# Anybody set up a private forum? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 25, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786 "2019-09-25T02:01:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ethelbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ethelbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ethelbert)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/1 "2019-09-25T02:01:52Z")
I would like to set up a private forum for a limited number of people (no more than 15). Has anyone here done this? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/2 "2019-09-25T02:35:36Z")
VBulletin is not free, but you can easily set something up in a few minutes using an alternative like Discourse. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/3 "2019-09-25T02:44:35Z")
also phpBB ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/4 "2019-09-25T03:13:29Z")
You will also need a minimal server to run the software. If your network and electricity are reliable at your home or office, you can just use that, otherwise you can rent a virtual server from Amazon or similar for around $3.50/month. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/5 "2019-09-25T04:13:48Z")
I did with ProBoards. It’s free. The forum was just me and three other women. We did it for several years. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/6 "2019-09-25T06:06:10Z")
Wouldn’t a group chat through a messenger app be sufficient? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/7 "2019-09-25T06:59:34Z")
Another alternative would be a mailing list. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/8 "2019-09-25T07:02:27Z")
Why not just invite them to a private Facebook group or something? Way less effort. ---
**Author:** ![ethelbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ethelbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ethelbert)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/9 "2019-09-25T14:34:40Z")
Basically I want to use it for condo board members, with each thread representing an open issue. I am hoping it will be a good way to open, track and close issues. Email or group chat are fine for emergency communication but do not provide long term documentation. The Facebook idea sounds good, but I have a visceral dislike of that platform. I just now opened a forum on ArmorForums which looks like it might meet my needs. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/10 "2019-09-25T15:27:53Z")
> [@ethelbert](#): > > Basically I want to use it for condo board members, with each thread representing an open issue. I am hoping it will be a good way to open, track and close issues. > > Email or group chat are fine for emergency communication but do not provide long term documentation. The Facebook idea sounds good, but I have a visceral dislike of that platform. > > I just now opened a forum on ArmorForums which looks like it might meet my needs. Check some of the mafia games on here. I haven’t played mafia on this board, but when I played on GB, whoever was running it would set up a forum. Proboards maybe? I don’t recall too much about it, but it seemed adequate for the 15 or so people that were on it. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/11 "2019-09-25T16:17:11Z")
Yeah, if you can get some site to host your forum for you, rather than you having to supply your own server and domain, that would be easiest. I do not know about Proboards or Armorforums, but, buyer beware, lest they serve up spam or similar. E.g., [discourse.org](http://discourse.org), which I mentioned, will host your forum if you want but you have to pay a few bucks a month. But maybe some sites offer a free, non-spam, non data-mining level of service as long as your forum is small enough, what do I know. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/12 "2019-09-25T18:27:27Z")
You could create a private subreddit. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/13 "2019-09-25T19:56:11Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I did with ProBoards. It’s free. The forum was just me and three other women. We did it for several years. Another Proboards user. From as few as 5-6 to as many as 200 it worked well for a wide range of applications. Haven’t opened a new one in several years but I doubt its changed much. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/14 "2019-09-28T03:27:10Z")
Instead of a forum, have you considered an actual helpdesk/issue tracker service? Freshdesk is free to start with, and is vastly superior in terms of being able to track issues across multiple people, email messages, etc. You can close/open/assign/reassign/merge/etc. tickets very easily. And it has the nice benefit of allowing users to just send emails with complaints/issues, without needing to create yet another forum account. ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/15 "2019-09-28T19:01:27Z")
If it wasn’t for the “visceral dislike of the platform”, an invite-only Facebook group would be perfect for this. Every community thing I’ve been involved in for the last decade or so (from a chapter of Sunday Assembly to a ukelele orchestra) has organised itself this way, often with way more than 15 members. It has the added advantage that up your members won’t need to learn anything new - they’re likely already on Facebook, and if they’re anything like the human beings I know, they’ll always take the path of least resistance. If you want them to actually use this facility, give them something they already use. ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/16 "2019-09-28T20:00:33Z")
> [@TwoCarrotSnowman](#): > > If it wasn’t for the “visceral dislike of the platform”, an invite-only Facebook group would be perfect for this. Every community thing I’ve been involved in for the last decade or so (from a chapter of Sunday Assembly to a ukelele orchestra) has organised itself this way, often with way more than 15 members. > > It has the added advantage that up your members won’t need to learn anything new - they’re likely already on Facebook, and if they’re anything like the human beings I know, they’ll always take the path of least resistance. If you want them to actually use this facility, give them something they already use. Oops, sorry… I think I got confused between the OP and a reply there. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-set-up-a-private-forum/840786/17 "2019-09-29T04:01:54Z")
> [@TwoCarrotSnowman](#): > > If it wasn’t for the “visceral dislike of the platform”, an invite-only Facebook group would be perfect for this. Every community thing I’ve been involved in for the last decade or so (from a chapter of Sunday Assembly to a ukelele orchestra) has organised itself this way, often with way more than 15 members. > > It has the added advantage that up your members won’t need to learn anything new - they’re likely already on Facebook, and if they’re anything like the human beings I know, they’ll always take the path of least resistance. If you want them to actually use this facility, give them something they already use. This +1000. Go with something your members already use. Don’t make them learn something new. If you do, you won’t get a community, just a collection of the worst complaints people have. That’s the only thing that makes people sign up for new platforms.