idea for a social networking site?...

True but since a lot of artists sell on eBay or through online galleries most artists need to take photo's of their work anyway and most people now have digital cameras.

And anyway... I really don't consider digital art as proper art since the computer does most of the hard work/tricks for you!

You don't get unlimited undo's with watercolour, i can tell you!

I'm still searching for a decent social networking script. Tested a few other scripts but most are hardwired for dating. Don't want that. PhpFox still seems to be the best so far but its quite expensive. I'll keep an eye on phpizabi for now...

 

byregion.net is an art / alternative medicine directory similar but not quite what your talking about.

 

I will put my life on the line and say you could sort that feature out within 30 seconds of getting the script, or ill even do it for free if you do decide to get it. I have my own phpFoX Script and also moderate over on the forums so if you have any questions just shoot me a PM (im not affiliated)

 

I just started a social media site myself (SEOyak.com), and the biggest problem seems to be getting people to participate. It seems like it's a catch 22, the site is useful if a lot of people join, but people won't join if the site is not useful. I'm hoping over time there will be a snowball effect, but it's hard to say at this point.

Do you have any plans on how to attract artists to the site? I think that might be the biggest hurdle to cross.

 

The idea is fine, the catch 22 remains to be overcome.

I have looked into several of the social networking scripts mentioned and I came to the conclusion that most, if not all will never get to the position where they would fit your requirements and it is likely best to go with a paid script. However, the phpfox script didn't appeal to me too much - not sure why.

The other scripts I have looked at were both similarly priced (at one stage) and may have pricing changes.

The scripts that weren't mentioned that I looked at were:
http://www.bloghoster.net ($299.95 for lifetime license) (this one seemed the most flexible and could be used as a fully functional base that you could customise - but that would compromise updates so all depends on coding skills + requirements etc)

and

http://www.netartmedia.net/blogsystem/ ($199 for a standard version which is 1 website/domain)

 

Thanks for the offer Glen, much appreciated. But for now i'm trying out a pretty lame looking script I found on HotScripts, has good back end, theme is pretty awful but I know my Photoshop if nothing else. And I reckon I can alter categories and so on to create relevant (non-dating!) searches

A flexible non-dating social networking script is definitely a niche script that a good programmer could make a good bit of money with I think. If people can charge $300 for a dating script think how much people would pay for an open ended script! $400? $500? Maybe more?...

I know what you mean tlainevool with the Catch22, seen it many times with forums. No-one joins because you've no members, how can you get members when no-one joins?! But I reckon (hope!) that I can get people to join since i'm in an art society in the UK, can use my own website for PR3 links, url in forum sigs and various other links to HOPEfully get people signing up *fingers crossed!*

 

I started 2 social networking site, its easy to have users but have them participate is hard.

 

that's why netscape or other digg-like site can't be as successful as digg.

 

Dolphin....small community and u depend on the guys for new development, no open source.

I checked http://elgg.com looks fine to me, is still being developed, looks well done. is somebody used this one. I think it has good future...

I really look for a REAL open source...that gives u confidence of the future development only if the community is big to support it. See, Drupal. is a good example.

Lets keep sharing info here.

I think we all are looking for a good open source...

Thanks

 

Well I came across a few links, did some research and found that Joomla with an additional (free) module does social networking!

Install Joomla then install the Community Builder module. Yes, Joomla is tricky to get the hang of, but once you get into the swing of it Joomla and CB really are nice!

All the features I needed are in it and themes are easy to come by.
Profiles, Friends (CB calls them Connections) you can even add further modules to give your members their own little galleries and that kinda thing...

I've got the site pretty much set up, features wise that is, within a few days. I've still to get a name and get some content in there but i'm certainly doing a hell of a lot better than I was with the other scripts and what have you. Once i'm up and running I'll post a link to let you guys see how i've done, if your interested that is!

So if anyone needs social networking; have a look at Joomla and the CB module!

 

on the off chance that anyone is interested, here's the up and running site (only two profiles at the moment but its not officially launched, but feel free to sign up if your the arty type) ; www.TheArtistsNetwork.org

Big thanks to all the folks here for the hints on what to use and look at... much obliged!

 

I like the looks of the site. A couple of suggestions:

- can you find a "hipper" picture for the front page. Those old ladies sitting in the field look like they are crating some boooring art.
- from the poll you have on the right hand side it looks like you are only interested in painters. What about sculptures, video artists, crafters, etc. WHo's this site for? You say no digital art, but that leaves a whole lot of other things beside painting.

 

As many mentioned above I've also started the first revenue sharing social networking site when digg started banning people few months ago. I've started it off with the site adigger.com which used the code from PLIGG.

However like few said above we all run into the catch 22. PLIGG at that time didn't allow me to do what I wanted so I've moved on with a lot of recommendations from this forum to my own code (took time) and to a new domain name - http://www.techtagg.com. This allowed me to make some changes (i.e. revenue sharing) and also to make the site totally different from other digg like sites that were poping up soon after. It kind of helped me and I am still working on different ideas to make sure it survives that initial hurdle.

Lots of people find it useful to get indexed on google by submitting news to it. It is growing slowly and traffic is progressively increasing.

My recommendation is that it will take time to take off and you got to stick to your plans. Start off and have a solid plan for marketing and attracting people who at the end of the day matters to social networking site.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Good luck.

 

Yeah the picture of the old people does look a bit odd but when you think that, to be honest, most painters are my age (mid-30's) right up to, and past, retiring age so i'm trying to be OAP (old age pensioner) friendly, hence all the help documents.

And yes, the site is for artists of the draw/paint kind, no sculptors etc.