11-06-2007, 09:42 AM

I am planning to build a social networking site, possibly with a Vbulletin type forum setup, and definitely a forum in which the user can build a profile/identity, share photos, leave messages, chat, and other stuff. I have some of the graphics i will use already, and ideas for the design. I have a few programmers interested.

I do want to tastefully implement links, such as to EBAY (just an example), in order to build a sustainable business model.

Before I get into talking about it, i want to learn a little about how this is done. I don't need to become a web programmer, just want to educate myself as much as possible.

Please give me an idea how this is done, roughly how long it would take to build, and any other thoughts on this that occur to you. Thanks.

11-07-2007, 05:02 PM

why dont you just use vbullitin much esayer

11-07-2007, 07:08 PM

First off do you want a free message board or a paid message board?

PHPBB is a great free message board. It is open source and has a lot of third-party add-ons and such.

Invisionboard and vBulletin are some good paid message boards. They are sort of expensive. You buy a license and they give you the files. Pay yearly or however else they provide.

Your going to need to have some knowledge with webhosting. Your going to have to buy hosting, know how to ftp files to the server, know how to chmod files and what not.

11-07-2007, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by Eric559

First off do you want a free message board or a paid message board?

PHPBB is a great free message board. It is open source and has a lot of third-party add-ons and such.

Invisionboard and vBulletin are some good paid message boards. They are sort of expensive. You buy a license and they give you the files. Pay yearly or however else they provide.

Your going to need to have some knowledge with webhosting. Your going to have to buy hosting, know how to ftp files to the server, know how to chmod files and what not.

Thank you, Eric. Certainly, I have xperience with FTP and with webhosting. I'm not sure what chmod is. That's new to me.

You bring up a good point with message boards. I had no idea! I assumed they were open source. Okay... yeah, i think, free... at least to start. So the one you suggested sounds likely.

Does the one you mention, PHPBB, allow an administrator to incorporate ads, AdSense, or other banners and such... from Amazon, for example?

Thanks for writing.

11-08-2007, 12:10 AM

Originally Posted by Christopher

Thank you, Eric. Certainly, I have xperience with FTP and with webhosting. I'm not sure what chmod is. That's new to me.

You bring up a good point with message boards. I had no idea! I assumed they were open source. Okay... yeah, i think, free... at least to start. So the one you suggested sounds likely.

Does the one you mention, PHPBB, allow an administrator to incorporate ads, AdSense, or other banners and such... from Amazon, for example?

Thanks for writing.

CHMOD is basically just setting file permissions. When you set up the boards you will usually get step by step instructions included so you should have nothing to worry about.

As for the advertisements, yes you can incorporate them into the boards. I believe PHPBB has an skin editor in the administration panel that will allow you to change the skin around and add custom html code.

Starting out with PHPBB would be a good choice if you later plan to switch to a paid forum. I believe Invisionboard and vBulliten provide software to convert the forums. Another suggestion would be to try out MyBBoard (http://www.mybboard.net/). I really like that software.

11-08-2007, 05:51 AM

If you want to try some open source programs for bulletin boards the following site allows you to have a play with the many available :-

http://www.opensourcecms.com/

Steve