Can anyone tell me how would I go about setting up a message board similar to Straightdope.com? and how much would it cost? Do I have to hire someone to run, monitor and maintain it? Is there a book: “starting and maintaining a message board for dummies?”
Where do I start?
Do I need a server? If so, where do I get it from?
Can I buy the SDMB software? Where from and how much?
What is the monthly cost of maintaining SDMB? Who chooses and pays its moderators?
How much initial investment (minimum dollars) I need to set one up? What phone number or web site do I go to start one?
(Please assume I do not know anything about the workings of computers, servers and message board software packages, let alone where to find them or evaluate them). I probably need to retain a consultant to help me do this and teach me how to run and maintain it. Any volenteers?
Slap that in a search engine (it’s a UK company), go to the site and read the info pages. That will get you off the ground – IIRC, they also have a message board where you can ask further questions.
Talk to the Chicago Reader about how much it costs to maintain the SDMB. See Webmaster’s e-mail addy at the bottom of the page here.
A server is just a fancy word for a desktop computer–the bigger the hard drive, the better.
The mods are all volunteers and are paid nothing. They do get a nice coffee mug. The administration okays the volunteers. No idea on where the administrators came from, but I’m inclining towards the “created on the sixth day” Special Creationist Theory.
AFAIK, there isn’t a website for “Start your MB here”, unless you’re talking about EZBoards.
http://www.ezboard.com/
As for more nuts ‘n’ bolts advice on exactly what’s involved in starting a MB, you could talk to either OpalCat over at Fathom, or Anthracite at the UnaBoard, or Friedo at GodsHatesFundies.
And, just from my direct personal observation, somebody who doesn’t “know anything about the workings of computers, servers and message board software packages” doesn’t have any business trying to start, and run, an Internet message board. Just spend five minutes watching OpalCat and Anthracite’s struggle with the various sorts of technical glitches that can happen. You’ll come away with a new appreciation of all the behind-the-scenes work that goes on unnoticed here at the SDMB.
It strikes me that you need to do a lot more research, and get a lot more basic information, before you start thinking about starting your own MB.
The Chicago Reader probably chose this program to run the board because it’s pretty powerful and can handle the massive amounts of posting that goes on here. Another very popular bulliten board is Ultimate Bulliten Board by infopop (http://infopop.com/products/ubb/index.html)
A great free version, although not half as powerful (but good-looking and reliable) is YABB (yet Another Bulliten Board) and is at http://www.yabb.xnull.com
You do have to know some Perl and CGI and PHP junk o get this stuff set up but it all has really good help documentation, and pay support as well. And, you will need a server to run it on. It will run on nearly any server that can handle the amount of posts you anticipate, as long as it supports MySQL and PHP (for vBulliten) or Perl (for YABB and UBB)
You can get one for free, remotely hosted board with advertisting from Ezboard.
If you want to run one on you’re own server, you have to start making decisions, namely, whether you want to use PHP with some sort of SQL backend (like the SDMB) or a Perl script (like ::cough:: ::plug:: my board.) Both have significant pros and cons.
There are literally hundreds of free and not-so-free BB systems available, some of which can be found at:
I like Ikonboard v2.x. It’s free, relatively stable, and open source, with a relatively large community of amateur programmers working on customization features.
To run most of the scripts in the links above, you will need your own weg hosting account with access to either Perl or PHP. I’d suggest my host, but they’re not accepting new clients at the moment. There are free webspace providers who will allegedly give you the features you need, but none of them have ever worked for me.
BTW, you’ll probably want to go with a Unix rather than an NT host. Most of these scripts are written with Unix in mind, and more people will be willing to help you out if something screws up.
I run vBulletin for my bulletin board, and I’m very happy with the package. Easy to set up, easy to configure, easy to maintain, easy to customize and tweak. I don’t get the traffic that The Straight Dope board gets, because the board deals with a very specific topic (urban planning). However, since I installed vBulletin, traffic and participation in the bulletin boards have gone up quite a bit.
I have a separate host that runs Perl. They’re cheap, which is good because my board isn’t seeing much action and I don’t have to worry about equipment issues, connections, etc…
If you already have a website to run it from that’s a place to go and Ikonboard didn’t cost me a dime.
The only money I have put out is for the webspace and my personal time. The web host I use is about $8 a month (but paid in full at the beginning of the year.) My time is my time and at the charges I bill and the time I spend, I have some money coming back to me from me…
Thanks everyone for giving me pointers to start on my journey to set up a Message Board.
Now here is the twist.
The message board I want to set up will be for the Afghan nationals. The purpose is to set up a forum for the Afghans to debate what kind of government and constitution they want to have – planting the seeds of democracy at the grass root.
Now, I know that 70% of Afghans are illiterate, and probably 90% of them in Afghanistan do not even have access to telephones and electricity, let alone computers or the Internet. However, there is probably < 1% of the population there that has access to Internet, but does not dare to initiate and run such a message board while living in Afghanistan. If they do, their life will be in danger as the Taliban will probably locate and kill them.
The purpose here is to create cells in Afghanistan (i.e. those few that have access to the Internet), and through their participation and our support from here, one can hopefully spread the message to the masses that cannot read or write, let alone get on the web.
So, I plan to start this forum from the west (similar to http://www.rawa.org). However, it is essential that the message board and its search engine be able to operate in Farsi language, the language of Afghans.
Now, the challenge is: how do I find or create a message board that can handle interaction and search engines both in English and in Farsi alphabet/language? (Note that Farsi is written from right to left).
A Google search for “afghan nationals message board” turns up the fact that Indiainfo runs message boards in various Indian languages. If you can’t find any other information, you might ask them for tips.
