Hello friends, I am thinking about making a paid forum. I have not thought a topic yet. I have few questions. 1. Can I start forum on shared hosting. 2. I do not own any server and do not even think about it. Should I buy a VPS? 3. Which license Vbulletin Forum or Vbulletin Publishing Suite should I buy? 4. I do not have knowledge about PHP. Can I still handle it? Thanks to you!
Why go with vBulletin when you can go with XenForo (made by former vBulletin 3.x developers Kier Darby and Mike Sulllivan)? 1.) Yes. However, there's been numerous reports that vBulletin 4 cannot handle an xxx,xxx post forum on a shared server but you shouldn't need a VPS or a dedicated server to run a forum. 2.) No. 3.) vBulletin's CMS is horrible, and you wouldn't get anything out of their support/customer service anyway. Just stick with a used forum license if you have to use vBulletin. 4.) Shouldn't be a problem. Just as examples for XenForo's speed. http://xenforo.com/community/threads/real-world-page-loading-speed.1215/ http://xenforo.com/community/threads/server-load-vb-xf-joomla-proof-is-everything.8073/ - Server load, vBulletin vs. XenForo
Thanks for your replies! I will definitely consider it. Just want to make sure, does it have all the features of VBullentin like user groups, reputation, restrictions, paid subscription etc. One thing more, from where can I download it and see its tutorials? Thanks
1. Can I start forum on shared hosting. Yes , as its a paid forum , no of people in starting period will be less. 2. I do not own any server and do not even think about it. Should I buy a VPS? Not needed now, but in future if ur forum becomes successful, u will surely need it. 3. Which license Vbulletin Forum or Vbulletin Publishing Suite should I buy? Forum 4. I do not have knowledge about PHP. Can I still handle it? Yes Edit : You can take a loot at IPB 3.1.X.
Good point FSBB. There won't be that many posts starting out because it's paid so shared should be fine for a long while...
There is no problem using a shared hosting to hos a forum. I use it and it don't give any problem with database / posts / number of users YES, You can use a shared hosting, but it can't be free!
Thank you guys. Especially FSBB. You people have encouraged me to make a good forum. So here are few more questions: If I make a forum which is neat and clean and full of knowledge just like DP. How much you people afford to pay $$/month as a subscription? Just suppose, if DP start paid subscription then how much per month do you afford to pay to stay on DP?
I would pay nothing. The last thing you should be thinking about is how to make money with your forum... It can take years for a forum to develop into what you are wanting to do... and I would never pay to come to post on a forum... and if you start with 100% paid members, then I suspect you will have 0 paid members. Forum'ing is harder then you think... very hard time consuming can be costing (advertising, improvements, etc) Even if you want to do something like DP, then I still suspect it will take you at least a decade to get some decent traffic, after all, why go to your forum, when every one can find what they need on DP? Im sorry, I did not really answer your question... Yes, you can start a VB forum on shared hosting, and I am sure you can run it on a shared environment for sometime...I am not sure how much traffic you would need before you need to upgrade... I would not advise anyone to start with VB as it is very costing, you should start with a free forum type, then when you get where you need to be then you can convert your members over to VB with their conversion tools...I have spent quite a bit of money on VB, Posters, some improvements, and you will find it very disappointing, because you are not going to get the results that you are looking for in a short period of time. My forum has been up for just over 3 months, and I have very little traffic, and what traffic I do have is spam bots looking for a way into my forum. So far I have spent probably $1k-$2k on domain, VBforum, VBSEO, posters, link building, but so far it all has produced just about nothing...
Haha! Your statements are very disappointing. Looks like you really *FAILED* in establishing your own forum site. In 3 months only you gave up? But, you are saying that it takes decade (definitely exaggerated) to establish a forum like DP... LOL.. You are saying that you lost around $2k in managing your forum but still could not get traffic, it shows that your forum lacked dedication and your management must be poor and unplanned. I won't give up at all and will definitely make a forum that will make me handsome income ! Thanks for your answers!
I won't give up at all and will definitely make a forum that will make me handsome income ! You can mock whom ever you like, and I have heard that statement from so many others before you.... another forum dreamer of riches... ok, no problem. This is how VB makes their money... If people did not have dreams, they would not buy their products....
Hi, I am new here and new to vbulletin too. Just found this site and now regret that I already buy vbulletin suite edition. Previously I just want to buy vbulletin forum only just for my hobby forum. And found that ah....... there is a blog too. So, probably I can use blog also. May I ask when you say vbulletin cms is horrible? Is it not good as another blog? Wish I found this forum earlier, so that I can save some money. And maybe i am not buying vbulletin at the first time for my forum experience.