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KennyM

221 posts

Master Geek


#84274 28-May-2011 00:04
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Basically ive started doing a heap of woodworking at home, mainly for people i know. coffee tables, wine racks, shelves...etc etc etc and a rather cool looking table i just wanted to do (youtube k1 infinity table)

now theres a heap of stuff I dont know about woodworking, and as im pretty precise i like to get it right the first time so I do my research.

Ive been looking but there is no (as far as google is telling me) new zealand forums relating to 'how to' anything woodworking.
The closest i found was an international one that is FULL of advertising....ive NEVER seen so much advertising on a forum. huge turn off. that and i like to keep things local when i can....help out my neighbour before the guy down the road kinda thing.

So i thought of starting my own. doesnt need to be flash....just a simple forum that supports users uploading photos of there work.......or a forum and something else linked to it for the photos.

A heap of years ago i hosted a forum, and the main reason i brought it down was because I had so many problems with bots registering and posting(that and i didnt _really_ have a reason for it). I spent hours in the settings playing. having to register with a valid email, those picture codes you have to enter etc etc.

Im paying for hosting at the moment for a website im not using...its got Direct admin with installatron.
Forum software under there is:
Vanilla Forums
phpBB
XMB Forum
SMF - simple machines forum

Basically I dont want to go through the hasstle of changing domain names and trying to setup something that is going to fail because I get feedup with the software.
It would be nice to have a simple to use woodworking community, DIY place or whatever else that relevant.
ie, next time someone wants to knock down there bathroom wall or something (we're kiwis....we always give it a go first)...theres a place to go and ask how to do it without the house falling down.

I have a heap of projects, and snowboarding is coming up so even less time....Im not worried about setup time...but I dont have time to be having to monitor the thing every day to make sure its not getting screwed up.

Just after some advise of which software to use...pro's and con's, what sort of upkeep its going to require. etc etc
or then again, if someone does know of a website that already exists...even better!



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hellonearthisman
1819 posts

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  #475134 28-May-2011 14:10
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You could setup a uservoice on this maybe, they have a free option as well for the basic feedback system.

http://uservoice.com/feedback

https://app.uservoice.com/account/new/free



KennyM

221 posts

Master Geek


  #475151 28-May-2011 15:45
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that looks like its only some sort of voting and feedback app.

I need something where people can make topics, not just place feedback on things

nate
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  #475186 28-May-2011 17:30
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I would install vBulletin



Zeon
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  #475210 28-May-2011 18:30
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You have a few options such as Vbulletin and PHPBB which are both quite big.

Personalyl I would go with a CMS like Joomla with something like Kunena because then your entire site isn't just about forums - it can be anything you want it to be!




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dman
953 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #479795 10-Jun-2011 17:27
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I highly recommend phpBB, been using it myself for years and years with no problem

The only other alternative I'd suggest considering is Wordpress with bbpress/BuddyPress.




KennyM

221 posts

Master Geek


  #479801 10-Jun-2011 17:37
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I installed the 3 easy install options (XMB, PhpBB, smf)

During install i set the same admin username and password
smf was nice, but doesnt have some of the functions i was after.
XMB was good.....but there was something in the setup that really got me (it was about a week ago that i did the test)
phpBB just wouldnt accept the username and password, so i couldnt access admin, so i couldnt try anything.
I spent a couple of hours on the other 2, so by the time i got to phpBB i decided to postpone.

After dinner ill see if i can install vBulletin and get access to phpBB (either re-install or reset password)
Also just looking at the demo video for joomla, might see what thats about as well


thanks for the help guys

dman
953 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #479805 10-Jun-2011 17:48
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I wouldn't pick SMF due to their history and not being open source

The pace of development with XMB is worrying:
http://www.xmbforum.com/node/134
http://www.xmbforum.com/releases/xmb-1.9.10

While yes they had a very recent release the gap since the previous one is VERY long!

I think going with phpBB is a no brainer over those two.


And I'd recommend going with Wordpress + bbpress and/or BuddyPress over any Joomla combination.




 
 
 

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KennyM

221 posts

Master Geek


  #479991 11-Jun-2011 10:07
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Well ive gone with phpBB3

its done everything ive wanted it too so far, the only issue im having is i cant seem to be able to have images resized to fit into the main forums. But thats minor.

Thanks for the advise.

www.woodworkingforum.co.nz

dman
953 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #480808 13-Jun-2011 23:25
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good choice! as for images... just do a google search, I did one right now to check and saw heaps of results discussing this very problem (personally images are rarely used on my forums so I don't bother)

for instance I found this blog post in less time than it took for me to write this reply:
http://www.ocell.net/blog/2007/10/resize-images-automatically-in-phpbb.html

though do a little more searching around yourself, there may be better options/ways to do it




KennyM

221 posts

Master Geek


  #481055 14-Jun-2011 15:34
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thanks for the link.

Ill look into it.
I spent a fair ammount of time adding the current starting data and setting it all up.
Could spend a long time doing other bits and pieces...for now ill leave it, and if the site takes off ill look into options.

Thank for the advice guys.

timmmay
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  #481725 16-Jun-2011 09:15
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Just go to the big international forum and run ad blocking plugins.

CdTDroiD
869 posts

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  #482065 16-Jun-2011 22:54
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godaddy has a tone of really good free forum one click installs




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