Starting a New Forum Website

[TheFoxRocks]

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.

 

[Suzanne O]

Just ask @digitalpoint who had wordpress

 

[TPerry]

Just ask @digitalpoint who had wordpress

I'm well aware of what he said.. but it STILL doesn't bely the fact that about 43% of the sites on the internet are built with it (W3Tech) in 2022, an increase from 39.5% in 2021. That's around 810 MILLION. XF turns in at not quite 42,000, and according to W3Tech's data, about 0.1% of the internet. And many of those WP sites are not "home-brew bloggers", as was pointed out to you.
As long as the code is kept up to date and you know what you are doing it's not problematic. At least I've had nary an issue with any of the sites that I run it on.
He spoke from the position of a developer and having to try to code for it (and their cruddy coding processes), not so much as an admin running it nor someone creating content with it.



Now, I didn't dig into all the metrics that they gathered... but they are a paid service that gathers this data to make money from.

As I (and many others) have said... you choose the right tool for the job. You don't go out and rent a D-10 when all you need is a simple tractor blade.

 

[80sDude]

For hosting my forums I always go with a VPS from Knownhost. As for my domains I use GoDaddy.

 

[Ambient Vibe]

NameSilo is great for domain registration, and I have used it for years with all my current domains. As for hosting, I go with A2 Hosting which is not cheap, but you get what you pay for. They do have great deals on occasion.

 

[JordanH]

I go with A2 Hosting which is not cheap, but you get what you pay for.

$2.99/m is considered not cheap?

 

[CedricV]

$2.99/m is considered not cheap?

I’m guessing she/he thinks anything is overpriced.

 

[Ambient Vibe]

$2.99/m is considered not cheap?

That's the starting price for their 'startup' hosting. And she is using the "drive" with "turbo boost" which starts at $6.99/m. Keep in mind that those prices are only if you prepay for a minimum of 1 year. Monthly hosting for what I use is nearly $20/m.

Their prices are cheapest if you prepay for 3 years, otherwise, click on the 3 tabs below the listed prices to see what you'd actually pay.

 

[Suzanne O]

NameSilo is great for domain registration, and I have used it for years with all my current domains. As for hosting, I go with A2 Hosting which is not cheap, but you get what you pay for. They do have great deals on occasion.

Change both to namecheap and you only have to pay once a year.
Not bad for $15 a year.
Stella hosting costs $60 a year.

 

[JordanH]

That's the starting price for their 'startup' hosting. And she is using the "drive" with "turbo boost" which starts at $6.99/m. Keep in mind that those prices are only if you prepay for a minimum of 1 year. Monthly hosting for what I use is nearly $20/m.

Their prices are cheapest if you prepay for 3 years, otherwise, click on the 3 tabs below the listed prices to see what you'd actually pay.

Fair enough. At that point, you might as well switch to a VPS no?

Change both to namecheap and you only have to pay once a year.
Not bad for $15 a year.
Stella hosting costs $60 a year.

Is that $15 including hosting?

I have a site on Namecheap only because it was on the hosting plan when I acquired the site, and I was going to let it finish off the year.
That year is next month, and I just got the invoice to renew it for $80.

I have my own servers, so I'll be switching them over though.

 

[Suzanne O]

I've been to heaps of sites.
Some of the best ones are hopeless.
Godaddy is rubbish. No cpanel
AWS Amazon rips you off. $238 a month just for their ec3 after free tier expires.
wix is a load of trash.
As is knownhost.

 

[80sDude]

I've been to heaps of sites.
Some of the best ones are hopeless.
Godaddy is rubbish. No cpanel
AWS Amazon rips you off. $238 a month just for their ec3 after free tier expires.
wix is a load of trash.
As is knownhost.

Knownhost is trash? I've been using them for over 10 years. I've had nothing but excellent service. I've used both their vps and shared hosting.

 

[Dragonfruit]

KnownHost has been nothing but fantastic.

If you need to escalate, you can probably even talk to @JonathanW here.

 

[Suzanne O]

Knownhost is trash? I've been using them for over 10 years. I've had nothing but excellent service. I've used both their vps and shared hosting.

Yep. As are all those that share hosting.

 

[Suzanne O]

Haha very funny many people not liking my comments how rude. How disgusting

 

[PatriotGB]

Knownhost is trash? I've been using them for over 10 years. I've had nothing but excellent service. I've used both their vps and shared hosting.

Same here... for just over a year now. Any time I've had a little glitch or question, they were on it.

 

[TPerry]

Is that $15 including hosting?

Odds are that's their "first year intro price".... that's how they get you. After that first year, it increases.
Seems that some tend to overlook that little fact and don't pay attention to the small print.


I knew a certain admin that kept signing up for "new" hosting each year, and he frequently would change the domain name also.

 

[Mendalla]

Ugh, rather like the telcos here in Canada who offer you a sweetheart deal on a TV and Internet bundle but it only applies to your first 3 or 4 months.

 

[cdub]

Ugh, rather like the telcos here in Canada who offer you a sweetheart deal on a TV and Internet bundle but it only applies to your first 3 or 4 months.

Spectrum does that here too.

 

[mjda]

Knownhost is trash? I've been using them for over 10 years. I've had nothing but excellent service. I've used both their vps and shared hosting.

KnownHost has been nothing but fantastic.

If you need to escalate, you can probably even talk to @JonathanW here.

Same here... for just over a year now. Any time I've had a little glitch or question, they were on it.

I echo what's been said here. March of this year marked my 10th year with one of my Knownhost servers. In that time I've had multiple servers with them and I don't think I've ever even noticed an un-announced outage. I'm not saying it hasn't happened, just that I can't recall a single time seeing it, or hearing about it from members of my site(s). As for their support, in my opinion, it's just unmatched. Every time I need support to help me out with something it's done quickly and professionally. I wouldn't even think about using, or recommending, anyone other than Knownhost.

 

[Suzanne O]

Web Hosting That Fit Your Needs - Namecheap

Get cheap web hosting services with Namecheap! Do you run a professional business or a personal WordPress website? Get ✔️24/7 support, ✔️FREE Whois privacy protection, ✔️plus email & URL forwarding, when you register today.

www.namecheap.com