94impreza

Hello,
I am thinking of starting a forum. I run a business from home and have 600 regular customers and would like a place for them to discuss my products to give me feedback and also advise each other. It wouldn't be in anyway related to cars/mechanics or parts etc like this forum is.
I am wondering where you get BBS forums from, how much i could expect them to cost etc. I am admin on another forum which is edited and made through "Forumup" which i think is a little amatuer and is limited by size and its capabilitys. Although i have a customer base of only 600 i predict this will help attract new custom, therefore i would need the site to be flexible in size etc.

Any help/advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks

Sonic'

You could get the one that Scoobynet uses

not bad really, not sure how much it costs though,

They have a website vBulletin® - Instant Community just having a look on there, it looks like 91 quid for a licence, including one year of free upgrades and support, or a leased license for 48 a year

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Loads of free forum sites on the web to get you started.

Try FreeBB

If it takes off you can always upgrade later to vBulletin or the likes.

Clarebabes

We use Invision which is a free forum software and you can remove their ads and put your own on if you pay a small amount.

Invision Power Services :: Corporate :: Homepage

Here's our site: Log In

Wish

iTrader: (2)

We use Invision too at Welcome to BoXa.Net...
Its works well and easy to navigate, front and back of site.

Good luck !

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

phpBB.com :: Creating Communities

I've used it a couple of forums and it's pretty easy to set up and the instructions are good.

94impreza

Thanks for the advice... Could i ask people to list the forums they use or have seen such as sussexscoobies etc etc i wouldn't mind looking about nicking a few idea's etc. I use another forum which looks identical to scoobynet but has nothing to do with cars, so i assume it was created using the same edit software etc etc.
Thanks

94impreza

Anyone on anything like saxoowners club?.
*Runs away and hides!*

Markus

Do you mean Saxo Sports Club when you say saxo owners club? If so then it looks as though they are using, umm, well I think it's something like PHP-Nuke or dragonflycms. As for the forum software itself, not too sure, looks very phpbb like to be honest.

As for what forum software to use, really depends on the features you want and how much you wish to pay.

I'd say the top three would be vBullentin which is what SN runs on, Invision Power Board (Invision Free being the free version of this) and PHPBB. There are many, many others though, such as SMF (Simple Machines Forum).

I'd certainly check out Invision Free as you don't need to have a server setup to run the software on. If you want your own software then phpbb is very good, and is free. VB and IPB are very powerful but you will need to purchase them, but it could well be worth it.

One major thing to consider is are you going to host the forum yourself, ie; do you have a server and the skills to install and configure the software. The instructions with most of the forum software are usually very clear so it's not usually a problem. Most of the forum software will require a web server with support for PHP and a database system, usually SQL (I'd recommend MySQL).

94impreza

A friend of mine has a server and has offered to host the forum on his server for like £3-4 a month so size really isn't an issue. I don't really have that much knowledge on building, so would need a basic site to edit myself etc with forum tools.
So thats Saxo sport are there similar forums to this for say Skyline owners, Evo, Porsche etc an would they have a similar amount of active users.

gotmashed

phpbb is very easy to use and add mods to, They also have a forum for help and advice

94impreza

A couple of nice sites there thanks for the help. I wonder what the boxster forum would make of the "how fast are boxsters" thread on other marques.

94impreza

Clarebabes, looking through that invison i can't see a free option? All seem pretty expensive on there.

94impreza

bump

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

I think logos and colour schemes make a difference, but this site I set up for a friend uses the basic phpbb forum with one of the standard colour schemes: SEJCC.co.uk - The South East Japanese Car Club :: Index

Basically all that was free, but I think when logos go on, it will make a massive difference!

ScoobyDriverWannabe

How about take it a step further than a forum and use a CMS (Content Management Syatem)

PHP-Nuke

Pretty easy to set up following the instructions
The have froum included, aswell as methods of adding poles, news posts etc fairly easily.


(edit)

Reading previous replies and looking at the saxo link that is more of a CMS than a forum like i mentioned.

Not sure which one it is though

Suresh

Just a thought: Your bbs idea doesn't only have updsides: It might not be such a good idea to give your customers such a forum to put them in contact with each other. You could ending up giving them too much power. They could gang up on you to obtain larger discounts, or even worse discuss competitors' offerings or even disputes with you on your forum. You would have to delete such posts and annoy them in the process.

HTH

negri

i use proboards


its free and isnt fancy but if you are only looking for a no frills forum it works for me

pslewis

Be sure to allow free speech .............. ie. allow the opinions that you don't agree with (I think you call those people TROLLS?)

94impreza

Well i gave up by my m8 has made one now using freebb, it looks quite simple.

Markus

bit after the fact I know, but it's invisionfree.com that has the free invision power board powered software.

94impreza

Ok bought and paid for a domain, tried linking it to freebb and its having none of it. Trying to contact anyone at BB is a complete nightmare.

Kwik

iTrader: (10)

Reading through this Freebb is rubbish.You can't add pic's with bb code or link a domain to it.