What is the best Forum to use?

Little_Ol_Me

Thank you people for your help

skim

One of the Invision boards I go on has nearly 100,000 members & is still very quick.

Keldin

You can also try phpbb
They've release a very stable beta of the new version 3 and I've used version 2 for a while. There a lot of modification for it if you want to go down that route.

You will need a database such as mysql as well. Does you current hosting package provide you with one?

K

Keldin

I should also add vbulletin and invision are not free (unless your host provides you it for free as part of your package) whereas phpbb is completely free.

I can also help you to set up a phpbb board if you want (PM me).

K

judderman62

Keldin wrote: »

I should also add vbulletin and invision are not free (unless your host provides you it for free as part of your package) whereas phpbb is completely free.

I can also help you to set up a phpbb board if you want (PM me).

K

Not true . I have used Invision for over 6 months - it is 100% FREE :j:j

Keldin

judderman62 wrote: »

Not true . I have used Invision for over 6 months - it is 100% FREE :j:j

Are we talking about the same thing? Invision here is $150
http://www.invisionpower.com/community/board/purchase.html

K

judderman62

Ah no we are not - good you flagged that up.

For interested parties the invision I use is this one:

http://invisionfree.com/

judderman62

btw why do you say one needs a database ? Again we don't have one - what is the purpose of said database ?

Cheers

Judders

fermi

judderman62 wrote: »

btw why do you say one needs a database ? Again we don't have one - what is the purpose of said database ?

You will have one since it is needed to store all the member/post/configuration data that make your board different to anyone else's.

Various free forum hosts/providers differ in the access they allow to your database and the ability to backup/restore it.

A brief look at invisionfree.com suggests that the access they give you to this is either very little or none.

If you want to set up a forum on your own paid hosting, that host will normally need to provide access to at least 1 database (mysql etc or whatever flavour that board can use) and the tools to manage it.

Keldin

judderman62 wrote: »

Ah no we are not - good you flagged that up.

For interested parties the invision I use is this one:

http://invisionfree.com/

I thought that might be it. That is a free board host as opposed to free board software. There are basically 2 options for running a board:

1 - you get a board that is hosted by someone else on their website. They provide the initial setup and the sql backend database (usually mysql). There are free or pay per month options. Sometimes the free ones have restrictions where you can't modify your board (new features etc) beyond what they give you and some may have banner ads or popup ads. You may also have to pay if you want to transfer your board contents somewhere else. Paying a fee every month may get you no ads and some support etc.
nvisionfree.com is free but has a banner ad on it (removable if you pay) and has limits on size of 16mb and some other limits as well such as no ftp access. The url used to access it is not your own site it is s6.invisionfree.com/yourboard/
This is what you have

2 - You use you own website that you already have hosted somewhere as www.mydomain.com to set up a board. The url used to access it is www.mydomain.com/whateveriwant and it looks more a part of your website than an externally hosted board.
Sometimes as part of your hosting package there may be an easy installer that sets something up for you (phpbb is a commonly used as it doesn't cost the provider anything) or you can do it yourself and use any software you can get your hands on.
It's completely yours so you can modify it and there are no size limits. You have to back it up and fix it if it breaks.
You need to have mysql as part of your hosting package (you usually do have it for at least one database) and it uses 1 database per board you run
I have 5 mysql databaseand 10Gb of space for £2 a month so it's not restricted to expensive packages.
You could even set it up on your home pc if you want as mysql is free.
It's pretty easy to set up once you know what you need to do (took me 5 minutes to do one the other night)

It depends on what the OP wants but I assumed he was looking at the 2nd option and hosting it himself. In that case i would say phpbb as its free and has community provided mods and support. And later he could move to a paid version.


K