Forum Help

[Frank Rizzo]

Guys - I am trying to set up a message board for my kid's school. I've used them plenty, but a bit clueless when it comes to the other side of the bar, as it were. Could any of you offer a little help or guidance as to the best place to get a board (free hopefully), and maybe a little "do's and dont's" list? I'm sure there is much trial and error involved, but our school is merging with another at the moment, and I'd like to try and incorporate a little security and control into it.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but Ten Tenths is clearly the best message board community in the world, so where else would I go for advice?

If you can assist, thanks a lot, if not, no biggie.

Darren

[EvilPumpkin]

Hi Darren,

Can you give a bit more information - firstly, we'd need to know what kind of webserver you're hosting it on as this will make a difference. Or do you want to personalise one of the online boards that allows you to do this?

What's the purpose of the board? What kind of traffic do you expect? What age group is it aimed at and what kind of functionality are you hoping to get from it?

I know it seems like a lot of questions but it's hard to make a recommendation without this kind of info.

Let us know and we'll do our best to offer some recommendations.

Cheers,
EP

[Kicking-back]

EP!

You've missed an opportunity there

Surely you mean "Royalridge computing could supply such a service at very reasonable rates."

[EvilPumpkin]

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

EP!

You've missed an opportunity there

Surely you mean "Royalridge computing could supply such a service at very reasonable rates."

LOL

[Frank Rizzo]

Thanks EP.

I'd prefer to use an online board if possible. The board is for parents teachers and governors of 2 schools that are going through a merger into one. It is to discuss the merger, building and development plan that is ongoing, and general school issues. Age group is therefore 30-50 on the whole. We do not expect to allow the children to use it yet. Traffic will be moderate I suspect - maybe 10-20 posts per day. As the merger and building nears completion this will decrease as there is less to debate.

I'd rather pay a smallish fee (say <£50.00) than have popups everywhere, and would ideally like to be able to upload a logo and have a degree of control over the 'look' of the board. In functionality terms, it's important that we can have a completely private area restricted to registered users - including viewing of posts.

Thanks for the input EP - much appreciated...

[EvilPumpkin]

Hmmm unfortunately, if it's online boards you're looking for I don't think I can be much help Never used them as if we want one, we set one up.

[MagnetON]

I'm guessing from the thread that you don't have a web server in place for your proposed forum?

This gives the following options:

1) Set up and host a server/website/forum yourself.
This takes a bit of experience and arranging, unless you've someone who can host such a server for free then it can get expensive.

2) Set up a board with a provider that allows "branded" forum software.
Basically this would be a forum that's created and hosted on another server, usually with a lot of other forums. Some are free and may put banner adverts or pop-up/pop-under adverts on your forum. If you want to consider this route then take a look at http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Remotel...essage_Systems which would be a good place to begin looking.

3) Sign up for a web hosting account that offers a forum system.
To be honest, there's literally thousands of companies out there that offer web hosting, some good, some not so good. The two companies I recommend are normally for "high end" web users that have experience in setting up their own websites and things like forum software.

4) Hire a company to do it for you.
Royalridge Computing (the company that runs Tenths) can offer domain name registration, set-up and hosting. For example, for this project we could set up a forum based on the phpBB forum software with either a dedicated domain name or as a "sub-domain" from one of our available domains. If you take a look at www.railroadtycoon.info/forum you can see phpBB in action on one of our websites.

It's all a question of money....

• You can do it yourself through a free website provider with free forum software but for that you can expect pop-up adverts and minimal support.
• You can get your own paid for web space and set up free forum software like phpBB which has good support online but does expect you have an understanding of web servers etc.
• You can get a company to do it for you, but it'll probably cost more than your £50 budget.
• Or go the whole hog, and have a system like Tenths, but be prepared to shell out a considerable four figure sum per year!

Hope this helps, if you need any more information feel free to ask in the thread or PM me.

[Frank Rizzo]

Thanks a lot guys. Have set up something with phpBB, and am working my way through options. Much appreciate the help...