# Making a Forum



## TheTosh (Nov 15, 2004)

Was just wondering if someone could help me make a forum. Not like permanent help, just a little in starting up. Actually, I probably meant advice in lieu of help.

Do you just need a normal website? How much webspace would be necessary for the average forum site? Does anyone know a good way to start up a free forum site...eg. tools to help create it and obtaining free webspace? 

I could pay for one but if it all falls through and I never quite get round to it then it would be a waste...

thanks


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

There are quite a few free hosted forums.

http://************.com/


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## Big-K (Nov 22, 2003)

That's inv-isi-on-fr-ee without the dashes, the filter doesn't like that site but it is a good free forum host. Your best bet is one of the free premade ones. The only forum I have ever seen that was made from scratch is the one at DeviantART.


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

Those are just templates dude. Why are they blocking the URL in question? There are other free message board that are already made, just create an account and you are the admin of your own board.


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## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

invision free is a peice of crap though. And their staff is the worst.
I'd never get one


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Rockn - I believe our good friend HexStar had something to do with InvisionFr33 getting blocked.


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## motivated (Feb 8, 2004)

Punbb is exceptional, brilliant, amazing, and fantastic complete with a support forum of the same quality. You can also host it free (they have a free hosting site). You just sign up and create your forum. Although the hosting aint all that sharp.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Ikonboard use to have free hosted forums but the link to MyIkonboard seems to be dead on their website right now. Maybe it is just a glitch right now.


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## TheTosh (Nov 15, 2004)

Thanks for all the help sp far....I'll be checking the sites out properly soon.

Could someone answer the 'other' question?

Is there anyone who actually has a forum with any of the aforementioned sites that can let me see what its like?


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## tohm (Jul 15, 2005)

you could try using PhPBB and host it for free on http://tripod.lycos.co.uk but there are some installation steps.. read the README. and example: http://www.halomoddingsite.com/forum.php

if you want a website and a forum use e107, just like php nuke... but easier to install, smaller, better. http://e107.org


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

TheTosh: Just go to Google and enter the name of the forum you want to try. They all have demos.


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

Try out freebb.com or proboards.com


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## southernlady (May 6, 2004)

> invision free is a peice of crap though. And their staff is the worst.


No, Ezboard IS the worst!

The Great Ezboard Disaster of 2005



> Wow. All their boards wiped out as of two days ago? Ezboard says a hacker attack wiped out over 9,000 messageboards. Some boards still had data after the attack but as Ezboard rebooted their servers (whatever, I'm a technotard), it was lost, too.
> 
> Front entry pages have been restored to most boards now and names of forums appear with "225 posts" or "1,987 posts" or however many posts existed in the forums listed on that front page and when you enter the forums, if there were 17 pages of posts in that forum, all the pages are still listed but THERE ARE NO POSTS VISIBLE. It's all gone.
> 
> ...


And they are still having issues. Liz


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## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

Clic!Dev is the *BEST* free forum hosting site.

http://www.clicdev.com/ (main website)
http://www.clicdev.com/f/nnew_forum.php (make a new board)
http://forums.clicdev.com/ (support board)
http://hct.clicdev.com/ (another board) <~ to _see_ what it's like


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## TheTosh (Nov 15, 2004)

tohm said:


> if you want a website and a forum use e107, just like php nuke... but easier to install, smaller, better. http://e107.org


Im not exactly a great programmer by any means. Are you saying that e107 is better than phpBB then, it's just that it seems so much more complicated (even from the cluttered website homepage) that is making me afraid to use it...

Ideally a website and forum is what I'm looking to make, i could settle but it would give me more freedom to control what the page looked like etc. im guessin this in itself will cause greater complications for me.

I will have to look for webspace when using these programs first, wont i?


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## TheTosh (Nov 15, 2004)

namenotfound said:


> Clic!Dev is the *BEST* free forum hosting site.
> 
> http://www.clicdev.com/ (main website)
> http://www.clicdev.com/f/nnew_forum.php (make a new board)
> ...


Does anyone else agree? Its not that I don't want to....its just the advertising element of them. I mean the other sites look like they need no association although i would probably advertise them anyway.

The quote and previous offerings show you have very strong opinions and possibly a bad past with invisionfr33 and a good present with clicdev (or at least that they are an alternative gives them the upper hand).

It may seem pointless but i would find it helpful if some responders reaffirmed what others said...just to reiterate their point and give it more substance. At least if a few people made the same point it would have better grounding compared to anothers. Not that its a competition or anything...

Hmm...i'm rambling...sorry


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## pushcrew (Jul 31, 2005)

If you want you could make your own board, by getting hosting with mysql and phpbb, just a normal webhost like freewebs don't work, and yeah i think tripod works with it, haven't tried though.


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## TammyKat (Sep 3, 2005)

Well..I have a forum on the freebb.com site. But for some reason the main page is down right now. 

Every once in a while there is times you can't get into the forum. But for free I guess you have to expect some down time. SO far nothing serious has happened. You can't customize the style though...you would have to choose from whats there.


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## MattHazinski (Sep 3, 2005)

AbvAvgUser said:


> Try out freebb.com or proboards.com


Yes, proboards works great, but if you get paid webhosting with cPanel and Fantastico, you can install one with a few clicks.


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