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Forum software recommendations?

K

Kremlar

Golden Member
I'm looking to host a small support forum for a product on my business-class cable connection, that also hosts a few small business web sites.

I don't expect a lot of initial traffic, so I'd like to try hosting it here first.

I'm running Windows Server 2003's IIS to host the web site. I'm not a web guy, so I'd be looking for some forum software that would be easy to setup and maintain.

Anyone have any recommendations?
 
Look at what has happened with AT using FuseTalk - let that be a lesson.
 
Simple Machines Forum is easy to use and free:
http://www.simplemachines.org

phpBB is fairly easy to use but can require some knowledge to install mods.
http://www.phpbb.com

These are the only two I have experience with.
Personally, I'd use SMF. But which ever software you use, back it up often and patch it when new patches come out.

 
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Simple Machines Forum is easy to use and free:
http://www.simplemachines.org

phpBB is fairly easy to use but can require some knowledge to install mods.
http://www.phpbb.com

These are the only two I have experience with.
Personally, I'd use SMF. But which ever software you use, back it up often and patch it when new patches come out.
Click to expand...

Good advice.

Another worth mentioning is vBulletin. It's not free, but it's a great software and worth the money in my opinion.

phpBB used to be really prone to hacks and exploits, with new patches coming out at least once a month. Anyone left unpatched would be targets to exploits (and theres a LOT of people looking for exploitable installs of phpbb). It's a good software, don't get me wrong. But its not something you can install and forget (none of them are really).
 
i had a lot of trouble with unpatched phpbb on one of my forums ... i learned my lesson pretty quick. of course, phpbb is probably the most flexible and immediately adaptable if you need a quick adjustment. but that does require a little bit more knowledge of the software than it seems like you want to have. but for a taste of how far you can alter and push phpbb, check out this site: http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/index.php ... gaiaonline has 12 million members and 1.3 billion posts, and they've really customized the forum software.

vB does look good as well if you don't mind spending money. i know you said you want to host it yourself, but if you want to make it someone elses' problem, gropee can do a great job with eve. again, not free or even cheap ... but its a great platform (and what ars technica uses).

certainly, I would not recommend fusetalk.
 
I've used SMF extensively for the past couple of years, and it's very simple to use. Back in "the day", I used to use Power Invision Board until they started charging for it, but it was great a few years ago. Not even sure if it's still around.
 
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