I wasn't quite sure where to post this, so why not the cor....

In a couple of months I will be starting up my own forum. (Non music related.) I want it to have the same fantastic lay out of TA - very accessable - although with a different style design.

What I need to get educated on is:
1) the costs of creating & maintaining the forum
2) the amount time required to create & maintain and
3) the amount of knowledge required

I would REALLY appreciate any help. I sure need it.

Thanks so much

SB

I think TA is a vbulletin forum. You can check their website for purchase details and other information.

http://www.vbulletin.com/order/

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Download and review ! Omega_M - In the Mix (Beta Version)

Originally posted by twilightki : It feels like something you'd listen to at 4 in the morning, or listen to in your car while you're going in a tunnel.

omega is right. it is vbulletin.

you must also consider server and bandwidth costs. at first you can do just hosted and not worry but as the forums gets bigger you will need to graduate to a dedicated server. also your bandwidth will exponentially grow as it gets larger.

quote:

1) the costs of creating & maintaining the forum

Have you bought the domain yet? Have you bought hosting? That can cost from $30-$40 and up depending on how much traffic you are looking at and whether you are willing to tolerate ads on the site. Generally domain name ownership and hosting are paid for with yearly fees; again, the amount of the fee depends on whether you allow your host to put ads on your site and how much traffic your site gets.

TA's forum runs on vBulletin software, which costs $160 to own and $85 to rent.

quote:

2) the amount time required to create & maintain and

This is highly dependent on a few things: Do you want to get a forum software package and just install it "as is" without any customization? If you want customization, how much of it are you looking at? Chat rooms, inserting custom scripts written by yourself, changed forum layout or colors, customizing the PHP of the board itself?

Maintenance: How many posters do you anticipate having? A hundred, a thousand, tens of thousands? Will you be delegating "moderator" duties or assigning other people "admin" powers? How controversial is the subject matter of your board (that can make a big difference in how often you need to moderate)?

quote:

3) the amount of knowledge required

If you just want to buy a domain and hosting service, install the forum software "as is," and then start running and promoting your board, very little knowledge is required and in fact you can probably learn all you need to know quite easily by just picking it up as you go. All of that stuff is really easy. The hardest thing would obviously be something like writing and inserting your own scripts to fit the needs of the board, requiring some knowledge of programming languages like Java or PHP.

1, 2, and 3 are all very dependent upon how many users you have.

quote:

Originally posted by stevebutabi In a couple of months I will be starting up my own forum. (Non music related.)

is it pr0n related? if so, link me up!

___________________
This is trance...
Jose Amnesia - The Eternal (Pulser Remix) / Chicane - Saltwater / Photon Project - Illumination / Gouryella - Tenshi / Altitude - Altitude (SHOKK Remix) / Rank 1 - Airwave / The Thrillseekers - Synaesthesia (En Motion Mix)

I created a forum for the place I work. I recommend http://www.phpbb.com/

It's free and easy to use.

Post t3h link to your work forum. plzkthx.

___________________

Download and review ! Omega_M - In the Mix (Beta Version)

Originally posted by twilightki : It feels like something you'd listen to at 4 in the morning, or listen to in your car while you're going in a tunnel.

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Have you bought the domain yet? Have you bought hosting? That can cost from $30-$40 and up depending on how much traffic you are looking at and whether you are willing to tolerate ads on the site. Generally domain name ownership and hosting are paid for with yearly fees; again, the amount of the fee depends on whether you allow your host to put ads on your site and how much traffic your site gets. TA's forum runs on vBulletin software, which costs $160 to own and $85 to rent. This is highly dependent on a few things: Do you want to get a forum software package and just install it "as is" without any customization? If you want customization, how much of it are you looking at? Chat rooms, inserting custom scripts written by yourself, changed forum layout or colors, customizing the PHP of the board itself? Maintenance: How many posters do you anticipate having? A hundred, a thousand, tens of thousands? Will you be delegating "moderator" duties or assigning other people "admin" powers? How controversial is the subject matter of your board (that can make a big difference in how often you need to moderate)? If you just want to buy a domain and hosting service, install the forum software "as is," and then start running and promoting your board, very little knowledge is required and in fact you can probably learn all you need to know quite easily by just picking it up as you go. All of that stuff is really easy. The hardest thing would obviously be something like writing and inserting your own scripts to fit the needs of the board, requiring some knowledge of programming languages like Java or PHP.

Thanks very much for the help everyone.

To answer your questions:

1) No, I haven't bought the domain name yet. How big does a site have to get to need it's own dediated server? (I guess that's a question of how much bandwith is necessary, right?) Is TA run on its own server and if so how much does it cost?

2) I'd like the site to be almost as customized as forums section of TA... though really only in terms of the style. I don't need tons of subforums or chat rooms. I'm not sure what a 'cusomized script' is.

The topic wouldn't require too much moderation, and I don't think the site would be big enough at first to appoint an actual user as a mod - I'd have to do it. At it's peak, I'd anticipate 5,000 users.


Thanks again

quote:

Originally posted by Omega_M Post t3h link to your work forum. plzkthx.

Sorry I can't. Its a private message board for a school for the use of parents and teachers. It actually ended up being a fiasco because a bunch of irate parents posted some vicious messages. The school didn't allocate me the time to moderate it. Most of the school staff isn't very web savvy so they were unprepared for the type of language and behavior that often develops on a message board.

quote:

Originally posted by stevebutabi Thanks very much for the help everyone. To answer your questions: 1) No, I haven't bought the domain name yet. How big does a site have to get to need it's own dediated server? (I guess that's a question of how much bandwith is necessary, right?) Is TA run on its own server and if so how much does it cost? 2) I'd like the site to be almost as customized as forums section of TA... though really only in terms of the style. I don't need tons of subforums or chat rooms. I'm not sure what a 'cusomized script' is. The topic wouldn't require too much moderation, and I don't think the site would be big enough at first to appoint an actual user as a mod - I'd have to do it. At it's peak, I'd anticipate 5,000 users. Thanks again

Your better off getting inexpensive hosting that offers php, its not worth the trouble and expense of setting up your server. domains are cheap so that shouldn't be a problem. Then you can upgrade your hosting plan to meet the bandwidth demands. Its not easy to attract traffic thats why i recommend a low initial investment.

quote:

Originally posted by stevebutabi 1) No, I haven't bought the domain name yet. How big does a site have to get to need it's own dediated server? (I guess that's a question of how much bandwith is necessary, right?) Is TA run on its own server and if so how much does it cost?

Pretty darn big, although it will depend heavily on what sort of stuff people are downloading from your site (for example, videos or sound files that people download with any regularity would obviously require much more bandwidth to host than text would). I don't know TA's server situation.

quote:

2) I'd like the site to be almost as customized as forums section of TA... though really only in terms of the style. I don't need tons of subforums or chat rooms. I'm not sure what a 'cusomized script' is.

Something like phpBB, which is free, will probably work fine for you, then. You can use that to customize the colors, formatting of posts, and display of forum index pages, although the latter two will require some minimal HTML knowledge and a bit of time.

quote:

The topic wouldn't require too much moderation, and I don't think the site would be big enough at first to appoint an actual user as a mod - I'd have to do it. At it's peak, I'd anticipate 5,000 users.

Five thousand regular users is a pretty good size for a forum. Will your forum be attached to a larger site of some kind or part of a forum ring linked heavily by other sites? If not, how do you plan on attracting five thousand users?