Questions aboot beginning a forum

[Hades]

im not very well versed in technology; i know the basics of office and computer usage. i recently discovered defragging.... anyway, if i wanted to start my own forum with vbulletin, just how do i go aboot doin this? I know i need to purchase the vbulletin software and whatnot, but after that and a server and such, im not too certain.

[ecoli]

you'd have to learn how to code in PHP if you want to make a really customized site, I believe. But I think vBulletien has built in packages, so you don't actually have to know how to code. At least, this is what I believe.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

vBulletin is not exactly the simplest software ever, and for a small site, something like phpBB would be more suitable. But that's your choice; do a comparison between them to see which you'd prefer.

 

Anyways, the steps would go something like this:

1. Find yourself a webhost. You'd want to do a bit of research on a site like http://www.webhostingtalk.com to see which hosts are good (look for a shared host at first) and which rip you off.
   
2. Get the forum software and install it (they have manuals).
   
3. Advertise to your selected market. Be patient. SFN's been around since 2002 and we've only gotten to here If you have a topic for your site that is not already the topic for 284935 other sites, and you are a good administrator, the people will come.