Starting a New Forum Website

TheFoxRocks

New member
Hey guys and gals,

I was hoping this community could help me. I have been reading on here a little to try and figure things out and understand that some things have recently changed with the XenForo platform if I understand correctly. I am nearly new to website design and the only way I can accomplish it is with software that helps you do so. I took some Dreamweaver and it is just not something I wanted to invest a lot of time learning. That brings me to my first question.

If it helps I would love my website to be similar to www.lawnsite.com for reference.

1.) If I reserve my own website with a domain provider can I simply implement the XenForo software/client over my website or do I need to lease my website at XenForo? I have no clue how this works.

2.) I am making this community because I and others see a need for it. However, with time I hope that I will be able to generate ad revenue and I heard that using XenForo has big advantages in this category. Is this true?

3.) I guess my final question is whether or not this is something that one person with limited knowledge will be able to figure out? Like most websites I plan to appoint moderators and such to help out but I guess a lot of the work will come from me using the software.

4.) Also I would like to know about cost, I did a little research and saw the plans seem to start at $60.00 a month. I saw there is also free software available as well. So could I start out with the free software and achieve what I want and if I begin to get more traffic or expand will I be able to easily transition?

You guys do not need to answer every question. It would be great if you knew something about a particular topic and shed some light on it for me. I appreciate any aid in advance.
 
Not sure where you are getting those suggestions that the pendulum is swinging back to forums. Or that FB is losing membership and traffic in droves, but none of that is simply true. Please back up your claims beyond opinion.
<<<Facebook’s total number of users has declined — a first for the social media platform that has experienced seemingly never-ending growth since it debuted 17 years ago.

Facebook lost about half a million global daily users in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter, according to the quarterly earnings report of Meta, its parent company.>>>




It's easy enough to do a Google search: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=facebook+membership+dropping

And, of course, most importantly.... They lost me! :) I haven't posted on my FB profile page or read the feed for 1-1/2 years now. I left over 700 friends and family behind. Why? Because FB is now an admitted government agent engaged in censorship, which takes them into the territory of Constitutional infringement.

Your mileage may vary.
 
<<<Facebook’s total number of users has declined — a first for the social media platform that has experienced seemingly never-ending growth since it debuted 17 years ago.

Facebook lost about half a million global daily users in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter, according to the quarterly earnings report of Meta, its parent company.>>>




It's easy enough to do a Google search: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=facebook+membership+dropping

And, of course, most importantly.... They lost me! :) I haven't posted on my FB profile page or read the feed for 1-1/2 years now. I left over 700 friends and family behind. Why? Because FB is now an admitted government agent engaged in censorship, which takes them into the territory of Constitutional infringement.

Your mileage may vary.

Again, you really need to get up to date with your facts. You seem selective about what you want to share. You seem to love sharing old news like it's somehow recent or new news to try and push a belief or agenda.

Even if tomorrow numbers went down again, it doesn't mean they will stay that way. You can still be gaining in popularity even if numbers temporarily go down. Now if it was a downward trend for months and years, ok. But this was nothing like that.




And they really don't care if they lost you. Over 99.999% of the people on there don't either because they don't know you. You leaving has had zero material impact on them or others coming or going or their popularity or economic gain/loss. Period.
 
Again, you really need to get up to date with your facts. You seem selective about what you want to share. You seem to love sharing old news like it's somehow recent or new news to try and push a belief or agenda.

Even if tomorrow numbers went down again, it doesn't mean they will stay that way. You can still be gaining in popularity even if numbers temporarily go down. Now if it was a downward trend for months and years, ok. But this was nothing like that.




And they really don't care if they lost you. Over 99.999% of the people on there don't either because they don't know you. You leaving has had zero material impact on them or others coming or going or their popularity or economic gain/loss. Period.

Got stock in Facebook, do ya? 🤪

Oh, I'm pretty sure my name came up at their last board meeting... "Oh no! PatriotGB stopped posting and reading the FB feed. Crap! We need to change course and repent for our errant ways! We can win him back! We MUST win him back!"

Yep... I'm almost positive that's what happened. :giggle:
 
Hey guys and gals,

I was hoping this community could help me. I have been reading on here a little to try and figure things out and understand that some things have recently changed with the XenForo platform if I understand correctly. I am nearly new to website design and the only way I can accomplish it is with software that helps you do so. I took some Dreamweaver and it is just not something I wanted to invest a lot of time learning. That brings me to my first question.

If it helps I would love my website to be similar to www.lawnsite.com for reference.

1.) If I reserve my own website with a domain provider can I simply implement the XenForo software/client over my website or do I need to lease my website at XenForo? I have no clue how this works.

2.) I am making this community because I and others see a need for it. However, with time I hope that I will be able to generate ad revenue and I heard that using XenForo has big advantages in this category. Is this true?

3.) I guess my final question is whether or not this is something that one person with limited knowledge will be able to figure out? Like most websites I plan to appoint moderators and such to help out but I guess a lot of the work will come from me using the software.

4.) Also I would like to know about cost, I did a little research and saw the plans seem to start at $60.00 a month. I saw there is also free software available as well. So could I start out with the free software and achieve what I want and if I begin to get more traffic or expand will I be able to easily transition?

You guys do not need to answer every question. It would be great if you knew something about a particular topic and shed some light on it for me. I appreciate any aid in advance.
1) Yes, its very easy, setup a database base, upload the files, add the info to the setup, sorted!
2) xenforo has easy template editing, but we use siropu's ads manager good for selling ad space also
3) We've all started out just 1 person trying this stuff, its easily manageable, and with time your find some mods/staff to help you manage it a lot the way. google/ask questions if you get stuck, I do it constantly, I have an idea I want to do and search roughly what I want to do, if it can be done I simple ask. the Xenforo community/staff are extremely friendly.
4) costs is $160 and yearly renewal at $55 ( we don't renew often, unless there's an important update/major revision change, you can play around on the demo, https://xenforo.com/demo/


First I'd go find a domain you want, that's probably the hardest part. it is limited and it's hard to find catchy/unique ones, but if you find one grab it, you can get them from anywhere from $1-$10 depending on the extension, just be careful of premium domains as they'll cost a fair bit!

Give me a shout if you need some hosting space to test around with, more than happy to supply something for you while your testing stuff :)
 
Got stock in Facebook, do ya? 🤪

Oh, I'm pretty sure my name came up at their last board meeting... "Oh no! PatriotGB stopped posting and reading the FB feed. Crap! We need to change course and repent for our errant ways! We can win him back! We MUST win him back!"

Yep... I'm almost positive that's what happened. :giggle:

So that's your comeback because you couldn't debate the facts of what I shared that were more recent and shot yours down? Sad.
 
Nothing wrong with namecheap.
their cpanel is better than some of the others out there
Yes, there has historically been PLENTY wrong with Namecheap (and GoDaddy). Inode restrictions (when they claim "unlimited file space allowance", over-selling of their shared (and even VPS) offerings to the point that performance is negatively impacted to the point they actually can't defend it (saw that first hand), the fact they will limit certain aspects of MySQL connections. Your defense of them simply shows you have NO actual knowledge of the limitations they impose and how it negatively impacts sites.... and sorry, I HAVE used NameCehap, GoDaddy and many other shared hosting sites for certain sites I've ran... and there is a REASON that still prefer to go to a VPS, as those restrictions they don't reveal negatively impact even a 1/2 busy site.

The simple fact is, ANYONE who recommends NameCheap or GoDaddy to an admin that is truly interested in growing their site is doing a great disservice. There are MANY better providers out there for slightly more.
 
Nothing wrong with namecheap.
their cpanel is better than some of the others out there
There's two kinds of people. People who look for bargains and don't ask for anything in return. But then they'll be surprised if a real problem occurs. Making them frustrated with the cheap service they have chosen.
Or you have people who are willing to spend a few more bucks to be hosted by a company that is more capable or handling problems, offering solutions in a timely manner because it's their passion.
 
There's two kinds of people. People who look for bargains and don't ask for anything in return. But then they'll be surprised if a real problem occurs. Making them frustrated with the cheap service they have chosen.
Or you have people who are willing to spend a few more bucks to be hosted by a company that is more capable or handling problems, offering solutions in a timely manner because it's their passion.
Maybe you should try them instead of making up false information about them.
think you'll find xenforo are registered with namecheap. 🤦‍♀️
 
Maybe you should try them instead of making up false information about them.
think you'll find xenforo are registered with namecheap. 🤦‍♀️
Registration and hosting are not the same thing. What they are talking about is using namecheap's hosting services, not using them as a domain registrar. Perhaps they are perfectly fine as a registrar but suck at hosting.

And I am a case in point. My domain is registered through one company but my hosting with another (my host's rates for domain renewal are higher).
 
Registration and hosting are not the same thing. What they are talking about is using namecheap's hosting services, not using them as a domain registrar. Perhaps they are perfectly fine as a registrar but suck at hosting.

And I am a case in point. My domain is registered through one company but my hosting with another (my host's rates for domain renewal are higher).
My sites are both registered and hosted by namecheap.
I've tried expensive rip offs that have scammed me in the past.
Have had no trouble with namecheap.
 
My sites are both registered and hosted by namecheap.
I've tried expensive rip offs that have scammed me in the past.
Have had no trouble with namecheap.

It's great that it works for you, but obviously others and myself have different opinions.

I too only use NameCheap as a domain registrar. I've learned a long time ago it's much better to keep the domain registrar and hosting separate.

I cringe a bit at NameCheap's support whenever I do need their assistance with the domains, SSL, and billing. Much of it is likely a language barrier, but there's often times they don't fully understand the problems I'm trying to illustrate.

While KnownHost has been fast, very responsive, and based on their messages, are very proficient with the English language, so I rarely have to repeat or rephrase something to get them to fully understand the issue.

I only recommend NameCheap to people in my circle of life as a domain registrar, and KnownHost for actual hosting.
 
Recent reviews on Trustpilot suggest you should probably steer clear of Namecheap for both domain registration and hosting.

I'm reading through it, and a lot of it, I find it hard to believe it isn't the customer's fault.

- Like the domain hijacking. In today's digital age, all owners should be using long, unique, and complex passphrases, on top of MFA.

- There's one about the user wanting to jump ship, so they let the domain expire first so they can rebuy it elsewhere, but NameCheap 'registered' it, and demanded a large fee for it back. All domain registrars do this. It's called a grace period, there's a recovery charge for restoring your domain during the grace period. The fact that the customer is upset and blaming NameCheap here is their own fault with not understanding how domain registrars works - they could have switched it to a new registrar with even as much 6 months remaining, and when it registers to the new registrar it will expire in 1.6 years, because upon registering to the new domain registrar, you pay for a renewal, and it just stacks the time on. I know this because I've changed through multiple hosts.

- The company credit card issue - I've managed companies with NameCheap, and they send warnings before the next renewals or taking action, which I bring up to Finance to help resolve. It's my opinion there's either something more nefarious that reviewer isn't disclosing, or they were just incompetent and ignored the warnings.

- The personal/private email issue - this exists with MANY companies. It's why I've learned to separate everything. I use a very specific email for web hosting services, online shopping, public sites/forums, etc. It seems logical to not set yourself up to a single point of failure.

The bulk of the negative stuff I'm otherwise seeing is in the hosting; CPanel, VPS, hosting performance, services suspended because of abuse reports. Who knows, that may even be caused by me.

When I encounter phishing stuff, I trace down the web hosting they're using. I know I've reported several with NameCheap, with screenshot proof.

I would even find it hard to believe those reviews. Could be legit fraudsters suspended and they're retaliating with negative reviews.
 
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I don't read reviews - i go by experience.
I for one would not bother with siteground, cloud access, or aws amazon because they rip you off and will suspend your accounts if you have yet to pay their overpriced plans.
Namecheap is worth it these days as they use cpanel which is compatable with both vbulletin and xenforo.
 
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