Growing an Online...

Growing an Online Community RSS

Newbie wants to start Forum

Please support our Growing an Online Community advertiser: Get a Free Web Site Analysis!

•

Join Date: Jan 2006

Posts: 3

Reputation: Archery is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 0

Archery

Offline

Newbie Poster

Newbie wants to start Forum

Jan 4th, 2006

Hello all.

I need some advise and or help on starting up a forum. I know nothing about programming or wed design and don’t really want to have to learn much of it. I started searching and found tons of free forums and hosting sites. The more I found the more confused I was. Here’s what I would like to do. Start a forum for my archery club. Basic forum with several categories such as Target Shooting, club activities, and such. I purchased a Domain name already. What I would like is a copy of an existing forum or modifiable template that a dummy like me can handle. Of course free would be better than paying but if 50 bucks makes it that much easier I have no problem paying for what I will need. So in short I would like a forum that is pretty much ready to go and a place to host it. Are there host that supply forums?

Any and all help appreciated.

Thank you

•

Join Date: Oct 2005

Posts: 44

Reputation: Ooble is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 5

Ooble

Offline

Light Poster

Re: Newbie wants to start Forum

Jan 4th, 2006

phpBB is free forum software that is very good. You'll need a host that supports PHP and databases to install it. It's also very easy to configure, and there are thousands of themes all over the Internet to pick from.

 Help with Code Tags 
 VB.NET Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
while(sleeping)
    cat_wails();
wake_up();
for(i=0;i<9;i++)
    shoot_cat();
rejoice();
goto(bed);
while(sleeping)
    cat_wails();
wake_up();
for(i=0;i<9;i++)
    shoot_cat();
rejoice();
goto(bed);

•

Join Date: Jan 2006

Posts: 3

Reputation: Archery is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 0

Archery

Offline

Newbie Poster

Re: Newbie wants to start Forum

Jan 5th, 2006

Thank you very much for your reply Ooble. I went with Doreo for a host since it seemed they host a lot of phpBB forums.

Very easy to configure for people who know what they’re doing is different from people such as myself who have never had ANY exposure to these type terms. I’m sure they would get many more customers if they made it very easy to do for web dummies such as myself. I’m sure after a while I’ll be able to do what I need to but it sure would be nice to have a point and click type install.

The reason I’m doing this is for a few older gentlemen that have a hard time figuring out how to email never mind set up a forum. I’m looking over the users manual and it seems pretty straightforward. I think once I get it up I shouldn’t have that hard a time modifying it.

I purchased my domain name from namecheap. I just added the DNS (I hope it was) to my domain name. It gave me a message that it might take up to 24hrs to take effect. Can anyone please tell me how I will know when this is ready so I can try to load the forum up?

Thank you

•

Join Date: Jan 2006

Posts: 10

Reputation: Emancipator is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 0

Emancipator Emancipator is offline

Offline

Newbie Poster

Re: Newbie wants to start Forum

Jan 7th, 2006

You will know it works when your domain resolves, IE you can load it.

Movie News | Horror Movie Reviews

•

Join Date: Aug 2006

Posts: 2

Reputation: Rachellikesu2 is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 0

Rachellikesu2 Rachellikesu2 is offline

Offline

Newbie Poster

Re: Newbie wants to start Forum

Aug 25th, 2006

hello ,
I'm not a web designer.

•

Join Date: Jan 2006

Posts: 3

Reputation: Archery is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 0

Archery

Offline

Newbie Poster

Re: Newbie wants to start Forum

Aug 25th, 2006

•

Originally Posted by Rachellikesu2

hello ,
I'm not a web designer.

That's nice Rachell.

I am not a paper boy or an anthropoligist. But I did stay at a budget hotel last night.:cheesy:

I have a forum up and running and even created some pages to go along with it. I would post a link so you people could check it out and give me some feed back but you can't miss the notice on the reply stating not to.

•

Join Date: Oct 2006

Posts: 72

Reputation: cyfm is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 1

cyfm

Offline

Nw Media Expert

Re: Newbie wants to start Forum

Oct 4th, 2006

I would recommend Vanilla from Lussumo, basically its like any other forum software however its much easier to use than say phpbb2, basically if you want to add any 'mods' all you have to do is drag the files into a folder and activate them from the admin cp and thats it! unlike in phpbb2 which would mean installing any extra features would mean getting your hands dirty, however i would seriously reccomend if you want to start an online community you have to get into the code of the forum and learn how it all works it can be so much fun as well and seriously im no php whizz kid and dont have a degree in computer laungages but I know php from messing around with the code inside phpbb2.

You will however need to have your own hosting for this, unless you can find a free hosted vanilla site.

Last edited by cyfm; Oct 4th, 2006 at 9:07 pm.

•

Join Date: Feb 2009

Posts: 1

Reputation: rachelyarb is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 0

rachelyarb rachelyarb is offline

Offline

Newbie Poster

Re: Newbie wants to start Forum

Feb 19th, 2009

I have gone to phpBB and read their setup requirements. I am hung up on the fact that I need an SQL database and PHP 4.3.3. I don't get what either of these things are. And I don't understand if they are things I need to download in addition to the phpBB software.

Please help, I am trying to understand and learn, but can't get past what seems to be the basic requirements.

•

Join Date: Apr 2005

Posts: 16,144

Reputation: jbennet is a name known to all

Solved Threads: 530

jbennet

Offline

Moderator

Re: Newbie wants to start Forum

Feb 19th, 2009

Chek the terms of your hosting package. If it includes MySQL and PHP (serverside) scripting, then just create a database, upload the files to the server, and navigate to the install page.

Last edited by jbennet; Feb 19th, 2009 at 12:16 pm.

If i am helpful, please give me reputation points.

•

Join Date: Jan 2009

Posts: 629

Reputation: Robdale is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 4

Robdale

Offline

Practically a Master Poster

Re: Newbie wants to start Forum

#10

Feb 19th, 2009

If you are going to buy a hosting package then just check that they provide the fantastico feature. Thru, fantastico you can install your own forum, blogs and much more things.