Forum Solutions

[Seller]

I am looking to create my first community and am looking for some advice on what to use to get started.

I am decent with photoshop and dreamweaver but as far as programming I am lost. This is why a program like vbulletin scares me, also the 180 dollars is a bit steep to start out. I am not sure if the thing will take off. I have seen a few attempts at communities on the subject be abandoned.

One plus is I know a kid who is a wiz with SEO. He actually got the top stop for the key words "auction templates" for a pretty shotty site. So I am hoping I have a leg up with the SEO.

It sounds like vbulletin is the windows of message boards, is there something I can start of with that will allow me to make the switch easily if things get going?

[aspkin]

If you're serious about starting a forum then yes vbulletin is the best. And you do not need to know how to program to use it. Just follow it's instructions, it's easy to work with and there are tons of addons for it that make it better, VBSeo for one.

The hard part is getting your forum started. It was actually easy for me because there was a real need for it. I had hundreds of people posting on my early eBay guides and figured it would be best to create a forum to further discuss things. And it worked.

And it's best to get started with the same forum you want to use for the long run, just for SEO reasons.

[JohnnyBoy]

vBulletin is the best. Cost a bit, but its secure. There are free forums. Like phpbb, but by no means, do you use phpBB. I haven't checked on them lately, but back in my hacker days, their forum had the most exploits. There is simple machine forums, its pretty secure. Look at forummatrix . org. They have a complete list of forum software. What ever forum you choose, its a good idea to make sure it doesn't have a bunch of exploits for it

[Exeneva]

I've used phpBB3, vB, IPB. Personally, I like vB the best.

IPB isn't too much better than phpBB3 IMO.

[ikarus]

Start off with phpBB3,

Then when you have a larger base or activity.

Just convert the database over to vbulletin - look on their website for help.

[Exeneva]

Ikarus, how many forums have you ran before? A conversion isn't as smooth as you think, not to mention recoding the forum skin.