Help!

Hey gentlemen, and you fine ladies!
If you all read my introduction, you read that I may be considering starting my first forum venture. The forum venture, as you read, would have the topic of living the rural, country life. Which to me, would interpret as "I live in the country, and would like to interact with other people that live in the country."

As a result, I need you guys' two cents (maybe 100 dollars, if you will :o) on the following matter:

If I do start this community, which forum software should I use? I've really been considering phpBB to start, and as we progress, move to something paid like vBulletin () or IPB. Looking at this thread, settling with vBulletin could end in a legal dispute, and even submitting a complaint with the Better Business Bureau with vBulletin solutions. Eh, that's not a good look, to be honest. And looking at this thread, both softwares have their pro's and their con's.

Which hosting solutioin would you all suggest? Something light would be good, but something reliable would be excellent. One that seems that may fit my wants is NameCheap Hosting or 1&1. However, I've heard good things about Innohosting, BlueHost and DreamHost. MochaHost also hosts some good sites.

Design wise, which would you all suggest? The people here seem to have good talent. Especially FullMetalBabe! All I'd need is a banner, logo, ranks, and other images that'd come with a custom skin, just without the skin. Maybe FullMetalBabe could quote me personally, but until then, you all should suggest!

Last but not least, what domain name may fit the site's niche? Remember, it's about living in the country and meeting new people. I've been considering something like "ILoveTheCountry.Org" or "CountryIsMe.Com." Maybe even "Howdytoyou.Com" could work. Something unique, yet straight forward would be good, and what I am looking for.

So in a nutshell, for those that say "TL;DR," my questions are the following--

• What forum software should I settle with? Why?
• What hosting company may fit my needs most?
• Which designer could fulfill my request?
• What domain would fit my niche?

Thanks in advance ladies and gents.

 

If you want to go with free software, I'd say MyBB. I consider MyBB to be the premium free forum solution, and I always use it if I don't use a paid solution.
In fact, my Linnie Forum started out on MyBB because I wasn't sure if it'd succeed or not. It did, so I quickly converted to vBulletin (which was an easy process, by the way).

If you want a paid solution, I would normally recommend vBulletin 100%. However, recent events have lead many customers astray, and it's really up to you to decide if you want to become a part of the mess. It's really hard to determine if it's right for you considering all that is going on right now. It becomes even harder when you consider the possible roads vB could head down in the future.

To be safe, I'd say just choose IP.Board. Afterall, it's an amazing product and is managed by people who know how to do business and treat customers properly.

It's kind of hard to recommend a host on a whim. You'd have to do some research for yourself to find one that's best for you.
Some ideas:
Check - AdminAddict - Compare Web Hosting Plans: Web Hosting, VPS and Dedicated Servers
Check - Web Hosting Talk - The largest, most influential web hosting community on the Internet
Search AA for a host that you want to know about; we may have some discussions about it, perhaps with good or bad reviews.

Stay away from GoDaddy hosting. You mentioned 1&1, who I would also recommend staying away from; they are oversellers and really try to attract those who know nothing about hosting.

If you don't need an entire custom skin, you could use a pre-made one and piece other custom components together. We have several image sets released here (such as rank badges, icons, smilies, etc.) and there are hundreds on other places around the 'net.

You don't necessarily need to have custom *everything*.

This is where you get to be creative. Do people who live in the country have any nicknames or common themes, for example? The examples you mentioned are too "frank", in my opinion.

One member here created a forum for tech-geeks with Asperger's syndrome. Apparently, people with Asperger's syndrome are often called "aspies"... so he chose the domain, "DigitalAspie" which in my opinion is extremely creative. It's much better than "GeeksWithAspergers.com", for example.

Think outside the box and use catchy terminology.

 

Wow, Nick, thanks for your response! It was one that I really wasn't expecting!

I really like that you suggested MyBB, but to be completely honest, the things I've heard about them, are, well, not what I wanted to hear. Most said that the themes are limited, and are the same, just with necessary color changes. However, I looked at the styles database personally, and really enjoyed Justin S' work! His designs are quite simple, but quite good too.

IP.Board is good, but my buddy owns a community, and allowed me access to the backend, and if I say so myself, if I ever learned how to design, it'd be hard doing it in the IPB Administrator's CP! However, the permissions system is quite... supreme, for a lack of a better word.

vBulletin, OTOH, is good, known worldwide, and their customer service, from what I've heard, is "okay." vBulletin also has a more wide variety of designers and skinners, which would leave me with almost unlimited choices. But as you said, with the recent mess, I'm unattracted.

GoDaddy, I know is not reputable, but I'm appalled to hear about 1&1. Their hosting seems okay.

A pre-made skin is also what I was thinking, is why I said I'd only need the other images to finish it off. But on the same note, the skin that I saw that fulfilled my needs, would need a few color tweaks. Would a designer be able to tweak the design without the original designer's permission? Maybe, but if not, it'd be inconveniencing me. Not good.

Where I live, we are called "hicks" but to some, that's a racial, slanderous term. I'd want something universal. Something like "Iliveinafarmtown" sounds creative, but is long, and could limit my SEO rankings. Are there any reputable word twisters out there?

I'm going to ask my neighbors, that I don't have, what words could work out -- in the meantime.

Thanks for your input Nick.

 

If you want free, MyBB. I find it to be one of the most user friendly(and admin friendly), besides vB(IMO), since you can mold about anything. IPB and vB if you'd like to pay, pick any, both of them have their ups and downs. I moved from MyBB to vB because I think(know) it fits better on my niche(s). Both anime and designing forum do get an advantage on using vB software.

The move from MyBB to vB went smoothly.

You can also corroborate on Webhostingtalk.com and see what people there say.

Any. People here have a lot of talent. Personally I'd like to start with a BANG, so people are impressed. As Nick said, you don't need a custom theme right away, a pre-made with a good banner and some modifications could go a long way. A design might not be everything, but it's certainly the first thing your users see, I've always thought that a good design and great content make a kickass site.

For me, depends on the complexity of the job, we will quote you based on what you want.

A domain not necessarily have to have the name of the niche you're in, maybe it could be a slang used in country talk. I'm hispanic and my first language is Spanish, I guess country people would be Jíbaros in PR, I think. X3

 

Justin's work is indeed fantastic. I'm not sure if he does custom work, but you might contact him and see. He is a member here (in fact, he's the MyBB Mentor).

As you've discovered, there are pros and cons to each choice, so it's not easy to make a decision.

 

MyBB seems to be the free software of choice around here. phpBB, though, may be what I choose. *Shrug*

I've looked around WebHostingTalk and saw some good information about MDDHosting and HostGator. I'll check both places out. But purchasing through HostGator will help AdminAddict - we'll see.

I agree, FullMetalBabe - custom isn't necessary, but premium is! The visual appearance is what counts. And the slang, there's some of that I have up my sleeve.

 

HostGator actually is pretty decent (and I'm not trying to sell it so we can get your sale ), especially for new starters. You will do fine on shared hosting for a decent amount of time until your forum outgrows it.

 

That's what I know, Nick! I wanted to start with a VPS, but I don't think I can afford that at the moment, and really, I don't need it. However, if I start this site, I just got the word my wife would want to start a sister site for country women. So that's two sites. A VPS can usually hold up to 100 small sites, right?

But on shared hosting, you can host more than one site, right? Hosting's never been a strong point of mine.

 

Yes, but resources may be limited, depending on the provider.

I wouldn't expect it to be, seeing as though you've never run a website before.

 

Welcome to AA and congrats on wanting to start a community =)

MyBB is an awesome free forum, better than phpBB I think. Nick thinks so to =). I've used pirmarly vBulletin since the 3.7.X series and I've never really loved it. I have used IPB since the early 2.X.X days and I've just loved it. I've only really used vB just because there were tons more mods, skins, etc for it and all my users seemed to like it a lot more and I tried to make them happy so yea. My new forum, IPBAdmin will be IPB3 of course.

HostTDS.com =). I'm currently using them and have been for about 4, almost 5 months now it seems. They've got very good support, very good uptime and they don't oversell. You can check out WHT.us for some reviews on them and other hosts. I've also used SurpassHosting for a long time, around 9 or so months and they're fairly good to. I even used them for a dedicated server provider to. But I do think they tend to oversell though. But they're also one of the only forums with an active, friendly, helpful support community, Surmunity =). I would advise you take a look around WHT.us for some hosting providers reviews.

Transversestyles.com and Skinbox.net have some nice forum skins. Maybe check them out some. Then like Nick said, there's some free stuff here for your forums and tons of it out there on the net.

I wouldn't be giving/taking no ideas in a public forum as someone could get it before you do. Also, just a word of advice from my experience. Do not check your domain in any registration site unless you're going to buy it right then as people do camp the WHOIS searches and will snatch up your domain in a heartbeat. I've had that happen to me a few times and the domains are all registered for like 10 years now -_-.

No problem. Enjoy your stay here and best of luck on your venture =)

I feel bad now that you mentioned that Nick . I really should get that community going, I have such a good domain like you said lol.

 

Nick, you've been a great help. Care for a roasted hog? :lol: One with dad's renowned barbecue sauce would certainly satisfy you, I know it will.

Bryce, you've also helped with your post! SurpassHosting has come up once! I looked at their site, and if I say so myself , their "Developer" package is intriguing. HostTDS, on the other hand, doesn't look so good. I like their corporate plan, but, they guarantee 24/7 support, and I can't even contact a live chat support representative. That doesn't justify 24/7 support, unless I'm misunderstanding "24/7 support." I do like that they are promoting the plant for the planet program though - that's certainly a good look!

Thanks for your advisement as well! But I doubt somebody would take on this idea. In fact, I invite them to doing that! That just gives me another competitor, and to see their ideas! My ideas are quite advanced.

 

Hostgator has been good to me. Have a business plan that runs about 160 yr and it suits my sized site fine for now. Support, when needed, has for the most part been very good. Unless it's a major outage. Then getting to them is impossible but they all seem to clear within a 1/2 hr. Had two in the past 8 months.

Also use URLjet for another site and they too have been very good. Very responsive and very newbie friendly, they'll install your vB install and hacks too. Not that I'd let them but this a site for a club and I won't always want to do all the work.

 

HostTDS is in the middle of upgrading their business. They've renamed and is currently moving to a new site, etc. I know the owner very well and he's brought in a bunch of new staff to help cover support and all that. They are a very good company, but it's up to you.

Do go look around WHT.us for some hosting reviews, you'll find tons there.

 

Nothing like hearing feedback from actual customers -- I thank you all!

URLJet did seem pretty good, but being that I'm leaning towards phpBB, I can't utilize that service.

 

That could be why support is offline. I will look around WHT, Bryce - thanks man.

 

I don't think you have to start off big with hosting. Go by the reviews. I certainly did. For me, I like to find the small ones that pack alot of punch. Couple of reasons...more direct customer service. Not always the case, but it does happen. That way you can be spoon fed...to a certain extent.


I think you are on the right track with all your questions. Research, research, questions, repeat.

A creative domain name, word on that Nick!

Is their something unique about country living that fellow country people will understand? E.g., TheCountryStore (along the same lines as FMBs example)

TheRange, RustlerDen,

(sorry went off on my juices. )

 

The owner from HostTDS spent about 3 hours last night just with me trying to get sorted out why my own server was IP banning me lol. Turns out I had forgotten I had passworded a directory and kept trying to enter a invalid password LOL.

God, I felt stupid then -_-.