I have a new idea for a forum that I think quite a few people could use. My question is, for those that are technologically inferior (me), how difficult is it to set up a standard forum. (register, post threads, review, etc). Would anyone mind telling me what would I have to do or how would I learn to set up a forum. Please PM me if you have any information. Thank you
Honestly, there's no answer to that without knowing where you are starting from. Usually setting up a forum involves choosing and installing software, modifying the skin and the graphics, and configuring various options. However, you are probably better off not leaping in, until you have gained a certain amount of know-how. This is because bots will inevitably try to hack and spam your forum - they do it to all the most common forum software. You need to be able to tackle these things. So I suggest you take some time to read and understand a little about forum spammers and hackers and how they operate. At a minimum you need to read the documentation of your preferred forum software. Check some of the threads in here about webmasters who got hacked, because that can happen by simply forgetting to delete an installation file, or failing to update your software. PhpBB is notorious for getting hacked, because bugs get found in old versions and people don't bother to update theirs. Spammers are usually after a signature link, or a link on your member list. Reading up on the ways to prevent this will pay off in the long term.
A real short answer is to check and see if your host has fantastico. If so, its a matter of the flick of a mouse to have the whole forum installed and live. Then the fun starts! Administering a forum is not hard, just hours and hours of drudgery
It's very easy to start a forum,just follow the steps in the readme file. If you have Fantastico in your cpanel,you could install phpbb in a few mins.
You can find a lot of write up's on how to install phpbb on google. It really isnt that hard, what trips most people up is creating a database and username, and getting the database name, username and password, and host correct. If you follow the included constructions you should be able to figure it out. Administering a forum is a lot of work, but you will have trust worthy members who can help you with the administration aspect
From experience, the really hard part about starting a forum is the initial installation stage, which can be a bit daunting if you've never installed a full board before. But since every forum is VERY detailed, if you can follow instructions, it shouldn't be too hard. After that, it's all about configuring it to what you want the board to be.
Every host I've come across do offer forum software with their package which is usually auto install. I'm not too technically minded but have installed several for friends over the years. I personally think the hardest part is actually getting people to join and keeping a flow of new posts going. I just installed one about two weeks ago and I told the guy to think about it carefully before getting too excited about the idea. I told him that it's harder work than you think and in the first few months he's going to be sat there talking to himself for a while! He answered "Oh I'll just email everybody on my newsletter list, loads of people will join" heheh guess how many members so far?
phpbb is quite easy to install: upload the files, chmod some folders and open the phpbb-folder in your browser. now the hard part is to install some custom spam protection, its not impossible without any php knowledge but your really have an advantage if you know what youre doing here. think in the buy/sell/trade section are some people who install your forum for 10$ or even less.
Most of the talk here has centered around installing a forum. You might also want to research exactly which forum is the right product for you before you make the plunge. Searching DP will yield lots of good information. PHPBB, SMF, and others are free options and there are several nice paid ones. Among your biggest headaches will be security and spammers.