Whats best for a forum?

[Martin_y]

Hi Guys
I have resgistered a domain and I want to create a website that is first an foremost a forum. I will see how many users I can get registered and then think about what products I could sell later on. The topic happens to be something I know very well, and I am sure I can create LOTS of content and attract visitors and registered users.

Is Joomla the best thing to use to create a website that is mostly going to be a forum?

Thanks for ANY reply at all !

[geedo]

There are many great and free scripts to run forums. The only problem is that the good scripts are popular and therefore many spamming tools are optimized for these.

I have pulled all my public forums down because we couldn\'t handle the huge mass of spam posts. I\'ve always used the PHP BB script http://www.phpbb.com/ But I guess that all popular scripts get spammed.

If you find one that not gets spammed, let me know... I want it :-)

Guido

[Martin_y]

Thanks for the reply Geedo.

Do you mean they get spammed, even if the forum requires a member to sign up? Are there spam tools that can sign up and then start posting to the forum?

[geedo]

Yeah, they even get through the Captcha (that little code that you need to enter to confirm you are a human).

Guido

[HollyMann]

Great question! Well, as you can see here I am using a Joomla (with the Joomla Fireboard Component to run the forum). I wouldn\'t recommend it though. As you can see, the forum looks nice and is functioning just fine. So it\'s impt that it is stable software and is running alright. The downside to the forum is that it is not SEO friendly at all. The links are long and akward, and all of the SEO components (that can be used for free and downloaded online) have so many problems, they slow down the site and in the end cause big headaches. So after many issues, I gave up on that and put it back to the default long URLS. SEO is a big deal to me but the forum staying online is more important. So....I haven\'t used an alternate script for a while (like phpbb) but if you want something more on the social network/forum type of side, definitely go for: Dolphin software. It is opensource (free) and has beautiful features. I installed it before and was completely impressed by the massive amount of features and income potential. It has a built in affiliate/referral program. You can use it or leave the site as it is (free to join). Here is a link: http://www.boonex.com/products/dolphin/

You can also checkout (and tryout the demos) for different forum softwares here: http://www.opensourcecms.com/ (all free)

[Martin_y]

Thanks Holly ! Wow , a reply from the Goddess herself !

I will try the Dolphin software.

Yes, as a user on this site, I dont like Fireboard much, so far. Some pages load halfway and then reload completely. Very often, I cant use the back button in the browser.

[andrew_]

hi you can find out more details about forum from these
links

http://www.ekwalabs.com
http://www.bizmoms.com

[HollyMann]

Thanks! If you have any questions or problems let me know. I had a few minor problems but they were resolved quickly. Several requirements to run the software were not preinstalled on my hosting account. All I had to do was contact my hosting company and tell them what I needed to have installed and they did it. I think most hosting companies would do the same. Good luck!!!

[Martin_y]

oh well.

I finally picked up this idea. So I signed up with a Hosting provider, (beacuse it was really cheap!).

Try as I might, I could not get Dolphin installed. I then sent them the requirements, and they said some are not met. So I spent a week building my own Windows server, and I installed Dolphin, but it failed right at the end. Theres not much help for me over on the Dolphin admin forum, except they all agree its quite difficult to find a provider that can run Dolphin.

So I turned to Joomla again. I tried a few Joomla/Forum bridges, and couldnt get them to work.

Then I found \"Agora\", and it install more or less painlessly. After installing it on my own server, I have now, finally got it up and running on my host.

Its going to be a forum for mums at my school, so I need to think of a way to verify them, to avoid spammers ( and freaks!) from joining.

I might visit Doplhin again. For now, at least Ive got something to start with. Once Content is good, I will look at some way to make it pay for itself !

[varry]

You can go to the LGBT section, which is also a sub-section of Society & Culture.


credit repair business

[ranzuken]

For me, I would use SMF just because of they are free.

PHPbb is viable to spam attacks.

If you have more members join, and want to upgrade, you can upgrade your forum to vbulletin, which is what honestworkfromhomesuccess.com is using.

You would be able to update your SMF forum onto vbulletin using their automated backup system.

Ranzuken

[Mihira]

Forums are first and foremost, places to discuss ideas. So forums scripts are not the best if you're looking to create a sales site where you will sell products.
While there are plugins to add shopping carts, autcions, etc, they are essentially secondary functions and not the primary goal in a forums script.
So first thing is to identify what you need.

Also 2 words on dolphin boonex : stay away!
Especially if you're planning to host it on a non windows platform and use non windows browsers to configure it. For a commercial product, its nowhere near internet standards. The admin panel works properly only on IE. Support documentation for non windows hosting is not on par either.

[ranzuken]

If you're looking to create a membership site, forums are also a great way to do that. The only downfall is that it's harder to create an affiliate system where you would be able to implement the forum's payment gateways with the affiliates.

From my experience, those were the things I had to face. For example, module2.com is a membership site in where the user would have to register on the forum, and pay the subscription fee in order to get inside the forums. This conflicts with the whole guerrilla marketing strategies of affiliate marketing.

Ranzuken

[datagirl]

In case you are looking for a free forum software, you can get phpbb, its' fast, and seo friendly plus you can get a lot of free mods from teh forum.

i recommend that you start with a recapthca that will help you stop automated spam, and a delay of 1 day before posting, that will allow you to stop human spamming.

most of the spammers dont' have patience i have seen.

Plus the biggest problem you will have is the - lack of members, its' hard to get first 100 members, after that its' ok.

[Mihira]

I disagree on lack of members being the biggest problem in a forum. The biggest problem is keeping the forum active.
Check out AXN Asia :: Index over 100k members but absolutely no activity for several months now. Yet in its hay day, that forum was easily pushing 1000 posts a day.
What killed that board was its removal of the most active section in the forum.
Making the board happening and active is the biggest problem in any forums board.

[HollyMann]

I know I mentioned Joomla as an option before - but I have some other alternatives you may want to look into as well. Recently, this forum here has been switched over from Joomla to vBulletin - for SEO purposes. Another option, if you are trying to create a forum or online social network that allows for accepting payments and upgraded memberships, etc. - you can also look into DOLPHIN software-http://www.boonex.com/products/dolphin/

[Mihira]

I said this before and I'll say it again, stay AWAY from Boonex Dolphin.
At least until they bring their software to industry standards.

[ranzuken]

Yes, I would stay away from Dolphin atm.

An inhouse design rather, would be easier to manage.

Ranzuken

[Kevin Potts]

Slightly extending the discussion, but not too far, to Membership Sites, my recommendation would be to go with Membergate....all the membership sites on the net with strong sales front ends and good back ends and forum functionality run with this. The problem of course, is it is way out of reach for the newbie at about $3000.

Slightly lower down the pecking order are MemberStudio, MemberStart and VTribes by the one and only Mike Filsaime who it looks like is set to do his first $10 million year in 2009.....is that huge or what!

Kevin

[HollyMann]

Thanks Mihira - I was unaware that Dolphin wasn't up to standards. I've been using it on a site without any problems for two years. But I trust your opinion. What would you recommend for someone without a lot of money?