Forum Providers

Stuface · October 5th, 2008, 06:41 PM

Hi All,

Sorry if this post is in the wrong place but it looked like the best option...

I currently manage three websites, one for my own business and a couple for friends. I also moderate on three work/hobby related forums.

I'm happy with the hosted websites

, they're all paid for and I get income from Adwords etc, but all the forums are on 'free' providers, who obviously profit from the adverts shown there.

As much as I've searched and 'googled' I cannot find a way of 'hosting' my own forums. I'm happy to pay for the service as long as I have freedom to control the advertising - as in Adwords.

I get the concept of someone 'hosting' my website, I'm old enough to remember CLI and JANET

, but the forum bit is beyond me.

Any info or help would be most appreciated.

Regards, Stu

WESH-UK · October 5th, 2008, 07:08 PM

Hi Stu

Looks like you hit th right forum, dont worry..

What exactly is it you need, a company to host the forum's for you, or help to move them to a paid provider, or both?
Either way, "Both" is easily do-able, as long as your current free provider allows FTP access to the files?

With a paid for hosting service, the hosting company wont place any adverts on your forums at all so your revenue from the forums would be all yours :-)

What forum software are you using?

Stuface · October 5th, 2008, 07:30 PM

Hi Wesh,

I have a paid provider already for the sites I manage, and I have FTP access, that's how I upload the pages. It's the hosting a forum bit that's doing me in.

Should I be able to host with the provider I have ? If so, how do I do it, and what software would I need ?

Sorry for being a bit dozy...

Regards, Stu

WESH-UK · October 5th, 2008, 07:34 PM

You sure should, you only need to upload your files to the paid providers space, upload your database and then update your DNS (Typically) but this depends on if your FREE provider gives you FTP access, not the paid for one.

Some free forum providers dont give FTP access at all because they want you to keep the forum with them forever, so you only get access to the forum admin section.

Thats what I was asking, does the FREE provider give you FTP access and a way to grab your database backups?

Stuface · October 5th, 2008, 07:40 PM

Ah, sorry.

The forums are just with 'get a free forum' type of thing, and I was looking at hosting them myself with a paid for provider.

WESH-UK · October 5th, 2008, 07:44 PM

Then the best people to ask are the free forum provider themsevles.
Ask them if you can have all the files and database's.

If they say no, then thats it, your stuck with them and may have to start a new forum with your paid provider, if they say yes, then your good to go. (Very unlikely as they will want to keep the revenue from your forum adverts)

Do that first, then come back and let us know so your next move can be sorted out.

Rob · October 6th, 2008, 04:04 AM

Which free forum provider is it? Over the years i've become somewhat of an export in migrating forums

jonnik77 · October 7th, 2008, 09:57 AM

I'd stick to only paid forum providers as they are more reliable than any free one.

Tom Crossley · December 15th, 2008, 10:34 AM

Just over a week ago I signed up with websitetoolbox for a message board. Kept the address of the board private and had a password to enter. I invited 16 members who made just 21 posts with seven days.
The company then told me I had had 6,352 page views! Of course after 10,000 it starts charging.
There was absolutely no way that a private forum with just 21 posts could have reached over 6,000 page views, so I asked the company how this came about. No answer. I asked again, still no answer.
If I open the forum to the public I can see the page views going through the roof, so have deleted it. £30 down the drain I'm afraid, but at least I can warn others.

Tom Crossley

WESH-UK · December 15th, 2008, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Crossley

Just over a week ago I signed up with websitetoolbox for a message board. Kept the address of the board private and had a password to enter. I invited 16 members who made just 21 posts with seven days.
The company then told me I had had 6,352 page views! Of course after 10,000 it starts charging.
There was absolutely no way that a private forum with just 21 posts could have reached over 6,000 page views, so I asked the company how this came about. No answer. I asked again, still no answer.
If I open the forum to the public I can see the page views going through the roof, so have deleted it. £30 down the drain I'm afraid, but at least I can warn others.

Tom Crossley

Hey Tom,

You say that from 10,000 views you have to start paying, yet you also say that you spent £30? I they wont answer you, and wont provide the product you paid for, then simply get on to your card company and tell them you paid for a service that they wont let you use as advertised, and give them a chargeback.

Chargebacks hurt more as it upsets their relationship with their bank, thus NEVER use a debit card online, EVER, for anything.

NetMassimo · December 31st, 2008, 08:31 AM

Have you considered the possibility of installing a forum software such as phpBB directly on your hosted server then manage it the way you want? If your hosting includes the use of cpanel you can probably chose between various forum softwares (phpBB, yaBB and maybe even more) you can install with just a click.
Obviously you must keep in mind that a forum requires bandwidth to run.

Hoold · July 22nd, 2009, 08:30 AM

I love IPB forums. They are compatible with so many things that would actually be useful to the community. The setup is very simple, and it's a very smooth process adding in features.
Demo : free forums