Hey all, I'm new to bulletin boards and starting a community. I'm writting some books for hairstylists and want to start a bulletin board. It will be 6 months or so before I get the books printed, so I thougt gettin a bulletin board going might be a good idea. Iv'e checked the sites you all talked about, I just don't know what I need to look for bacause I don't really know what I need.

I just want a basic board for people to post ideas and such and to peak peoples interest in my writting and such. I also need to gather information about the person for obvious reasons; but also to know more what people want to know so I can focus my writting in that direction.

Any help would be appreciated.

Since it doesn't seem like you need anything ultra fancy, I suggest you go with www.phpbb.com, the phpBB forum software. It's free and uses the php programming language. That means that you will have to find a web host which supports php. In general, that can run you about $10/month for an inexpensive host. Check out the Webmaster Marketplace forum here to find a host.

Holy smokes you reply quick, nice. I'll check it out. If I start with them, can I transfer all the posts to a 'fancy' site, does this one you mentioned upgrade while keeping the info? I have found in life it is usually best to go with the best from the start to save headaches, but I also don't want to spend a lot of money when none is comming in. Who knows, I may become famous :mrgreen:

Thanks again

YaBB 1 Gold - SP 1.3.1 is what a message board I belong to uses. Any input on it?

If I start with them, can I transfer all the posts to a 'fancy' site?
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but all the big message boards have converters which are straight forward and easy to use.

Does this one upgrade while keeping the info?
Yep! All the info is stored in a database, not the files, so when you upgrade your usernames and posts stay right where they are. phpBB has pretty good documentation for upgrading. If I can do it, anyone can.

As for the best, I won't go there. But I have used phpBB and never had any issues. Hope that answered you questions!

Thanks guys.

I have used YaBB, phpBB, and vBulletin. All three can be upgraded to each other. YaBB I don't like and don't recommend. phpBB is a nice free system. vBulletin, which runs this forum software, will run you about $160.

Why dosen't any one like yabb? I'm a new guy to this so please be kind.

I've never liked yabb either, phpbb and vbulletin are alot nicer to use in my view and they are more widely used, so if you have problems its very easy to find someone to help.

Yabb are the best, i use them and i donot have any problems with them/

also when u use phpbb or others like IPB, there are possiblities of little problem,

and yabb is more secure coz it is perl.