Creating a Forum?

[prodigee]

Me and a few friends want to create a forum for the eastern connecticut auto scene, and dont really know where to start. So any advice on what programs to use, etc, would be quite helpful.

Thanks,

Kielan

 

[GoCubsGo]

Buy a VBulletin license. It's really the best way.

 

[techfreak85]

Buy a vB License like jessica. said, or get phpbb, which is free

 

[redwarrior]

SMF is cool, and easy, and free. I've set up several. Have fun.

 

[miles01110]

Start a Google group or something. Spending time setting up a major forum system like vB or phpBB for just a few people is a waste of time and money.

 

[dumfweaver]

Have you had a look at ning.com or socialgo.com ?

If you're looking for a visually friendly social network forum both are free.

 

[addaminsane]

learn joomla, its a free open source cms (content management system) that has forum integration. that way you can easily have a forum and website all in one.

joomla.org - joomla cms
kunena.com - great joomla forum add on

 

[definitive]

you can start with some free software such as phpbb on shared hosting. if the forums grow big, you can always buy a vbulletin license later and transfer the accounts over. you'd probably need some knowledge of php and mysql, along with basic web design to be able to maintain the site, and fix problems when necessary. also site promotion would be important to get people to join. facebook groups might be useful for that.

 

[star-fish]

Seconding the phpBB to start with. If it gets popular, you can always buy a VB licence and import everything over.

Whichever option you choose, make sure it can be transferred over to big players like vBulletin, because if you do decide to upgrade it will be less hassle.

Also worth nothing that VBulletin can become a very expensive system to run. I had about 1500 members on my forum and my host complained a lot about the resources it was consuming.

 

[three]

Buy an IPB license, buy good hosting (Bluehost, Dreamhost, etc) and go from there.