Maidens of the Kaleidoscope

~Bunbunmaru News~ => Letters to the Editor => Topic started by: Hououin Kyouma on July 18, 2009, 07:12:33 AM

Title: How to make a forum
Post by: Hououin Kyouma on July 18, 2009, 07:12:33 AM

I seriously want to make a forum using SMF but I am really bad with computers so I have no idea what web host, php, ftp could any of you guys make a simple tutorial?

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: ♛ Apher-Forte on July 18, 2009, 10:10:16 AM

http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/smf/

but....
but...
don't you guys support vBulletin?
I rather use vB than SMF. (you seen how this forum still has bugs despite passing months already since the wipe)

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: helvetica on July 18, 2009, 01:53:51 PM

vB costs $$$ and is a bitch to mod.  SMF 1.x branch didn't really have any outstanding bugs.  The 2.0 beta release we're using is pretty damn stable as well minus a few minor quirks mostly related to PostgreSQL and not SMF itself.

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: Hououin Kyouma on July 20, 2009, 09:37:20 AM

Is there any cheaper domain site that supports SMF?

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: helvetica on July 20, 2009, 08:22:21 PM

Any hosting site with php and mysql support is all you need for SMF support, which is about any hosting site you can think of.

I recommend Nixihost as I use it for my imageboards and goons own.

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: Tonepoet on July 21, 2009, 02:12:33 AM

If you're really not that computer savvy, you might want to consider using a site like InvisionFree (http://invisionfree.com/) to host your forums instead. Then you wouldn't have to worry about hosting, installation and so on. True, it's not a power user's preferred solution but you could at least try it until you've learned a little more about the subject and outgrown it or see if you're really up to running a forum to begin with.

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: Momiji on July 21, 2009, 04:28:40 AM

I've used InvisionBoard, phpBB, and SMF over the years.  phpBB is GPLed, and probably the most-used opensource forum script.  It's also absolute hell to add mods into, requiring you to patch it's script files (even with AutoMOD).  SMF isn't opensource, but it's a complete breeze to use.  It also has plugin system, so modules are pretty much self-contained and easy to install and set up.  As for IB, I haven't used it in a long long time, but from what I remember it was really good for huge huge boards, and seemed fairly decent.

As for that, if you don't want to think about FTPing or CHMODing files or anything else like that, like Tonepoet suggested, try a free forum host.  You'll probably be pretty limited though, like you might not be able to export out your database if you ever want to set up your own standalone forum.

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: helvetica on July 21, 2009, 07:44:32 PM

SMF is opensource, else I wouldn't be able to do half the mods I do to this board.

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: Momiji on July 22, 2009, 07:02:54 AM

Oops, yeah I went back and read their license, haven't done it in awhile. =/  They just have strict distribution rules, but for normal use it doesn't matter.

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: Hououin Kyouma on August 01, 2009, 05:22:33 AM

How did you get this domain? through the internet or from your server?

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: helvetica on August 01, 2009, 05:24:20 AM

I use NearlyFreeSpeech.net for my registrar and our server handles the DNS stuff as I like having direct control.

Title: Re: How to make a forum
Post by: ♛ Apher-Forte on September 09, 2009, 06:27:32 AM

Quote from: Schr?dinger on July 20, 2009, 09:37:20 AM

Is there any cheaper domain site that supports SMF?

I think weebly.com can handle hosting forums.