how to set up forum at my website?

[linus72]

how do I set up a forum at my website?

[bigtomrodney]

You can download and install phpBB for free (it's open source) or use vBulletin which has a nominal charge and is proprietary. Both are quite easy to install and in the case of phpBB you just need to install PHP first. What server OS are you using?

[linus72]

I'm not using my own server, I'm using a go-daddy site right now...
Can I do it that way?

[i92guboj]

I'm not using my own server, I'm using a go-daddy site right now...
Can I do it that way?

As long as you can upload files via ftp or something similar, and the server complies with all the prerequisites you can do whatever you want.

phpBB is famous, however there are others like smf which might be slightly easier to set up:

SMF Online Manual - Index

[linus72]

Awesome, thank you!
I am in Ubuntu-8.04 and phpbb2 is available thru synaptic.
Now, I barely know html, is php similar?
any background help on forum creation/php would be great!
thanks

[i92guboj]

Awesome, thank you!
I am in Ubuntu-8.04 and phpbb2 is available thru synaptic.
Now, I barely know html, is php similar?

PHP is a programming language. It's often used to generate html on a dynamic way depending on certain conditions, which is a good thing for a forum (a static forum where you have to edit the html directly to add contents wouldn't make much sense).

You could truly use perl or whatever your server supports. But most bigs applications nowadays are built using php, often in conjunction with a bit of javascript or something similar. That's true not only for forums but also for other big aps like mail clients, image galleries, and anything you can dream of.

any background help on forum creation/php would be great!
thanks

Well, it's not something that can be explained in a post. First you need a solid (and I mean "solid") knowledge about html, at least sticking to one standard (html 4.01 and xhtml 1.0 seems the most used nowadays). Then you need to learn to program in php. Those are two -huge- previous steps to even think about creating your own forum software. So I'd say just use one of the pre-built forums that there are around. They can be altered in millions of ways via theming, plugins, mods, etc. etc.

[linus72]

Awesome-I got a free online forum service!
Is this good or too good to be true?
multidistro.proboards.com/

[i92guboj]

The definition of "good" here depends on your own requirements.

If that's enough for your purpose then it's ok. However, be sure to read very closely and with attention the conditions and terms of use, overall those regarding the contents that you can post and that you can't post there, and remember that the forum is not yours and they can decide to wipe it at any moment without previous warning. That won't happen, but, it could happen Again, read the terms of service, they should be somewhere on their site (and they probably were on the registration forms, somewhere).

However, as long as you regularly save a backup of the database you might be able to import the date into another forum in case this one has to be abbandoned for some reason. Most forums have an option to backup the data on the control panel, somewhere.