neelandan
Owner of dot net
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.
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.