Advice and help on building a community site.

Asuka

Asuka

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I have always wanted to create a community site. I have some very interesting ideas i want to implement. I don't want to go in detail about my ideas just yet. Just need some general info.

Firstly how do you guys update this site? The news for example.
What programs do you use?
What forum do you use? How do i get all the features this forum has on my site?
What do i need to buy or rent?
Are there better forums out there?
How much bandwidth am i looking at?
I need to know details on how to implement user uploaded Flash videos. For example. I upload a .avi but it gets posted in flash on the site. All automatic. Example: http://gameroom.gotfrag.com/index.php?search=1&user=944a732c3f31c219c20d1ab14dedd400
 
Asuka said:
What forum do you use? How do i get all the features this forum has on my site?
Click to expand...

vBulletin is very very good and very widely used. The most widely used free one is PHPBB, but in my opinion and a lot of others, vBulletin is worth the cost.

Asuka said:
What do i need to buy or rent?
Click to expand...

The server, possibly forum software, and that's really it to get started.

Asuka said:
How much bandwidth am i looking at?
Click to expand...

It'll grow as the site does. It depends on what you're planning to host, really. Larger files with more downloads uses more bandwidth.
 
Asuka said:
I have always wanted to create a community site. I have some very interesting ideas i want to implement. I don't want to go in detail about my ideas just yet. Just need some general info.

Firstly how do you guys update this site? The news for example.
What programs do you use?
What forum do you use? How do i get all the features this forum has on my site?
What do i need to buy or rent?
Are there better forums out there?
How much bandwidth am i looking at?
I need to know details on how to implement user uploaded Flash videos. For example. I upload a .avi but it gets posted in flash on the site. All automatic. Example: http://gameroom.gotfrag.com/index.php?search=1&user=944a732c3f31c219c20d1ab14dedd400
Click to expand...

1) HL2.net is run via a seamless integration of Wordpress as a CMS and vBulletin as community software.
2) Wordpress, vBulletin, numerous mods to vB
3) vBulletin, install a bunch of mods for it and themes
4) a vB license (if you use vB rather than phpBB, SMF or another free forum software) and webhosting
5) Not in my opinion.
6) Really depends, not much at first, for a site of this size a WHOLE lot
7) there are vB mods that do this
 
This is why i love this forum and site. Been part of this site for years and every time i have a question it gets answered. Love you guys.

So what mods would you recommend? Can you guys provide places i can get all of these programs and applications?

Also i noticed the privacy policy on the bottom. Whats the deal with that?
How about Copyright. My goal is to make a brand out of this. I have a name and potential logo. What would i need to do to secure all of it.
 
Are you sure about VB offering flv encoding? , as far as i know you need your own dedicated server running special server side scripts and an flv encoder to do that.
 
Sorry on reviving this thread, but im in full swing on getting my site up and running. Have come up with a business plan and started work on my site layout, logo's, etc. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. I already own the domain names i need, which was holding me back before.

My main bump for this thread is for you guys to help me sort out my expenses.

WordPress = Free
vBulletin = 100 or 180 what would you advice i get? If i lease it for a year and pay 100 would i need to pay 180 after another year to own it or is it cheaper?
Bandwidth = ?

Why should i use vbulletin rather then the free forums if i use a free forum can i upgrade to vbulletin later on and transfer accounts and content?

Would anyone here be interested in being hired for web design? I have an idea of what the site needs to look like and how it needs to operate.
 
Out of curiosity, what are you planning to do with said forum (ie. whats your target audience)?
 
For obvious reasons i dont want to go nuts and give away all the details. But my target audience is 17-30 probably. Its a site to spread info about gaming, nightlife and media. But without bullshit and more down to earth. I have some interesting ideas on how to integrate all 3 and bring those 3 communities together.
 
I remember looking into this before, and I came to the conclusion that buying the license straight up (180 dollar one) was a much, much better idea.

As far as my limited knowledge on the subject tells me, accounts and such from phpbb cannot be transferred to vbulletin. I dont think they're compatible at all. Also, I think phpbb is the best free choice, because there are a lot of developers, but when I played around with it, it was no where near as nice to use as vbulletin.
 
Before you start your site ask yourself a few questions. Do you have the time and passion to maintain
the site? Do you have the funds? Is this a new idea or are there 200 other sites identical to it?

Halflife2.net is run mainly off Wordpress, MediaWiki and vBulletin as well as a number of publically released plugins/mods and custom scripting created by us. The news mainly uses Wordpress with a plugin to use vBulletins user database and port comments over to the vBulletin forums.

The best forum software by far is vBulletin but it does cost money. It is not too expensive and I recommend getting the 'Owned' license over the leased because it works out a lot cheaper in the long run - about $30 a year to update and you can keep it running after a year too without updating it.

There are other forums such as PhpBB which are free but you don't really get the 'wow' factor from the users.

Bandwidth depends on how popular your site is. For a site like Halflife2.net without file hosting you're looking at about ?100 a month easy. More bandwidth = more money. If you host files expect a huge amount of bandwidth to be used.

If you have any questions give me a shout.
 
$1,000 for bandwidth to host HL2.net? Please tell me you are kidding. You guys can't possibly use more than 2,000GB of transfer a month, can you?
 
You'd be surprised.

















Was meant to say ?100 :E
 
there's a hidden page for tranny porn that takes up most of the monthly bandwidth ....whoops I've said too much
 
Asuka said:
For obvious reasons i dont want to go nuts and give away all the details. But my target audience is 17-30 probably. Its a site to spread info about gaming, nightlife and media. But without bullshit and more down to earth. I have some interesting ideas on how to integrate all 3 and bring those 3 communities together.
Click to expand...

:naughty:

char
 
Apparently we've only had 2 visitors :P
 
Munro said:
Before you start your site ask yourself a few questions. Do you have the time and passion to maintain
the site? Do you have the funds? Is this a new idea or are there 200 other sites identical to it?

Halflife2.net is run mainly off Wordpress, MediaWiki and vBulletin as well as a number of publically released plugins/mods and custom scripting created by us. The news mainly uses Wordpress with a plugin to use vBulletins user database and port comments over to the vBulletin forums.

The best forum software by far is vBulletin but it does cost money. It is not too expensive and I recommend getting the 'Owned' license over the leased because it works out a lot cheaper in the long run - about $30 a year to update and you can keep it running after a year too without updating it.

There are other forums such as PhpBB which are free but you don't really get the 'wow' factor from the users.

Bandwidth depends on how popular your site is. For a site like Halflife2.net without file hosting you're looking at about ?100 a month easy. More bandwidth = more money. If you host files expect a huge amount of bandwidth to be used.

If you have any questions give me a shout.
Click to expand...

I really appreciate it man, i will defiantly send you some questions.
 
So im bumping this thread again.

Im well on my way on launching my site. I decided to build the site myself instead of hiring someone to do it.

Here are a few questions i have.

How do i add a front page news filter? For example, i post news bulletins on the front page about 3-4 different categories. I need a filter button that filters everything but the target info. etc.

How do i add "ad space" on my site or google ads?

Do i need to Purchase a SSL Certificate and what is it?

What PHP Version should i use?

Thats it for now. Thank you.
 
-Signup for adsense and place their code on your site , some forum themes come with this option built-in.

-The PHP version depends on your style of coding and the software you plan to use, it would be best to make sure the host has the most up to date version of PHP .

-You won't need SSL certificates unless you're handling sensitive information like credit cards.

-I don't think theres a single Vbuletin feature on this forum that can't be emulated in phpBB , so you might want to consider that before you get tied into licensing fees.

-You will definitely need a dedicated server if you plan on converting avi files to flv for your site , a cheap way to get around this is to implement the youtube API so that uploaded files actually get sent to youtube and give you the youtube url to embed .
 
Xendance said:
Does this mean you're not using WordPress?
Click to expand...

Why is that bad? Please be patient with me im pretty much teaching myself how to do everything and need all the help i can get.

Im using Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 to build the site.

I absolutely need the news to work like this sites tho. I also have decided to buy the lifetime license of vbulletin.

mindless_moder said:
a "thank you" would be nice ...
Click to expand...

Iv already said im thankful of all the help numerous times. I dont see the point it saying it every time someone posts advice. But ya i am great full.

What size should by site be? 984x4608, 600x4608, 760x4608 I like more room but the 760x4608 seems the most natural.
 
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