OV9

For our race series we have ended up with a Facebook page for each one and a Facebook chat/group page for each one. Its a bit of a ballache to admin and share info across all of them or target specific ones etc. Also, there's the fact that I don't trust Facebook and would rather get away from using them, so I'm thinking of having a single FB page for the company/series and adding a forum on our website.

Its been years since I've owned a forum, so was just wondering which one is the best in terms of ease of administration, a decent set of user tools etc?

I'm expecting the answer may be phpBB given where I'm posting this but wanted to ask anyway.

I believe EVO magazine have a disused forum - maybe email them and aks if you an use that....

scotta wrote: ↑Thu May 02, 2019 1:23 pmI believe EVO magazine have a disused forum - maybe email them and aks if you an use that....

I struggled to even find the search function on that forum so I think I'll pass!

If you want free, PhpBB is your best bet. Lots of support, mods if needed - just bear in mind it's also the most popular for attacks, so bots are endless (hence having to have manually authorised approvals on here).

Alternatively, I have used MyBB - https://mybb.com/ - it's equally as good, if you're happy to use "as is".

Also, don't rule out crowd-funding some proper software like vBulletin or Invision (IPB). They are far better, the anti-spam service is worth it alone - if you've got a decent community who find the forum valuable, you may be able to get them to assist with the financing - it's how I purchased IPB for my other forum.

Matty wrote: ↑Thu May 02, 2019 6:51 pm If you want free, PhpBB is your best bet. Lots of support, mods if needed - just bear in mind it's also the most popular for attacks, so bots are endless (hence having to have manually authorised approvals on here).

Alternatively, I have used MyBB - https://mybb.com/ - it's equally as good, if you're happy to use "as is".

Also, don't rule out crowd-funding some proper software like vBulletin or Invision (IPB). They are far better, the anti-spam service is worth it alone - if you've got a decent community who find the forum valuable, you may be able to get them to assist with the financing - it's how I purchased IPB for my other forum.

Thanks Matt, will check those out. I'm not bothered if we have to spend some money on it ourselves.

I think the only thing I'd miss about FB is the ease with which users can post photos. Last time I ran a forum I remember that was a bit of a ball ache needing a third party plugin and the like. Maybe things have changed since then.

Ascender wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 2:10 pm Thanks Matt, will check those out. I'm not bothered if we have to spend some money on it ourselves.

I think the only thing I'd miss about FB is the ease with which users can post photos. Last time I ran a forum I remember that was a bit of a ball ache needing a third party plugin and the like. Maybe things have changed since then.

Most forum software has their built-in image hosting - this one does, albeit basic. Again, the paid software has even better options, with IPB I used to use their Gallery software which was very good and well integrated, but again, was a cost-option on top of the forum software so it does tend to add up.

My major issue is people want high-quality image hosting, and that uses a hell of a lot of space. A 5-10mb picture doesn't seem like much, but it soon adds up if you've got 500 users constantly slapping photo's everywhere and you have to fork out for the hosting fees!

I've just gone for phpBB in the end as it does the job very well and I'd be hard pressed to justify the money for the others to be honest, especially as we don't know if people will even use it.

Now I just need to figure out how to adjust the theme colours and header logo without screwing them up.

Ascender wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2019 1:50 pm I've just gone for phpBB in the end as it does the job very well and I'd be hard pressed to justify the money for the others to be honest, especially as we don't know if people will even use it.

Now I just need to figure out how to adjust the theme colours and header logo without screwing them up.

Yep, that's what I used. Well supported + fast