Creating a community for the first time

When someone builds their very first forum, do you think they should pay for software or use the freely available ones to see if administration is really their thing?

I myself think you should always try whats free before leaping into something which you may have little knowledge about and not enjoy at all. So yeah I would direct someone asking who is new to communities to use a free software and then upgrade at some point if they like doing it and are going somewhere with their forum.

 

I definately agree with you! Its the path i took and im definately happy with the results!
It would suck paying for the software only to find out its too hard and not what you want to do.

 

I definately agree with you! Its the path i took and im definately happy with the results!
Its also a bit like photoshop. I've read of so many people going out to buy it, only to find out its not a one touch solution to awesome photos. Why not use the trial!?

 

I'd Just Pay....Its Worth It..

 

Worth it? You closed down....

 

Oh The Gaming Center, Isnt My First Forum. I Had Soo Many Of Them In The Past.
First One Was Alright, I Seem To Have Removed It Thought. Forumotion-ish.
But vBulletin Is Worth Buying.

 

I'd go with a free package because not only should they see if forum administration is really right for them, they should learn to do things (installing mods, etc.) the hard way. That way they'll have a better idea how to maintain a commercial installation.

 

Yeah, Its What I Did, Learned The Hard Way..It Was Quite Easy To Learn.

 

Creating a forum for the first time is quite the task, you have to always keep in mind your forum might not be successful the first year, but perseverance is important. For those with no experience whatsoever in dealing with a forum software, I recommend a free forum software, it is a great learning experience, plus, there are many great free softwares out there. The admin has to have the right combination of leadership and perseverance, otherwise you will give up easily.

 

My advice? Go with what you want to use.

Taking a dive into the "forum script pool" without any prior knowledge of such software is always a risk. There are a variety of features that come default with each script, and choosing based on this alone can prove to be daunting - particularly if you're a new administrator. Sure; there are reviews and/or discussion communities that can cause you to lean towards one script over another, but in the end, it comes down to what is preferred and how the script is going to be used.

Take each script for a test run, whether it be free or commercial. Once you have successfully compared each script, making a decision should be a lot less daunting of a process.

 

I would recommend just to try and start out with the forum software you plan to use on your forum for the long term. Yes, I originally started back with a free hosted solution, but in my opinion, using a type of forum software as a substitute for another until your site gets active can both hinder the forum's growth and put you off running said forum (if I was using phpBB or SMF for any decent amount of time, I'd probably hate managing said forum).

 

I had zero forum experience and investigated a number of forums both free and paid. I joined a bunch and figured which I liked as a user. I chose VB based on it gave the best user experience. I figured since I didn't know one from another as an owner/administrator I would just learn it. The price was almost secondary to the user experience. I also wanted something with a good dedicated support. I didn't want to rely on a user community.

 

1st time forum: Free forum software vs. purchased forum software

I think you need to evaluate what your long term goals are and choose what supports that. If you automatically decide to go with a free option solely because it is cheap then you are making it harder to achieve your long term success.

For my first forum I purchased the vBulletin software because I felt it was the best out there. It was easy to navigate and there was plenty of information out there to help me learn the product. In the long run I think it was worth the investment.

HTH,
RR

 

I'm not sure of my feelings on this one. On one hand, I started with a free forum, but it was not just that it was free...I was used to it because of my membership in a couple of communities that used it. The fact that it was free was a bonus, tho, as I was able to set up a couple of family forums and get used to administering forums.

On the other hand, if you happen to like a paid script over the free ones, it will be (somewhat) more difficult to change thing over to the paid script when/if you decide that you want to. So in this case, I would say that you should take the dive ands buy whichever one you'd like to use.

I know our economy is not tip-top right now, but if you really are dedicated to a forum, or the idea of running a forum, then the price you pay to buy the software really isn't that bad (okay, unless you're still in school and don't have a full-time job yet).

There seems to be a lot more work involved in free scripts like phpBB, tho. That's both good and bad. You need to dedicate more time to upgrade your scripts, and many of them require you to edit them by hand.

Is manually editing your forums a bad idea? I don't think so! Editing phpBB gave me a (very) basic understanding of PHP!

 

If you fail at making one, contribute to a site, and apply for administrator

 

In my opinion, it would better to start off with something free and easy. Obviously you'd need to make it look good. Once things kick off and the flow gets going, I would then upgrade to a paid software such as vB.