Help on creating a forum

[james8547]

I am planning on starting / creating a forum. The forum is going to be geared towards accounting studies. It's pretty much a small personalized place where me and other students from my classes can discuss assignments, tests, etc.

I felt that there is a need for such a place since I always get bothered by other students asking for help in their studies. They email, call, or stop me in the hallway to ask questions. Hopefully, creating such a place will make them help each other or have the prof take care some of the questions.

I plan on posting hints, tips, tricks to help them on the assignments. I plan to keep the forums legit like no public posting of wares, cheats, and even answers to assigned work.

I pitched the idea over to some of my professors and classmates. Both groups seem to like the idea.

This is the 1st time I am going to attempt such a task so any pointers (no matter how insignificant they seem to be) you can offer are greatly (needed) appreciated. I plan to keep the costs of installation and upkeep to zero. I already have to donate my precious time on coding and policing the forum.

I did some basic research and I've pretty much decided on the freeware version of invision power board. Unless you have a better suggestion, I guess I'll use that as the platform for the board. Any links on how to install / mod the software are more than welcome.

For the webhost, I'm planning on using the free host that I have now. I might think of getting another host since the site have some downtime. But I'll wait to see if people actually use it and if the forums are active enough. Any good hosting sites you can recommend (both free and pay)?

I also plan on registering a domain name for easy access to the site. As I mentioned, I'll be using a free webhost. Most of the times, I have to type a long URL to access my pages. Besides, I've been thinking of registering a domain name for myself. I was planning on registering a variation of "james." It should be short and easy to remember. Any suggestions on what the domain name should be? I am hinting towards james8547.com (nobody better register this name and then try to sell it to me later :p).

[DrZaius]

Hi James,

First, for the forum software Invision is a good choice. I'm a big fan of PHP so you might also want to take a look at what phpBB (http://www.phpbb.com/) has to offer, both are free.

As for the hosting, make sure that the service provides enough bandwidth and web space. If the forum has enough members it can end up using a lot of bandwidth which may be a problem. If you looking for a hosting company, I highly recommend Hosting Matters (http://www.hostmatters.com/) for their great service and support.

And finally, the best place to register a domain is definitely with GoDaddy (http://www.godaddy.com/), their service is great and they are highly recommended everywhere. I would consider something more catchy for the name, like "accountinghelp.com" or similar. Try to avoid making it look like a screen name and make it easy to remember.

Hope this helps.

[james8547]

Thanks for the input DrZ :)

According to them, Invision uses PHP and MySQL too. But, I'll definitely look up phpBB.

HM is a good alternative. They offer more bandwidth than www.totalchoicehosting.com. However, they charge $2 more and they offer less space. I'll have to think it over. I'll probably get HM for the 1st month since they offer more bandwidth.

Yep, GoDaddy is the way to go. I just saved alot of money for the small business that I work for. Our previous registrar was network solutions. My supervisor is impressed with GD (and I think with me too for bringing it up).

I owe it all to you guys for recommending it in one of my previous posts. I was a bit hesitant with GD and was about to go with another company. It's a good thing that I asked here 1st. When did you guys ever steered me wrong :p

I am thinking of making the domain name a bit more professional since most likely my professors will be using the forum too. But I also wanted a personal site not just for the forum since it might not work out.

Solution: www.jamescpa.biz
I am now the proud owner of that domain! Now all I need is my cpa license...hahaha. It's personal plus it provides use for the future. Boy, I am brilliant I tell ya (yeah right:))

Thanks again for the comments and keep 'em coming.

[DrZaius]

Good choice for the domain name. :)

You might also want to read through the WebHostingTalk Forums (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/) to research any hosting services you might be considering.

[kstatefan40]

I am running XMB forums. Works great, never even worked with SQL or PHP before. Very easy
www.xmbforums.com
Great, and user friendly

[glc]

Godaddy offers cheap hosting too - the $3.95 package should serve you well, and they support PHP and MySQL.

[Statica]

2 great hosting companies that i've dealt with: www.dixiesys.com and their own spinoff 8-95.com

[teamgta]

Might wanna check out 1and1.com . they offer 3 years free hosting, no popops or banners or anything to piss you off. Might be good for a smaller site.

[wafflepunk]

phpBB, no question about it, hands down the best. easy to install, use and modify, fully customizable.