TIPS Starting my own forums

[jeff.h]

This isn't PIAF related, but I thought I would ask anyway since many of you here have some experience with it.

My HOA wants to setup our own forums for homeowners and I was thinking of using Cloud at Cost or Digital Ocean to host. We have about 500 houses, but if tradition holds, we will be lucky to see 50-75 active users based on our Facebook and Nextdoor activity.

What are some options for forum software and what do we use here? I have never had to setup a forum before, but will be the lead on this project.

Thanks for any insight and guidance.

 

[mainenotarynet]

This forum is powered by Xenforo (Paid, I think)

For a small-medium forum - do you REALLY need paid? check out simplemachinesforum (now version 2.0 of something like that.

I have one that I set up for a network I want to get started (2 members, me and my partner) but have seen many on SMF that have quite a bit more.

to see a typical setup see mine at mainenotarynet.net (no reg needed to look around (unless you want to see the "hidden boards"

There is also modules for CMS Made simple if your HOA has a website (or intends to create one (with forums built in) -- I though of just integrating my SMF (since it is not used much) into my CMSms but kind of dropped the ball midstream

SMF also has something called ezportal to make a 'home page' first brfore entering the forums

Check these out or there are other options such as phpbb, vbullitin among others.

What you seek depends on how complex you want to be, and your experience levels.

Good luck and hunting.

 

[David P]

Best forum software IMO: FluxBB and MyBB. I prefer FluxBB as it's nice and light. I recommend that you start out with a reliable shared host first, and then move to a VPS when you need more resources. I used to recommend SMF, but stopped using it as it seemed clunky.

I like BuyVM for shared hosting.. their plans are cheap. Their offerings can be found here.
Then for some more VPS options.. you can use Ramnode, or VPSDime if don't need KVM.

I'm not a huge fan of DigitalOcean and have never used Cloud at Cost, but if you have a good experience then that works too.

I don't work for any of the hosts above.. but I have good experiences with them all so far. If you need any tips let me know..