Help with building an Internet forum

Rogers

Well-Known Member
Ok so my Winnebago Revel RV purchase and upgrades has taken me down a rabbit hole. I found that there is not an Internet forum for Revels specifically and the only large group is on FB and that platform in my opinion isn’t great for the content people are trying to share. A lot of people with Revels mountain bike ride and like the same stuff I do. So I came up with the bright idea of building a forum for Revel owners and wannabes. After one of my recent posts on the Revel FB group I received a lot of interest so I figured I would give it a shot. I am not a tech guy so I need help. I’ve been reading about building a forum but there are just too many choices and I really don’t know where to begin. So if anyone knows a thing or two who can give me a little guidance it would be greatly appreciated. @Norm
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Just off the bat you're going to have to cross one big hurdle, which is that you're asking for 2 things really:

1. Somewhere to host
2. Forum software to run on said host

If you're not a tech guy, marrying these 2 is not so easy most of the time. What you really need is to find a service that gives you both of these. I did a 5 minute google search and didn't find anything. I'm sure they exist. But you need to wade through the chaff to find what you're looking for.

Maybe @Patrick or @soundz has an idea there.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
I got nothing. Something like google (rooms/meet/keep) doesn't have the administrative interface of a forum.

Wordpress forums would probably be the easiest - i've never used them - or any wordpress for that matter!
Not sure about their admin interface, user/member management, etc.
 

johnbryanpeters

Well-Known Member
I got nothing. Something like google (rooms/meet/keep) doesn't have the administrative interface of a forum.

Wordpress forums would probably be the easiest - i've never used them - or any wordpress for that matter!
Not sure about their admin interface, user/member management, etc.
And Wordpress is pretty notorious for security issues...
 

Rogers

Well-Known Member
Thanks. Any thoughts on VBullletin since most RV sites seem to be running that? I think most people want a mobile friendly site. If I can nail down software at least then I can spend time figuring out the rest. I bought a domain so I’ve made some progress lol.
 

Jason

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
I have been creating topical forums since about 2000. I started writing my own and very quickly determined that to be a completely crap idea. I've used a ton of "canned" paid and free software solutions like phpbb, mybb, vbulletin. I've even used a few CMS solutions like joomla, drupal and wordpress running forum mods. IMO, the best experience I have had to date is with vbulletin. I manage my domains through namecheap.com and have been hosting with hostgator.com for probably 15 years now and use gsuite for all my emails. After all this, I still prefer something like a FB group because I don't like having to manage php, web server, vbulletin updates. That being said, hostgator has a one click installs for a number of forum solutions (not vbulletin), handles most updates automatically and has a pretty responsive support team when things go wrong. A google search will provide you a list of hosting companies that have similar one click vbulletin installs or even dedicated vbulletin hosting services. Alternatively, you can look at Simple Machines, phpBB, Advanced Electron, MyBB and I'm sure countless other lesser known options.

All that being said, with the number of resources out there, think of how you are going to attract folks from established sites like. rvforums.com, irv2.com, winnieowners.com, classbforum.com, etc.


Edit: https://www.a2hosting.com/vbulletin-hosting came up in my google search. I have used a2 in the past and while I don't use them any longer, I didn't have any problems with their service.
 

Rogers

Well-Known Member
@Jason thank you! After some research this morning I was starting to lean towards Vbulletin Cloud because they offer hosting also. Yes it is more expensive but I don't mind paying a little more now so that I can focus on setting up the forum. It's like $15 a month. I read the FAQ and I can transfer my data to another host down the road if I want to go that route. I want to make this quick and simple and see where it goes from there. Thoughts on Vbulletin Cloud?

I already have an audience from a 7k member FB group. I took a poll and got some decent results so I figured I would have fun with it and see where it goes.
 

Jason

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
@Jason thank you! After some research this morning I was starting to lean towards Vbulletin Cloud because they offer hosting also. Yes it is more expensive but I don't mind paying a little more now so that I can focus on setting up the forum. It's like $15 a month. I read the FAQ and I can transfer my data to another host down the road if I want to go that route. I want to make this quick and simple and see where it goes from there. Thoughts on Vbulletin Cloud?

I already have an audience from a 7k member FB group. I took a poll and got some decent results so I figured I would have fun with it and see where it goes.

I like the vbulletin cloud idea but for me, it's just too expensive for testing the water. The $15 a month is billed annually so you'd be out $180 up front. Otherwise it's $20 a month if you pay monthly. Again, not a bad idea for the conveniences you will be getting but there are definitely cheaper options available.
 

Rogers

Well-Known Member
I like the vbulletin cloud idea but for me, it's just too expensive for testing the water. The $15 a month is billed annually so you'd be out $180 up front. Otherwise it's $20 a month if you pay monthly. Again, not a bad idea for the conveniences you will be getting but there are definitely cheaper options available.
Thanks I'm going to go this route and then I'll try and cut costs later as I learn. Right now I'm willing to pay for ease and convenience.
 

jmanic

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
Staff member
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
On the non-tech side, is Revels casting a wide enough net?
Wondering if you want to go with
VanNerds.com with sub forums for Revels, Sprinters, Vanagons, and common area sub forums.
 

soundz

The Hat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I think Jason covered it much better than I can. I haven't looked into this kind of stuff in years. FWIW, mtbNJ used to run on vBulletin and at some point we needed to upgrade I think from version 4.x to 5.x. The upgrade process was the sh*ts and the software itself seemed like a huge amount of bloat. At that time, we decided to try out Xenforo - which I believe was created by a revolt of developers who worked on vBulletin. The size of the codebase was like 50 times smaller and the database import process was pretty much click a button. It imported vBulletin data better than vBulletin imported vBulletin data. That said I know vBulletin has a huge user base and has been around for ages. Plus if you go the hosted route, all the behind the scenes kind of stuff is taken care of for you. Should you choose to run the software yourself at some point, there is still the option to import your data into something like a Xenforo.
 

Rogers

Well-Known Member
Y
On the non-tech side, is Revels casting a wide enough net?
Wondering if you want to go with
VanNerds.com with sub forums for Revels, Sprinters, Vanagons, and common area sub forums.
Yes I think so. There are other sites out there for other brands/types but they don’t get much traffic. What is unique about a Revel is they are the first 4x4 van built by a BIG manufacturer for true off the grid camping. There will probably be others down the road due to popularity of them but right now it’s either a Winnebago Revel or Storyteller Mode. There are 7k members on the FB group and a lot of “other van” types show up on the Revel group for ideas etc. I can also really contribute content myself because after owning one I see what people have questions about and areas they need help.
 

Rogers

Well-Known Member
I have the forum up and 80% complete. I went with VBulletin Cloud and setup is pretty easy. Hardest thing for me and where I ran into trouble was setting up CNAME. I added it in the wrong spot.

I have another question for those with experience.

@Jason @soundz @Norm any advice for when I launch it to help keep things manageable since I’m a one man show right now. I don’t expect a mad rush but I want to be prepared. How do I help minimize Spammers or someone from causing chaos in the forum and those pissed off that I’m starting the forum and there are some of course. Yeah I’ll get to that story in a minute. Any suggestions on how to keep things in order when I need a break and don’t want to monitor it 24/7, maybe this isn’t an option.

So funny story. I created three posts on the Revel FB Group. One was basically reminding the onslaught of new members myself included that I have seen a drop in the experienced members helping new Revel Owners because of so many repeat questions and things that are clearly in the owners manual. I said use the search function and do a little digging before asking a question. It created a great discussion with a lot of engagement. As a result of what I was reading I contacted the guy who I think created the group and an admin and asked if they are cool with what I’m posting just so I understood where their heads are at and heard crickets. I’ve learned a lot from the FB group and didn’t want to stir the pot too much. So I posted a poll on who would like a dedicated Revel forum and got about 100 yess, some maybes and about 5 no forums are old school don’t dilute the content from this group. I got some great discussion around this too. I contacted the admins again because I don’t want to cause issues but had a feeling I’m on their shit list now and figured things could go south quickly. One of the newer admins finally got back to me and said everything was cool. Perfect so after that post I put up a 3rd post asking for anyone with experience interested in helping me build content that will be shared in an organized way to please let me know. I put this up because there are lot of people stating it’s hard to find answers to questions which have been answered 100 times. I specifically said in the post that I didn’t want to take content already existing from the FB group. I specifically told the admin that I absolutely was not going to "steal" content from the site. That night I got blocked from the group with no warning from anyone. I contacted the new admin who I was talking to and he said the group creator (I think) had concerns about privacy/content issues. I get it I’m not mad. I think it’s pretty funny. So I tried again a 3rd time to contact the FB group creator because the new admin told me too. Still no response. I don’t care that I got kicked out but, I would have liked to have had a discussion about it with the FB group creator. It’s funny how in my mind I’m trying to create something fun and good but others think I’m an ahole haha.
 
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Jason

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
@Jason @soundz any advice for when I launch it to help keep things manageable since I’m a one man show right now. I don’t expect a mad rush but I want to be prepared. How do I help minimize Spammers or someone from causing chaos in the forum and those pissed off that I’m starting the forum and there are some of course. Yeah I’ll get to that story in a minute. Any suggestions on how to keep things in order when I need a break and don’t want to monitor it 24/7, maybe this isn’t an option.

One thing I've learned to quickly kick off a forum is to start with very very few sub-forums / categories. Maybe just a general discussion and as you see conversations develop around certain subjects, start pulling them off to new sub-forums. A lot of new forums start with 50 sub-forums and it's confusing for new users to figure out what to post where especially when you are starting and there is no content yet. Removing the "did this get posted in the wrong spot area" of administration also lightens the load. Don't try to manage the forums yourself, recruit help from members that you trust. I am sure you have a few folks that you have been interacting with during your purchase / built process. See if they want to get involved.
 
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