Control Panel Features --> Instant Forums

[Foofighter]

"Instant Forums"

I don't understand what that means...

Can someone elaborate further on the "? mark" info.

Also...

...phpbb, invision, etc... are they all free with Hostgator?

[Foofighter]

Also...

Do we need to pay for our own message board for our site, or like I mentioned above...are they free?

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How do we edit our original post?

Thanks

:P

[Pitrow]

What it means is you can use fantastico to install the forums for you. Kinda handy if you're not really good with installing things.

You can pretty much install any of the forums yourself though, if you're up to the task. phpBB and the like are free, and don't cost you anything other than time to install. Or you can purchase forum software, like the vBulletin software that this forum is running, and install that if you wish.

[Foofighter]

Which forum services, both free & paid would you reccomend, I've only used zetaboards.

Are there any free forum services that let me have a link to them such as...
"forums.mysite.com" and/or "mysite.com/forums"

phpbb?
invision?

Thanks

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by Foofighter

Are there any free forum services that let me have a link to them such as...
"forums.mysite.com" and/or "mysite.com/forums"

All of them, because you control stuff like that at the server, or account level.

Things might seem less confusing if you look at your account as the equivalent of your PC and fora as applications (programs), rather than services. You can install any of them, free (most) or paid (vBulletin and a handful of others). Or use Fantastico, which is a shortcut in cPanel, to install scripts automatically.

[Pazeh]

ALL forum scripts that you can install on your package can have "forums.mysite.com" and/or "mysite.com/forums"

The best paid one, for me, is Vbulletin (the one this forum runs on), then there is IPB Invision Power Board... both of this are not free!!

MyBB, PhpBB... are free but don't have long experience with the current versions to recommend any

[Foofighter]

Originally Posted by Pazeh

ALL forum scripts that you can install on your package can have "forums.mysite.com" and/or "mysite.com/forums"

This is what I plan on having
(1 domain + multiple sub-domains)
(Including a forum for each domain/sub-domain)

Mysite.com
Mysite.com/forums
12.Mysite.com
12.Mysite.com/forums
123.Mysite.com
123.Mysite.com/forums

etc...

So a few more questions please :P

I'm going to have about 5+ forums in total.

How would that be set up? (In Brief please)
Would I need, lets say, to purchase vbulletin 5+ times?
Do I install these (free/paid forums) via control panel?
Does Hostgator come with its own forum software?
If so, do they accept advertising? (google,etc...)

[Foofighter]

I've been doing some more research, so in the cp, using fantastico I guess right...?
I can install a forum per domain & per sub-domain.

right?

I think I understand it better.

[EarlyOut]

Yes, but vBulletin is not one of the forum choices via Fantastico, since it isn't free. Fantastico covers only phpBB and SMF. For vBulletin, you'd have to purchase a license for it, and install it yourself.

Also, Fantastico tends to lag behind on updates, so you might want to install phpBB or SMF yourself, as well.

Doing an install outside of Fantastico, you can install forums anywhere you want. You could install three different forums in three different subdirectories on a subdomain, if you wanted to.

[EarlyOut]

With vBulletin, by the way, you have to purchase a separate license for each installation unless your forum will be accessible from multiple domains, but have the same content. In other words, if all the installations actually point to the same forum, one license is enough. But if each installation is really a different forum, each one requires a license.

[Foofighter]

Hey, Thanks EarlyOut!

I'm definately going to be installing phpBB 3.0.6 and upgrade to the 3.0.7 probably.

So with the phpBB, I can install a separate forum per subdomain then, right?

[usa2k]

If you plan to use SSL, think carefully about what you do. If you are going with a Shared Hosting, there is only a possibility of one Dedicated IP with one Domain using it.

Using subdirectories for each application would let SSL function for each purpose. Subdomains would need a more expensive SSL Cert.

My inclination is, if its a serious forum, people should sign in on a page with HTTPS.

[Foofighter]

well I'm going to be finally purchasing my domain name TONITE!! woot!

so, usa, when I install the phpbb forum on my main domain, am I also allowed to install a separate phpbb forum on my sub-domains I will be having.
Since each of my sub-domains will be a different theme, hence, a separate forum all together.

?

Thanks bro!

[usa2k]

I will leave PHPBB to people here with more experience. Sorry.

[Pitrow]

you should be able to. Since phpbb is a free software package, you can install it in as many places as you'd like. Just keep the files separated and have a separate database for each and you'd be fine.

I've had two phpbb's and a vBulletin all running on the same account while I was testing / switching forums.

right now I have a vBulletin (4.0) running on the root of my account and a backup of the old phpbb running in a folder (www.mydomain.com/oldforum).

The main issue is to just keep everything separated, especially the databases.

[Foofighter]

ok ok, thanks, I still need to create the subs first, still working on my main domain forum, haven't even started on the actual template for the site though :P

[Nitro]

Yeah you can run several phpbb forums on several sub-domains. I've ran two different ones like this before.

Though it will take up quite a bit of resources running several different forums (depending on your hosting package).