Creating a forum?

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » April 14th, 2016, 2:16 pm

Hi. I have been talking to some new friends and we're really interested in getting a forum for what we're interested in going. We're realizing the social networks are just clutter housing and time-wasting and so I kept thinking about how LV is set up. I looked over phpBB and I must say I'm quite bewildered as to how to get started with it. Anyone have some enlightenment to send my way? Thanks!

Daryl

Post by **Availle** » April 14th, 2016, 4:54 pm

I guess if you don't have a server (or the will to pay for one) this would be an option:

https://www.proboards.com/

Disclaimer: That's the first thing showing up in my google search for "free online forum", I have never done this myself nor do I have any affiliation with them or anybody else.

Post by **Rapunzelina** » April 14th, 2016, 10:29 pm

It seems that http://www.freeforums.org/ offers a forum structure that looks a lot like librivox forum.

Kangaroo692 · Post by **Kangaroo692** » April 15th, 2016, 11:37 am

It all depends on whether you want to set it up yourself on your own server, or one you paid for, or if you want to have it hosted for you (like the suggestions above.)

I prefer the forum software Simple Machines Forum over PHPBB, but that is just personal preference. They both come with BBCODE and smileys.

There are free server hosts online, but I don't think they are a good choice. If you don't want to make your own server, you should probably either go with the suggestions above or pay a fee for quality web hosting.

My experience has been with setting it up on my Raspberry Pi (mini-computer.) It's only $35, and all you need for it is a power cord (like a cell phone charger), an ethernet cable (optional) and an SD card.

If you decide to set it up on a Raspberry Pi, let me know and I may be able to help.

Kangaroo

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » April 22nd, 2016, 2:01 pm

Thank you very much for the information, everyone! I doubt I'll do any hosting from my end just because I have too much on my plate as it is. I had a tip from another person who used to run forums that she ran away in agony from all the spamming. I even see this on a forum for audio dramas. Feel bad for the guy running it finding all the spam.

I'll definitely check out these options. Really appreciate it!

Post by **Availle** » April 22nd, 2016, 5:34 pm

You will get spam everywhere.

The only reason we don't have any, or rather: hardly any, is that we manually approve every new member and keep a tight watch over all places of the forum in case somebody mean does slip through and wants to post spam. It takes a lot of work and a lot of dedicated people (for a forum this size) to deal with it.