Forum Software
Discussion
I am looking to provide a simple forum facility for a relatively small business community (no more than 800 users). The user base is mixed, so I’m looking for something simple, but it needs to prompt users when topics are raised or points replied to, much like this place.
No budget as yet but ideas appreciated.
No budget as yet but ideas appreciated.
Take a look at Discord. https://discord.com/
Fairly easy to setup: create a server, enable community, create channels / forum, invite users, away you go.
Fairly easy to setup: create a server, enable community, create channels / forum, invite users, away you go.
duff-man said:
Take a look at Discord. https://discord.com/
Fairly easy to setup: create a server, enable community, create channels / forum, invite users, away you go.
ThanksFairly easy to setup: create a server, enable community, create channels / forum, invite users, away you go.
If you are not in a hurry I'd hang fire on Discord for the moment. There have been rumours they are about to up their charging structure. If they do not then they could be perfect for you (as stated above) though I would say it is far more of a glorified chat room than a forum as old chat/discussions can easily become lost in the traffic. Same with Slack, which is a similar alternative.
Edit - just remembered I used to run a Tapatalk forum (was freeforums.org) for an online gaming group. Still able to log on though we have not used it in over 8 years. Might be worth investigating there if you want a more traditional forum, though I am not sure of the limitations of the free version (you get ads for a start).
Edit - just remembered I used to run a Tapatalk forum (was freeforums.org) for an online gaming group. Still able to log on though we have not used it in over 8 years. Might be worth investigating there if you want a more traditional forum, though I am not sure of the limitations of the free version (you get ads for a start).
Edited by dapprman on Wednesday 30th April 10:17
Yeah, Discord about to do an IPO and for sure will start trying to monetise everything in sight either in the run-up or shortly after it goes public.
If you build a load of stuff on it under the presumption that it's 'free' or low cost, you could get a price shock and have to migrate to another platform.
If you build a load of stuff on it under the presumption that it's 'free' or low cost, you could get a price shock and have to migrate to another platform.
As mentioned, Discord is more of a chat room thing and has its roots in gaming with a large number of the "servers" being voice chat. If you want specific topic discussions then it's not suited for that. It would be like trying to use Facebook to do the same - just wouldn't work.
It's also worth noting that if you have a global audience then you need to be mindful that Discord is banned in an increasing number of countries now.
You can self host or pay a hosting company for a VBulletin forum. It still seems to be going as I can see fresh topics on a couple of Vauxhall owner groups I used to frequent back in the day.
phpBB is also still available, but last time I tried that my forums were absolutely spammed to death despite having the tightest security settings implemented and unique Q & A verification to create an account that only fellow hobbyists would know the answer to. I was a big fan of phpBB back in the day but it's really gone to crap now.
There is also Discourse but this is a really horrible forum software imo, I don't like it at all and I don't know anyone else who does either, but a lot of sites use it. Example site here : https://discussions.flightaware.com/top?period=mon...
As a general comment, forums are considered very old skool these days and most of them died from lack of activity once Facebook gained traction as everyone moved there (despite it being completely unsuitable). The remaining forum-ers are mostly "boomers" but if they've already moved to equivalent groups on Facebook you'll struggle to get them back to a traditional forum format. Kids and anyone under 40 you've no chance of getting on a forum as they all use Instagram and Tiktok these days.
It's also worth noting that if you have a global audience then you need to be mindful that Discord is banned in an increasing number of countries now.
You can self host or pay a hosting company for a VBulletin forum. It still seems to be going as I can see fresh topics on a couple of Vauxhall owner groups I used to frequent back in the day.
phpBB is also still available, but last time I tried that my forums were absolutely spammed to death despite having the tightest security settings implemented and unique Q & A verification to create an account that only fellow hobbyists would know the answer to. I was a big fan of phpBB back in the day but it's really gone to crap now.
There is also Discourse but this is a really horrible forum software imo, I don't like it at all and I don't know anyone else who does either, but a lot of sites use it. Example site here : https://discussions.flightaware.com/top?period=mon...
As a general comment, forums are considered very old skool these days and most of them died from lack of activity once Facebook gained traction as everyone moved there (despite it being completely unsuitable). The remaining forum-ers are mostly "boomers" but if they've already moved to equivalent groups on Facebook you'll struggle to get them back to a traditional forum format. Kids and anyone under 40 you've no chance of getting on a forum as they all use Instagram and Tiktok these days.
We use Invision for our forums, had no reason to look elsewhere so been with them for 20 years.
Pros and cons to all, vBulletin was the big competitor about a decade and a half ago, but phpBB is solid by all accounts.
Drupel was another option. Just dont use what pistonheads uses! (jk)
Pros and cons to all, vBulletin was the big competitor about a decade and a half ago, but phpBB is solid by all accounts.
Drupel was another option. Just dont use what pistonheads uses! (jk)
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