Setting up Forum for first time

I am looking to add a forum to my website. Looking around phpbb seems good. But I need some advice

Can anyone give some ideas on:

How much effort and cost to set up a forum (I need someone to do the software config / setup)

how many hours per week would you expect to "manage a forum" with around 1000 members?

Thanks

Gordano

 

start off by not making the mistake in using phpbb, its not the best free solution out there, SMF is.

as for setting up SMF, its easy. as for time spent afterwards, only time will tell.

i have extensive experience with SMF and i highly recommend you use that instead of phpbb.

 

At one time phpbb was one of the best free forum solutions out there. But not anymore. I have seen several phpbb communities torn down by hackers. Let me share what I have seen with you.

One site stayed hacked on and off for about 6 weeks. During the 6 weeks that the site was up and down, the owner lost a lot of members. There was one period where the site was down for a solid 2 - 3 weeks. Whats really funny. When the owner switched to SMF, the hacking and defacing stopped.

Another forum that belonged to a good friend of mine was destroyed because of hackers. This buddy of mine - we know each other in real life. He even came to my wifes birthday party back in April. There was this gaming forum that he had setup with phpbb. It was just a place for some of the local people to post stuff. A few months ago, my buddy and I, we ran into each other at a local store. I asked what happened to his forum. He told me that it was hacked so many times that it was not worth the trouble. This community was destroyed by hackers. The owner gave up and took it down.

When your thinking of using phpbb, ask yourself a few questions. Do you "really" like seeing your site defaced? Defaced is when you go to a site and you see a page that says - "hacked by <insert some mega hacker name here>" The hacker will sometimes leave a few profane words on the "hacked by page". And then, the hacker goes back to his buddies forum and post a link to your site, bragging how he defaced your forum. There is usually some mocking that goes on about how the admin of the forum is a noob, or too stupid to secure his site.

The whole situation is embrassing. And it can get you in trouble with your hosting provider. Some hackers are happy enough to deface your site. Some use that as a leap pad to take over your server and use it for a DOSS attack, or a spam mail server.

But hey, if you want to use phpbb, go right ahead.

My honest advice is to stay far, far away from phpbb. Personally, I would use SMF or MYBB for a free forum solution.

SMF has been around for a long time and it has lots of templates and modifications.

MYBB is the new kid on the block. It looks like it has a lot of potential, but still has a long way to go.

Its not really that difficult. First time around, it might take 30 minutes to install the forum.

As long as you can keep the spammers out, running a forum is pretty easy. If you want an exact "hours per week", I would say just an hour or two hours a day.

Your welcome.

 

Kev and Sawz, many thanks for your advice. I will not be going for phpbb.

I have installed SMF 1.1.7 using the fantastico on hostgator. Very easy to install, but am now having problems logging in as admin. I will google to see if there is any advice about SMF admin login problems.

Thank you again for your help.

Gordano

 

If youre serious about starting your forum I would jump right in with the best and that is vBulletin. Almost everyone starts off with phpbb or smf etc but end up getting IPB or vBulletin but I think if you believe your forum will be a success get vBulletin

 

omg, fantastico? 1.1.7?

oh noooooo, lol

let me do you a favor, drop that old version and install 1.1.8 the old fashioned way, if its a problem, i'll do it for the fun of it. PM me if you want.

 

Your welcome, and I am glad to see that you did not go with phpbb.

fantastico?????? Ok, that is the easy way to do it. You skipped over all the important stuff - You have not learned how to create a database, create a user, assign the user to the database, upload files, edit the config file, run the install script, CHMOD folders to the proper permissions,,,

fantastico is the lazy way to do things. If you are going to do it, do it right and learn something in the process.

Also, 1.1.7 is an older version of SMF, you need to get the latest version installed.

Gordano - Sawz speaks words of wisdom, do yourself a favor and listen to him.

 

phpBB is about the safest you can get. The only way phpBB forums are hacked is when someone installs lame MODs that were not approved by the phpBB team, and caused very well known security flaws. phpBB is the best way to go, it is more expandable and customizable. The API allows almost anything, and if there is something that you think phpBB is missing, just browse their MODs database.

I do not like the license SMF is distributed under, and the styles/skins systems are very constricting.

 

I use punbb because it is fast, I suggest also vbulletin, but it will cost you money..

 

try using discuz board english version.. loads of features and hackers dont deface it coz they dont understand chinese ...lol

 

I've used vBulletin, IP Board, phpBB and I personally reccommend that you get an IP Board or a vBulletin. Highly expandable and easy to install and maintain. Only thing is that their quite expensive lol.

 

I used both phpBB and SMF, and I went with SMF, you have a lot of mods and a very active support forum.

 

My SMF forum is nearing two million posts, and I've never seen anyone make a convincing argument for vBulletin. Just for the record - don't let people sway you without deciding for yourself : )

 

Go for MyBB. All of the features of the payed forum softwares, and extremely secure. There are some members on the community forums even PAYING others to find a security issue, and yet none have been found.

 

I use MYBB, and I have had no problems with it.

You get free mods, themes and support.

 

The best advice I can give is DO NOT LAUNCH UNTIL EVERYTHING IS FINISHED!

Trust me, otherwise it all gets too much and you can't provide a good service to your users who will get annoyed and leave.

Second piece of advice - make sure you know exactly how you are going to monetize it. It needs to make you some sort of money. Have things in place so that it has the potential to earn you come cash in time.

 

go fot vBulletin...

 

if you know what your doing and wants extensive modification go for phpbb....
other than that id recommend fluxbb for a lightweight fast loading forum or mybb(vbulletin copycat) for a bigger forum..

or if you want to shell out some money vbulletin.

 

if you know what your doing and wants extensive modification go for phpbb....
other than that id recommend fluxbb for a lightweight fast loading forum or mybb(vbulletin copycat) for a bigger forum..

or if you want to shell out some money vbulletin.

 

use smf at first its free then migrate your db over to something better