Free forum software - installation and test

I have a few domains and hosting space I obtained on a whim, used to host things which, apparently, no one else cares about. The basic hosting package came with MySQL databases, so it could be used for forums.

The hard work in running a forum isn't technical - that, any fool with the money can pay someone to get it done. The real obstacle is in attracting a bunch of people and keeping them sufficiently interested to keep posting.

Anyway, I'm trying my hand at the technical side of things - the actual installation and setup using free software. If you've never done it, it's difficult.

Having done one, however, it seems easy. I have downloaded three such free forum software packages and am trying it out.

~/forum/ - minibb - miniBB - Easy Forum Software for Easy People

~/vanilla/ - vanilla - Community Forum Software - Vanilla Forums

~/mybb/ - mybb - MyBB - Free and Open Source Forum Software

There seems to be varying degrees of usability and function with each of these, and I might try others that strike my fancy.

The difficulty involved in setting up is an argument for having paid software like vbulletin and xenforo. If you have to pay an expert in the field to assist you in setting up a forum, the software of which is available gratis, it doesn't matter much if paying a little more gets you the real deal.

The ~ in the addresses given above are the URL to my web page, the place where this great experiment is taking place. I am not posting it to avoid hurting the delicate sensibilities of someone whose opinion BOP holds in high regard.

What does it really need to start a forum like, say, juot?

First, the domain and hosting. I called a friend of mine in the business, explained what I wanted, refused his offer to design the web site, and then sent him an email with the domain name I wanted. He came back with a quote - so much for registering the name, so much for a year of "basic" hosting, and I agreed and sent him the money. About thirty five dollars a year. He sent me a login name, password and the link to the host's login page.

Visiting that page and supplying my credentials gave me the cpanel, where every aspect of the website could be controlled from.

There are two parts to forum software. One is a bunch of files, usually in a zipped package, to be uploaded to the host. The second is the database.

My cpanel control panel had the option to unzip files at the host, so it was just a sequence of selecting a package, downloading it, uploading to the web host and uncompressing it.

Setting up the database - MySQL in my case - was also easy, but had a critical step which had me stumped for a while.

First, make a database. All you have to do is to give it a name and press a button, and a status message comes back saying "success".

Next, you generate a user and assign a password. These three bits, and hostname, usually "localhost" are needed during setting up the forum software.

The third step, the one which I omitted at first, resulting in puzzling over error messages, was the granting of user permissions. You have to select the database, and then the user, and tell the system which operations the user is allowed on the database. The forum documentation will have the list of permissions needed, but granting "all" will do for testing.

This will result in a bland forum. The real work is in selecting a colour scheme and graphics to appeal to the target audience, and then in attracting that audience, and then inciting them to keep posting.

Yes, those are the first steps. Had you been using superior vBulletin forums the instructions to do those things would have been provided.

I haven't used any of those, but I'd say phpBB is the vbulletin of free forum software. It's highly customizable and works good. Lots of community support too. SMF would be my second pick.

MyBB is closest to a VB clone IMO in free software.

Now my ~/forum looks like this:


I haven't done anything with it, most have just the admin account and the single forum.

The readme file that came with the packages did state the permissions required. I was in such a hurry to get started that I only skimmed them and so omitted important steps.

Simple Machines is pretty good.

To attract an audience, you can try a contest for the best topic?

I don't have papa johns here for a sponsered(sic) fake $500 contest.

Alan_James said:

I don't have papa johns here for a sponsered(sic) fake $500 contest.

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They have pizza in India where you live? Maybe a Papa Patel or something?

donzimmer said:

They have pizza in India where you live? Maybe a Papa Patel or something?

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I do see pizza delivery guys whizzing around on bikes but big franchises don't seem to succeed in this country.

Less than a day, and the forum already has a spam post. Now, THAT is an important milestone!

Alan_James said:

I do see pizza delivery guys whizzing around on bikes but big franchises don't seem to succeed in this country.



Less than a day, and the forum already has a spam post. Now, THAT is an important milestone!

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That's Good that the pizza delivery guys are providing speedy delivery service. Nothing beats hot pizza from the oven.

I searched internet archive for the old logo picture of another message board, and posted it on the top of a test forum. It looks like the forum layout and color of minibb forums are scattered among various files.

There is a .css file, but a .html file also has color codes in it. And the help file discourages editing them with a wyswyg editor.