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Newbie Guidance: Establishing Message Board/forum


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Guest wen_shop
Posted

Hi - been a member of a very small (<50 member) online community for years - always had free hosting sites. Hacking, infections, spam, ads, etc. have all been issues. And they keep shutting down. I want to initiate the move to paid hosting here with a free forum software package. (That's what I know so far from reading).

 

I am computer-aware and technology savvy - but I am not a developer. What will I absolutely need to do - if I had punBB or phpBB for example, they mention that I need a database - does that mean I have to buy licenses for another piece of software? Is that a DB on my platform or hosted on the forum site? Am I completely off base?

 

Basically I want to just plunk my credit card down and pay $44, download a package and just figure it out. But I am just ignorant enough of the specifics to be worried that there are more requirements than that.

 

Help?

Posted

You will be able to use MySQL here, which is a free open-source database, so there is no extra license fee. Here at TCH they offer a one-click install of the SMF forum software (again free). So all you would need to do is:

 

Buy your domain

Buy your hosting (You can do both here at TCH if you wish to combine them)

Log into your site's Control Panel (CPanel)

Click on Fantastico De Luxe

Scroll down to SMF

Click that and follow the instructions on screen.

 

 

No database, programming or technical know-how required. If you ever get stuck you can always pop back here to the forums or contact the help desk for assistance.

Posted

wen_shop,

 

About 5 years ago, I was in the same situation that you describe. At that time, I was lucky enough to land here at Total Choice Hosting. You are definitely in the right place. Just follow the advice that OJB gave you in the post above, and you'll have your forum online in no time at all, and the only $$ that you will need to pay is for your domain name and basic hosting package.

 

Welcome to TCH, and good luck with your new site and forum.

Posted

The forum OJB mentions also has a one-click update feature built into it's administration panel. So when new versions or patches are released it's just one-click to apply those updates.

 

Good luck with your endeavor.

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