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Offline Lee_D

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« on: January 09, 2007, 22:00:33 »
OK my frustrated late night techy friends...

I maintain a school web site and one of the considerations for the sites developement is for a Forum for teachers and parents. Now assuming I known nothing other than how to post on one... where do I start?

Having it remotely hosted may prove most simple but it would have to be very cheap / free given the school has little to spend in this area. Come the worst I have a couple of old machines and a spare IP address, or would I kick myself for entertaining such an idea? Don't envisage much traffic at all, more for communications than anything else.

Any advice / pointers would be appreciated.

Lee
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Offline Mudlark

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« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2007, 22:15:34 »
Try www.simplemachines.org

They have a forum that you can put on your own server providing you have php and sql or set up on line.


It is really simple to set up with just the bare essentials of computer knowledge



Best thing is      It's free :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
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Offline davidlandy

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« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2007, 22:18:17 »
you can set up free forums on phpbb
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Offline bigfatsi

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« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2007, 08:51:54 »
I used phpBB on my site (when it was up) No complaints. Quite technical to set up first time but seemed easy to maintain. Quite a large community from what I remember and loads of add-ons.
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Offline smo

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« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2007, 08:57:38 »
phpBB for small stuff, and VBB for big stuff without a doubt.
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« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2007, 13:07:09 »
phpBB is great - but it requires PHP support on the server (obviously!?).

It's not simply a case of install and go - probably with any forum product, they all need setting up and maintaining.

If it's for parents then I assume it will be Internet facing - if so, be very careful with how you setup the enrollment process. Definitely either full admin control or admin approval.

Also, if it's available to the public (parents!) you will need to ensure that it is moderated. I suspect slagging off the school and it's staff would not be good :wink:
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Offline dazzawhipple

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« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2007, 13:10:23 »
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Offline Lee_D

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« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2007, 15:52:13 »
Quote from: "dazzawhipple"
I use a free PHP hosting site

http://www.hostmybb.com/phpbb/portal.php?sid=2c942a2299f10b713cf9abad4f65baeb&mforum=northantsgreenl

They host for free

Darren



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Is there a catch???
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Offline davidlandy

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« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2007, 19:28:01 »
just the advertising im afraid!

www.northants4x4.com is hosted there for free - i set it up a few weeks ago and it was pretty painless
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Offline Steven

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« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2007, 22:14:04 »
hhmm "FREE" i never trust that :evil:
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Offline Mudlark

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« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2007, 23:21:14 »
Quote from: "91Steven"
hhmm "FREE" i never trust that :evil:



Well SMF is free because it's been developed by people that want the best - apparently :wink:  :lol:


Aren't there problems with the free phpBB forums in the fact that you can't access your sql database to back it up especially when you outgrow their 'Free' allowance of bandwidth and storage and want to move it to your own site?

my SMF forum is at http://team.mudlark.info if you want to see how it compares visually and ease of use compared to this one which is phpBB
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Offline karlo

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« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2007, 23:39:21 »
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Offline tomarse

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« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2007, 01:30:34 »
Hi Lee,
I'm doing quite a bit of work with phpbb at the moment so if you need any advice you can always get me on messenger or via email.
It will look much more professional if you run your forum off some proper hosting. The free stuff tends to have compulsary ads. you want something with php support. there are lots of hosting companies who will supply linux hosting (e.g zen start at £4/month and there are others cheaper).
I assume it is Mrs D's school? you may find that the LEA can help you with hosting and stuff and are very cheap too (as they should be!). In cheshire they will set us up external IP forwarding so we can host stuff on our own servers in school (much better bandwidth than your machine at home as also taking up space in the school and using their leccy rather than yours!).
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Offline Lee_D

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« Reply #13 on: January 12, 2007, 18:44:10 »
Thanks everyone, I went with hostmybb in the end, just switched on the pop up blocker and it's fine for our needs.

Lee
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Offline Wanderer

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« Reply #14 on: January 13, 2007, 12:13:41 »
Be careful with hostmybb as you don't get full control and also get charged if you need to move the forum onto another server. They charge for a backup.

You can get reasonably cheap hosting these days.
I use www.anynet.co.uk as do others on MC and in the 4x4 world.

Ed
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Offline Paul

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« Reply #15 on: January 14, 2007, 19:31:30 »
Quote from: "Wanderer"

I use www.anynet.co.uk as do others on MC and in the 4x4 world.Ed


Yep, I'm one... I use 'Anynet' for my websites and forums, Very good service and support.
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