Looking to build a community site....advice please!!!!

Hello everyone, I am looking to build a community website where I can discuss various topics of my choice. I have been told that this is a very difficult process since this is my first website and I am new to all of this. However, I am determined to take my time and get this project done. I've been told that phpfox is a community site package and I also heard of Dolphins on boonex.com (but they have a few bad reviews). My question is would I be able to get this done by myself or is there a step by step manuel that can assist me in programming? I have also came across a few companies that says I have to pay large amounts of money for this and that so I need some advice...should I move forward with this on my own and take my time step by step or should I hire someone to assist me with building this site?
Looking forward to your responses
The Obvious New Girl

As you have heard its not an idle job for a start. If you have time and is ready to work, I would suggest get phpfox or Dolphins and customize it to your need. Dont know you have any programming background to do it from scratch.
Good Luck !

you could also try drupal or the new community cms from wordpress. but definitely you need to spend time on the developments if you wish to do it by yourself.





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Check out JomUnity for Joomla. Joomla is a pretty killer CMS that always lacked good community support until now. Also, make sure you have a good FFMPEG host like Infrenion.com. We host all of my company's testing sites as well as esmiportal.com (adult site). If you ever want some help with the overall process, also check out www.urbnmedia.com to see our portfolio. Thank you so much!

Drupal is a fantastic community-building framework. They're a jack-of-all-trades. So, if you want the best bulletin board or blog, you won't find it in Drupal. What you will find is moderately-featured modules that plug-n-play nicely within a cohesive framework.
Drupal is community supported, so many of your favorite modules will be developed by 3rd party enthusiasts, rather than developed by a central entity. There are pros and cons to this approach, obviously. What you'll find is that the "good" modules are well supported and well documented.





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Starting a community site isn't a particularly challenging task, it just takes a little time.
Drupal is a good system but can be a little difficult to get your head around it all and if you want forums for discussing topics, you will need to install new modules which can be complicated or not available for the latest version of Drupal.
If you just want to discuss topics, I would suggest going with a forum system such as phpBB. This is very quick to set up and has a vast amount of features dedicated to the discussion of topics. Once you've tried those out, you can then play around with more features and expand your community.
Hope that helps,
Mike





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If you are trying to create a community, why not use a some forum software like VBulletin? VB has added custom user profiles, built in picture gallery, profile commenting system and social groups. If you are looking to build a community, why not use the software that was designed just for that. Plus, VB has more modifications then you can shake a stick at. VB is commercial grade software and cost around $185.
Another option is wordpress multiuser, also known as Wordpress MU. Every member would have their own webpage, profile and built in commenting system. Wordpress MU is free.





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Drupal would be a nice bet, but as key mentioned, vBulletin may also be excellent. vBulletin will also be quite a bit easier to use!
-mike





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I have heard good reports of vBulletin and phpBB. I know you have to pay for vBulletin, but phpBB is free I believe? If you are just starting out, I would go for a free one.
There are actually some forums devoted to discussion about building online communities - a bit of googling should find one. I think the one I used to go to was called something like Forum University, and was v friendly and helpful. I don't know if it's still going though.





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Quote:



Originally Posted by telegraph_hill


I have heard good reports of vBulletin and phpBB. I know you have to pay for vBulletin, but phpBB is free I believe? If you are just starting out, I would go for a free one.


vBulletin is a very good forum system, it's the one used here at WHT. Gradually it is becoming more and more like a forum / social networking hybrid system. I've been using it for years and am very happy with it so far.
About going with phpBB since it's free, I agree with this if the OP is on an extremely limited budget. phpBB is one of the better ones, but I believe vB is the best. Aside from that, there are additional benefits in going with a commercially supported solution.





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