Admin that runs Forum

[MacGyver]

Would a Admin that runs the forum please contact me at my email listed in my profile?

Specifically I am interested in knowing how to start a Forum like this and the costs associated with one
I am wanting to know because with my Lightning Group there are problems and people arent getting the help they need. I am planning on starting a Forum for people to use to get the help they need and with some secrecy for them.
They currently use FaceBook and most members dislike that...... to top it off a few months ago these vulnerable people were taken advantage of by a copy cat that I finally was able to out that used multiple members information to concoct a story that some members believed......

I appreciate it greatly.

Jason aka Mac

[CaptRon28]

The easiest and cheapest way, by far,  would be to start something in Yahoo Groups -

http://groups.yahoo.com/

I run several forums there and it takes almost no time to set it up and even less time to maintain it. The other ways, including this forum and the software to support it would require some investment of time and obtaining certain skills. Cost does not have to be an issue though, because there is freeware around to run it. But you would need to rent some space on a domain host that has the package that you need. For example, I run the International Telstar Owners Association with the free phpBB as the forum software and using BlueHost as the server. I think I'm paying about $100 a year for BlueHost, with some options in that cost.

Because nothing is realy free,  I would guess that someone donated space for this forum on a server that they are already using.

[Tim Gardner]

Mac,

Send a PM to CaptK for the info you need - He hosts this discussion board.  You may also find him on sailfar.net.

Rgds, TG

[Salty19]

Agree with all the above.

Bob23, Newt, Tim Gardner and I are the admins here, but we're basically volunteers to triage new membership requests and keep peace on the forum. 

CaptK built, owns and maintains this site-he would be able to give you the best advice here.  I beleive he is an IT consultant and not a stranger to bringing all the pieces together.

I will say that having a forum similar to ours will cost a heck of a lot more than a yahoo group.  Without IT and internet protocol skills, one may struggle with setup of a build your own forum.  You need servers, software, a high speed internet connection, storage, pay for DNS hosting, a place to store all of this that will be available through the web (ie a hosting datacenter) and most importantly the internet/software skills to design, build and run it.  In other words, it's probably not going to be cheap, and certainly not easy.  Although these days the software is easier to build/run than they used to be. 

The big advantage of our type of forum is flexibility and control.  captnK or one of the admins can make changes as we see fit (note we added DIY and cruising sections), change the look and feel, we can delete/modify/move posts, and basically control whatever we want to.  Of course we don't make a ton of changes because the site is mature (going on 10 years, or thereabouts). Yahoo limits you a bit, but I can't imagine that type of forum won't work for your application.  Should be all you need, and easy to get going. 

[MacGyver]

Thanks everyone, I am going to PM him now,

I know that I have a few options to work up to begin with, because I have to really keep in mind that the people that will be using the forum all suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury, so it has to be very user friendly, cause if it isnt then they wont want to use it..... and then no one wins.

Again, Thanks

Jason

[Citroen/Dave]

Jason,

I remember how hard the boom is on a Lightning [Traumatic Brain Injury].  In my younger years I used to crew on a Lightning, a great boat. Teach those guys and gals on your list to dodge the boom. 

Best of luck getting your Forum started.

Dave

[MacGyver]

LOL

Thanks Dave, I will do that!

Somedays I wish getting smacked by a boom would have been the problem 

Jason