Web Hosting (Forum hosting) question

[ndolf]

i am new to hosting, how good is 1and1 or GoDaddy or any other service provider?

I am thinking of starting with a forum based website, with the possible option of expansion using PHP for other stuff. What would be a good forum package?


Also, how do i calculate monthly transfer rate? Is the following calculation correct?-
I am expecting 1000 user X 20pages browsed on average day X 30 days X 100kbytes/page = 60GB/month ?

 

[Nocturnal]

www.vbulletin.com or www.fusetalk.com for the forum software. I'm sure someone else will chime in with what host to use.

Just a warning, starting a successful forum is rather hard. I'm not saying it cannot be done but it does take time and dedication. Good luck.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: ndolf
i am new to hosting, how good is 1and1 or GoDaddy or any other service provider?

None of those.

• If you haven't already registered a domain, register with NameCheap.com
• Get some free web hosting which offers everything you need to run a website and forum.
  600MB/5GB, cPanel, Fantastico, MySQL, PHP, email, webmail.
  After your forums are established and getting some traffic you can always switch to a paid webhost.
• Install forum software either, SMF or MyBB.
  If you want your forums to be taken seriously and can afford $160 then get a vBulletin license.
• Register for WebHostingTalk.com

 

[bcterps]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
www.vbulletin.com or www.fusetalk.com for the forum software. I'm sure someone else will chime in with what host to use.

Just a warning, starting a successful forum is rather hard. I'm not saying it cannot be done but it does take time and dedication. Good luck.

vBulletin is a relatively inexpensive option for a robust forum software. Fusetalk however is not cheap, and shouldn't be recommended for someone starting out.

Like Rossman says, you're probably fine using something like phpBB, SMF, etc. to start out, and then switching over to vBulletin.

 

[sager66]

Free forum hosting resources: phpBB - ProBoards

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: benchiu
Like Rossman says, you're probably fine using something like phpBB, SMF, etc. to start out, and then switching over to vBulletin.

Good point.

You can always start with free forum software (SMF/MyBB) then upgrade to vBulletin later on. vBulletin does a great job importing from other forum software.

 

[ndolf]

Is anyone used google app at www.google.com/a/ ?

 

[RossMAN]

ndolf, do you have a computer headset?

 

[ndolf]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
ndolf, do you have a computer headset?

huh? i had one, but i forgotten where i put it. Why do i need one?

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: ndolf
i am new to hosting, how good is 1and1 or GoDaddy or any other service provider?

None of those.

• If you haven't already registered a domain, register with NameCheap.com
• Get some free web hosting which offers everything you need to run a website and forum.
  600MB/5GB, cPanel, Fantastico, MySQL, PHP, email, webmail.
  After your forums are established and getting some traffic you can always switch to a paid webhost.
• Install forum software either, SMF or MyBB.
  If you want your forums to be taken seriously and can afford $160 then get a vBulletin license.
• Register for WebHostingTalk.com

right on the money- follow these steps, with the exception of the SMF or MyBB part. If you don't want to spend money on the forum software, use phpBB. Otherwise, get IPB or VBulletin.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: ndolf
i am new to hosting, how good is 1and1 or GoDaddy or any other service provider?

None of those.

• If you haven't already registered a domain, register with NameCheap.com
• Get some free web hosting which offers everything you need to run a website and forum.
  600MB/5GB, cPanel, Fantastico, MySQL, PHP, email, webmail.
  After your forums are established and getting some traffic you can always switch to a paid webhost.
• Install forum software either, SMF or MyBB.
  If you want your forums to be taken seriously and can afford $160 then get a vBulletin license.
• Register for WebHostingTalk.com

right on the money- follow these steps, with the exception of the SMF or MyBB part. If you don't want to spend money on the forum software, use phpBB. Otherwise, get IPB or VBulletin.

phpBB sucks

IPB is no longer free

vBulletin costs money but is worth every penny

 

[RossMAN]

Did you receive my PM with my phone number? Gimme a call sometime and we'll chat about creating your forums :thumbsup:

SMF is the best free forum software but the default skin is UGLY. However I stumbled across an SMF forum tonight which actually looks nice, check it out.

 

[Eos]

My phpBB forums are almost a year old and are easily maintained. I get notifications via e-mail when there are updates to the code. It's very easy to update the code. I do miss some features from vbulletin, though. I have plans to convert eventually.

It took about 10 months for spammers to join. I eventually started adding their domains to the ban control list and it has worked well. Plus, I now manually approve all new members. It's free and works well. No complaints.