How do I start a forum?

[Bonaparte]

I would like to start a forum on a subject that has nothing to do with Lego.

But my question is, what steps are needed to get a forum (like eurobricks) up and running.

And even more important, what does it cost?

Thanks for your feedback!

[El Bucanero]

I believe there are sites where you can make a own forum for free, but I forgot those....

Just browse google for: free forums... or something like that...

[DoubleT]

First of all you must search if there is a need for your Forum... If its a topic that there are many of, it can be hard to breakthrough no matter topic..

Second find someone to do it with, that have the same passion, or els it wil be too hard work... I did that together with Jipay when we created EuroBricks

[Bonaparte]

First of all you must search if there is a need for your Forum... If its a topic that there are many of, it can be hard to breakthrough no matter topic..

Second find someone to do it with, that have the same passion, or els it wil be too hard work... I did that together with Jipay when we created EuroBricks

Well, the forum will be about party-ing in my hometown.

I'm pretty sure such a forum does not exist for my hometown.

I would like to buy a url to direct to the forum and must be sure it is going to be there for years.

So I'm a bit uncertain about a free forum.

Does anyone actually pay for the eurobricks forum or is it a free service?

[Commander Wolf]

Someone probably pays for the EB forum... Considering the domain isn't just "eurobricks.com", I'd guess that the domain might not necessarily be paid for, but I'm pretty sure that someone out there has to (or has had to) pay IPB for using their system on the forum itself.

[Bonaparte]

Someone probably pays for the EB forum... Considering the domain isn't just "eurobricks.com", I'd guess that the domain might not necessarily be paid for, but I'm pretty sure that someone out there has to (or has had to) pay IPB for using their system on the forum itself.

So this would mean there are 2 costs involved:

1. Buying a domain name (e.g. eurobricks.com) and linking this to your forum url.

2. Paying a forum-provider like IPB to host your forum?

If you don't use something like IPB but a free forum instead, you will probably have to live with some advertisements?

[Hobbes]

You'll need:

1. A domain. Either you register the domain seperately (there are tons of providers out there, starting at around $7 per year), or you buy it with a webspace package.

2. The webspace. Don't forget that if you want your forum to exist for a long time that the forum database grows with time. IPB has a light database, the text isn't that space consuming, but pictures are. It's recommended that you use a provider in your country (or not too far away) because of support issues. It doesn't help if you have a cheap provider but they are 5 time zones away and you only reach them at 2 am.

3. The forum. There are free forums out there (e.g. phpbb) and commercial ones (e.g. IPB). It's really up to you. You can't make it right for everybody anyway ;-) A forum without too many ads looks more "professional", though...

4. Skills. Some knowledge about how these things generally work helps. Those webspace packages do have browser based configuration panels, and if you buy the domain with it you don't have to worry about DNS settings cos that's included.

5. Time and help. It does cost time, there's no doubt about that. It does help if you know someone who helps you out when you're not there, for example.

6. Advertising. Put a "descreet" (pic) link in your signature wherever you post. Don't go bragging on every board, though, people don't like that (spam anyone ;-) ).

7. Patience. Your place won't be swarmed with people from the first day. It'll take time...

8. Ideas. A website can get boring fast if it doesn't give the visitor something new from time to time. A forum lives with its users, but you have to show that you care about that place and have ideas how to improve it now and then.

hth :-)

[Bonaparte]

Would 1000MB of webspace be sufficient to host a forum?

[Jipay]

I was away this week so couldn't reply, sorry for that. Hobbes discussed the main points.

1000 mb is plenty of space for a forum.

After it all depends what you want. But before

Someone probably pays for the EB forum... Considering the domain isn't just "eurobricks.com", I'd guess that the domain might not necessarily be paid for, but I'm pretty sure that someone out there has to (or has had to) pay IPB for using their system on the forum itself.

Commander wolf, have you ever typed www.eurobricks.com ? Oh my god, it's redirecting right here ! So we own the domain, and pay for it...

As for the cost :

- Web hosting is the more expensive for big websites. You'll need some space on a hard drive, and an internet connection to the server that can handle multiple connection. Up to more than 200 members simultaneously for us. All depends on your website.

- Domain name : not expensive

- IPB forum system : about 50$ per year, it's not free, but you have a support. So every time you have some problem, you can mail the technical service. Plus as stated by Hobbes, it has the lightest database.

- Some technical knowledges, you can't buy that

- A LOT of time and dedication

[Bonaparte]

Thanks for all your feedback.

Those are the answers I needed!

[Kahgarak]

7. Patience. Your place won't be swarmed with people from the first day. It'll take time...

Exactly.I was a bit inpatient in the first days of Exo Force Network too- and look at it now! X-D

Try making a forum with Invisionfree.

[Zane]

Patience, yeah. Only I waited about 2 months per board and in that time got no regular members.

[Hobbes]

Patience, yeah. Only I waited about 2 months per board and in that time got no regular members.

Two months is nothing. It took EB a good year to "hit if off". And it depends on the subject the forum is about. With that many boards on the web it's not easy to stand out and attract people...