Instant Community and another phpBB • Creating Communities Worldwide can anyone give me feed back on either of these obviously the first one is great as it is the same as this. but costs and i can imagine it takes alot of setting up, the second is free but still have the setting up to do but spose evrything is a learning curve.

to be honest i would like to add a forum to a site to learn more about websites and get more hits.

thanks for anymore feed back or info on how to set a forum up.

 

[dw1973]

I've not used vbulletin for a few years so can't comment on ease of use/installation. I'd assume that support would be better for a paid for product but I don't know for sure.

phpbb is free, and has a large support community, plenty of the most requested mods etc.

phpbb doesn't take a lot of setting up as such, you can be up and running in less than 30 mins. Adding mods etc takes the time.

If you don't want the hassle of modding your forum and don't mind about using the latest versions have a look at Willkommen auf phpBB.de • phpBB.de which is a premodded version of phpbb 2.

Obviously with that you lose the latest security updates available in the newer version, plus a lot of the support forum is in German. But it is very useable.

To find out how easy or hard it is you could also install a local version using XAMPP or just try installing it somewhere else on your hosting to have a play with.

 

[FC Domains]

I've had a lot of success getting forums started by first using a simple notice board that people can post to without having to register.

eg TalkBack Overview - TalkBack Comments and Guestbook PHP script

Getting people to register on yet another bulletin board is very difficult.
The ones I run are all Simple Machines Home of SMF: Free PHP and MySQL forum software

 

[indomained]

Excellet tips and really useful advice, thanks guys

 

[essexboy]

I used to run a few forums with an aim to make a little money from adsense etc... but found a lot of work for virtually no reward. I seemed to be forever removing spam. So as per above do one for something your interested in then they are great. If you want to make money, try something else.

 

[retired_member32]

yeah removing spam daily is a bit rough,especially porn and viagra posts usually from russia,i got a slap from my missus yesterday she walked in has i was removing photo's of some really rough looking women at it,and they post so much under different id's,unless you want it to consume your whole life steer well away from forums.

mark

 

[dw1973]

At the moment I'm finding 5-10 spammers a day joining, but not activating their accounts.

But deliajen is right, staying on top of them is a hard job.