Anybody here ever set up a forum? (Full Version)

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Rockwall -> Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/12/2008 11:17:47 PM)

I keep in contact with many family members through MySpace and Yahoo email. Many do not want to sign up onto MySpace so I thought I would make a personal family forum so that we can keep in touch in a more private manner.

I had tried a Phpbb and MyUPB forum but haven't had luck setting the chmod settings. My host company is GoDaddy and before I go into further details and confuse everybody, have any of you set one up and willing to share some of your expertise?



HisLamb26 -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/13/2008 2:53:14 AM)

Hi Rockwall,
I run a forum using YaBB. (I chose that software because it was orginally running on a home server, and it was easy for me to manage).

When I moved the forum to a hosted account I had to reinstall the software, and chmod each directory by hand. It was slow, meticulous work, but as long as the directons are good and you take it step by step, you should be ok. I can't stress enough the need to carefully follow the install directions.

I can't speak to GoDaddy-but most of the major hosting companies have "ready to install" forums you can install easily with the click of a few buttons. Inquire with your host.

Also-often times developers of open source boards will install the board for you for free or for a small fee.



Ion_21 -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/13/2008 11:07:11 PM)

I think the best forum software is MyBB. It is easy setup, clean, and fun to use. You can even get tons of themes for the MyBB forum software. Check it out. (MyBB)



Rockwall -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/14/2008 5:13:04 PM)

Thank you very much for your replies. It turns out that it is my web hosting that is a problem and I will give them a call on Monday. I have ASP.NET 1.1 but the problem is that the IIS version is 6.0 and it is not compatible so I have to have it changed.

Thanks for the suggestion Jaalam, I will give MyBB a try. It looks very clean, has several themes, and I noticed they have a support forum which is always great.



Ion_21 -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/14/2008 9:34:00 PM)

I am glad to be of help. :) Have a great day.



Walker311 -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/15/2008 12:19:23 AM)

http://groups.msn.com/

Great way to keep in touch. Add pictures, easy to set up, tweak user access, and free.



PolarBear -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/15/2008 6:17:14 AM)

My family uses a Yahoo group. Not particularly thrilled with it, I think a private forum is better.

phpBB is fine but has had some nasty security problems in the past.

Why why why do people use GoDaddy????? They may be cheap but they're slimy, especially if you have Christian values.



benelchi -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/15/2008 6:40:02 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rockwall

Thank you very much for your replies. It turns out that it is my web hosting that is a problem and I will give them a call on Monday. I have ASP.NET 1.1 but the problem is that the IIS version is 6.0 and it is not compatible so I have to have it changed.

Thanks for the suggestion Jaalam, I will give MyBB a try. It looks very clean, has several themes, and I noticed they have a support forum which is always great.



It is unlikely IIS version 6.0 is the problem, as it is relatively resent; however, it is also unlikely that you will be able to get your hosting company to change it because all of the users on the web host that is providing your site use the same IIS server, and an upgrade would require downtime for every site hosted on that server. Additionally most providers would be extremely hesitant to deploy IIS 7.0 (the newest version) because it is very new, untested, and has a radically different architecture from its predecessors, and versions of IIS prior to 6.0 have already been End of Lifed. FYI IIS 6.0 is the standard web server that comes with windows 2003 server, and although Windows 2008/IIS 7.0 is now shipping, very few have deployed it yet.



When you say you have ASP.NET 1.1, do you mean that you have detected that it is installed on your IIS server, or that you literally have downloaded a copy. If it is the latter, then you will need to verify that it is actually installed on the web server, if it is not it definitely could be the source of your problems, and ASP.NET is something you will be unable to install on your own.



semperfidelis -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/15/2008 11:07:01 AM)

vBulletin is the number on php forum on the net.
phpBB and YaBB are close behind.
I'm not sure where Simple Machines Forum (SMF) stands, but it's one of the best free ones out there.

IIS6 is not the problem and neither is the ASP.Net version. The question is, "Is PHP installed, and if so, what version?" At work I'm using Apache 2.x, 2.2.x, IIS 5, IIS6, and just got access to IIS7. Everything runs fine with ASP.Net 1.1, 2.x, and 3.x (IIS only), as well as PHP 4.3.x - 5.2.x. If you can view a php file that just has the text <? phpinfo(); ?> in it and it shows you all sorts of information, then you have php installed correctly. If it just shows that text, then it's not in the right directory or has the wrong permissions.

Also, did you have everything installed to the correct folders? I don't know GoDaddy, but I know with some servers there is a "cgi" folder that scripts are supposed to go into.



benelchi -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/15/2008 11:22:46 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: semperfidelis

Also, did you have everything installed to the correct folders? I don't know GoDaddy, but I know with some servers there is a "cgi" folder that scripts are supposed to go into.


Typically, PHP scripts are not CGI and should not go in the CGI folder. CGI scripts have a different protocol for passing variables between the web server and the script, and consequently the source code for a CGI script is significantly different than a typical php script. You can write a CGI script in PHP, but you cannot expect a non-CGI PHP script to funciton as a CGI script.



Rockwall -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/15/2008 3:49:02 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: PolarBear

My family uses a Yahoo group. Not particularly thrilled with it, I think a private forum is better.

phpBB is fine but has had some nasty security problems in the past.

Why why why do people use GoDaddy????? They may be cheap but they're slimy, especially if you have Christian values.


2 years ago on an engineering board I asked what some of the others were using. They said GoDaddy so I just used them without thinking about it. Today a friend here at work told me that he is using InterXtream based in Houston and he hasn't had any problems with them so I may switch to them. There Premier package is $1 more per month for less bandwidth and space than GoDaddy (currently 10 GB disk space and 300 GB bandwidth) but I may switch anyway. InterXstream LINK



Rockwall -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/15/2008 3:57:28 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: benelchi

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rockwall

Thank you very much for your replies. It turns out that it is my web hosting that is a problem and I will give them a call on Monday. I have ASP.NET 1.1 but the problem is that the IIS version is 6.0 and it is not compatible so I have to have it changed.

Thanks for the suggestion Jaalam, I will give MyBB a try. It looks very clean, has several themes, and I noticed they have a support forum which is always great.



It is unlikely IIS version 6.0 is the problem, as it is relatively resent; however, it is also unlikely that you will be able to get your hosting company to change it because all of the users on the web host that is providing your site use the same IIS server, and an upgrade would require downtime for every site hosted on that server. Additionally most providers would be extremely hesitant to deploy IIS 7.0 (the newest version) because it is very new, untested, and has a radically different architecture from its predecessors, and versions of IIS prior to 6.0 have already been End of Lifed. FYI IIS 6.0 is the standard web server that comes with windows 2003 server, and although Windows 2008/IIS 7.0 is now shipping, very few have deployed it yet.



When you say you have ASP.NET 1.1, do you mean that you have detected that it is installed on your IIS server, or that you literally have downloaded a copy. If it is the latter, then you will need to verify that it is actually installed on the web server, if it is not it definitely could be the source of your problems, and ASP.NET is something you will be unable to install on your own.


Ok, a little clarification: I had tried to pick the phpBB to install it but the error it gave made me think it was the IIS but after trying it again it tells me it seems it is because it is a Windows based server:

quote:


System Requirements
LINUX, MYSQL 4.1, PHP 5.1 or PHP 4.3


They want me to switch to a Linux server but I may use a different web host. Oh yeah, I don't have ASP.NET, I meant that the host server has it.



iwillfearnoevil -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/16/2008 11:09:56 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Walker311
http://groups.msn.com/

Great way to keep in touch. Add pictures, easy to set up, tweak user access, and free.


gret point. i know you aren't looking for altenatives but a forum does seem to be overkill ... if you have older or less technical family members, something like yahoogroups is ideal as they can participate by simply sending/receiving email and clicking on a photo album link in the email. email's also easier for people checking from mobile phones, crosswalk is a pain compared to email of my pocketpc. if you think there will be multiple emails every day, then a forum would be less intrusive to keep post count down. someone in my family once tried to get all technical and we're at yahoogroups now. i mean it's fun to tinker though with forums :)



wearhisname -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/16/2008 12:53:14 PM)

I have set several forums for people. I have not had the most pleasant experiences with GoDaddy hosting, not to make mention of way over charging for they offer. I use a company by the name of Lunarpages. I believe right now they have a special where you can get 1 year of hosting, unlimited e-mails, bandwidth, storage space, and a install system to auto install forums software to get it up and running right away. The cost of there current special is $4.95 a month which is great. The only issue I have with them is that it sometime takes some time to get someone on the phone if you need support outside of e-mail. Just thought that i would add my $.02



Rockwall -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/16/2008 2:23:05 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: iwillfearnoevil

quote:

ORIGINAL: Walker311
http://groups.msn.com/

Great way to keep in touch. Add pictures, easy to set up, tweak user access, and free.


gret point. i know you aren't looking for altenatives but a forum does seem to be overkill ... if you have older or less technical family members, something like yahoogroups is ideal as they can participate by simply sending/receiving email and clicking on a photo album link in the email. email's also easier for people checking from mobile phones, crosswalk is a pain compared to email of my pocketpc. if you think there will be multiple emails every day, then a forum would be less intrusive to keep post count down. someone in my family once tried to get all technical and we're at yahoogroups now. i mean it's fun to tinker though with forums :)


You're right, it may be a bit overkill but one of the things I was worried about is all of the pervs that are out there. I am on a gaming forum and you can't even see the forums without logging in, and that small bit of security is what I wanted. I have made my daughter remove some comments from high school boys because they were a little too raunchy so I thought that it would be a closed family community in a forum.

A sister-in-law has many pics of her and her children on her family photo gallery, and if someone does a whois they would know where her and her kids live. That may be a bit much paranoid, but what can I say.

There are thousands on this forum at a time with different computer skill levels and they are able to move around here somewhat easily (I assume). Who knows, family members may prefer to simply keep in contact with email and this will be a total waste of time, and I'll consider this a learning experience.



Rockwall -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/16/2008 2:29:54 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: wearhisname

I have set several forums for people. I have not had the most pleasant experiences with GoDaddy hosting, not to make mention of way over charging for they offer. I use a company by the name of Lunarpages. I believe right now they have a special where you can get 1 year of hosting, unlimited e-mails, bandwidth, storage space, and a install system to auto install forums software to get it up and running right away. The cost of there current special is $4.95 a month which is great. The only issue I have with them is that it sometime takes some time to get someone on the phone if you need support outside of e-mail. Just thought that i would add my $.02


I canceled GoDaddy and just signed up with Lunarpages and am very excited because it seems like they offer tons of free stuff. Unlimited storage space and bandwidth for $5 was too good to pass up. They said I should be up and running within the hour.

Thank you very much for that suggestion wearhisname.



iwillfearnoevil -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/16/2008 2:39:48 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rockwall
You're right, it may be a bit overkill but one of the things I was worried about is all of the pervs that are out there. I am on a gaming forum and you can't even see the forums without logging in, and that small bit of security is what I wanted. I have made my daughter remove some comments from high school boys because they were a little too raunchy so I thought that it would be a closed family community in a forum.

A sister-in-law has many pics of her and her children on her family photo gallery, and if someone does a whois they would know where her and her kids live. That may be a bit much paranoid, but what can I say.

There are thousands on this forum at a time with different computer skill levels and they are able to move around here somewhat easily (I assume). Who knows, family members may prefer to simply keep in contact with email and this will be a total waste of time, and I'll consider this a learning experience.


actually with yahoo, msn, etc ... there is a public vs private setting where owner/moderator can invite people to the group ... no one even knows it's out there ...

good job finding a better host than godaddy, they aren't the greatest for support or prices i heard for hosting plans at least :)



semperfidelis -> RE: Anybody here ever set up a forum? (9/17/2008 2:22:53 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: benelchi

quote:

ORIGINAL: semperfidelis

Also, did you have everything installed to the correct folders? I don't know GoDaddy, but I know with some servers there is a "cgi" folder that scripts are supposed to go into.


Typically, PHP scripts are not CGI and should not go in the CGI folder. CGI scripts have a different protocol for passing variables between the web server and the script, and consequently the source code for a CGI script is significantly different than a typical php script. You can write a CGI script in PHP, but you cannot expect a non-CGI PHP script to funciton as a CGI script.

Yes, I know. However, I've run into it before... it's horrid. I've seen servers running PHP as cgi binaries... it's horrid. I had to put the shebang at the top of EVERY php script and the admins were not willing to budge on it. We finally got a different server that ran php properly...



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