Creating a website: total beginner!!!

missminx

Hi all. I would like some advice about creating a small forum. Just want to be able to have members in order to keep it private and for them to have discussion boards. It is very small scale to begin with as it is intended for people who have suffered miscarriages to support one another. I have tried to look into it but am a bit lost to be honest.
Important things are for it to be free, and have private content for members only to view.
If anyone can give me any pointers I would be very grateful.
Thank you.

WhiteChristmas

A not-particularly-techy friend has done exactly what you want using this lot; http://www.phpbb.com/

Good luck.

kwikbreaks

There are lots of sites out there that let you create forums which they host too and all free. They are usually funded by adverts. I just did a quick google for free forum and saw this one says no ads. I haven't looked into it further than opening the home page...

http://www.freeforums.org/

missminx

Thank you both for your replies. I attempted google, but wasn't very successful and couldn't sort out privacy and membership I am investigating the link provided by WC and will let you know how I get on.
Many thanks!
My username should be technophobe :eek:

wonka

Ideally you'll also want to purchase your own domain, and web hosting. You can get this for about £25 per year (I use compila.com).

Most web hosts will provide the facility to auto-install a forum for your web site (usually through something called Fantastico).

If you need any guidance, feel free to PM me.

oldtoolie

Yahoo Groups works fine for me. It is easy to set up privacy.