i am using ikonboard, a free flatfile forum written in perl which is nicely supported with its own help forum.
available here - http://www.ikonboard.com/

The only problem i came across was when i tried to remove the files from my webspace some of the permissions that the program had set itself meant some folders could not be deleted but i have been advised by freeola to use fileman (available here - http://www.gossamer-threads.com/scripts/fileman/) which installs on your webspace and is used to upload and control files,(i had to move the images folder into the cgi folder for it to work) so far i have not needed to delete anything but i should be fine.

ikonboard is easy to set up and can be modified in many different ways, from basic colour and icons, to easily editing the main html code.

if you want to have a look at it i have just started setting up my website which you can visit at www.zootworld.com, the forum is held in a frame inside a html page.

make sure your you upload the files correctly using ascii and binary uploads and that the permissions are set correctly though i think this applies to any forum.

if you have problems with it just post here and i will try and help or go to the ikonboard site

well i too would like a better forum on my website i run ..

at the moment im using easyforum ..
Homepage: http://hot-things.net

its completely standalone, and does'nt use any MYsql data base or anything and is working well

of course it does'nt have anything fancie, like signatures, or avatars etc etc ..
but it works, and is FREE

i will hopefully test out freeola offereing and see if it works as well etc, and may swap over ...

Mick ..

@ www.miniminus.co.uk

Booom is a staffie but for some reason is not posting on their staff account.:P

Thanks for the heads up Boom :¬)


The "example forum" links to http://chat.freeola.com/ (i.e. this forum) is that right?


NB. Boom are you are staffie or just a happy Freeola customer like me???





^{Search Freeola Chat}

This service has now been launched. You can find details at:
http://freeola.com/chat-forum-hosting.php

they said In January give them two weeks, so going by past upgrades ie autoresponders and instant sites, might be better to allow 4 or 5 weeks for this to happen :)

loki wrote:
> For anyone who doesn't feel like dabbling in SQL or configuring
> software, we will be launching a service in the next fortnight to
> allow customers to instantly add a forum to their site. The forum
> will appear as a subdomain of their existing address and will be
> set up and modified entirely through a simple online control
> panel.

Is there any news yet as to when we will see a launch for this?
Looking forward to it thanks.

loki wrote:
> As far as I'm aware you would not need to buy a seperate MySQL
> upgrade for every site/domain. You can create multiple tables in
> your database so this could be used for more than one site at a
> time.
>
> For anyone who doesn't feel like dabbling in SQL or configuring
> software, we will be launching a service in the next fortnight
> to allow customers to instantly add a forum to their site. The
> forum will appear as a subdomain of their existing address and
> will be set up and modified entirely through a simple online
> control panel.

Looking forward t it!
Lucky1

I am looking forward to seeing the new Freeola domain forum
Regards
Lucky1

Thanks for that folks, will check it out.

miniBB is quite a slick forum script that allows table prefixes so that you can have multiple forums set up.
Be careful with phpBB, due to it's popularity it has been known to have a few problems with spammers and hacking. If you do use it the download version 3.x.
As Loki has said, MySQL is per account and not per domain so you could install multiple forums to use on various sites you have assigned to your account.
Try to avoid flat file based forum scripts, they are slower and can cause a greater load on the server if they get busy (due to files having to be opened and closed every time a user reads or posts to a thread).

You might have trouble if the BB scripts need a certain table name in order to function since you would not be able to have more than one table of the same name. You might need some further knowledge into customizing table names in the BB script.

As for BB scripts I recommend www.phpBB.com or www.punbb.org. They both provide free PHP Bulletin Board software and include guides of how to set them up.

As far as I'm aware you would not need to buy a seperate MySQL upgrade for every site/domain. You can create multiple tables in your database so this could be used for more than one site at a time.

For anyone who doesn't feel like dabbling in SQL or configuring software, we will be launching a service in the next fortnight to allow customers to instantly add a forum to their site. The forum will appear as a subdomain of their existing address and will be set up and modified entirely through a simple online control panel.

I have been trying to put a forum on my sites for ages, the problem is most use mysql. Is there any decent forum or bb board scripts that uses flat files?

I was thinking of having the mysql thingy enabled, but I have quite a few web sites purchased from Freeola, it would make it rather pricey.

Its a pity the payment would not cover the whole account, rather than just one directory !!!!!!!

Thanks a lot for the replies. If freeola are going to release one I think I will wait for it so I know for sure it will be secure enough for my needs.

Cool looking forward to the launch

Freeola Instant sites is now due to launch next week, it will include Blogs at launch, though it will not include a Forum feature. We are however launching a Forum product within the next month which will integrate with Instant Sites and with any other Freeola hosted site.

More information to follow .....

You'll need to install a forum 'script' on your site.

Either writing one yourself or using a third-party one.

There are lots out there, free and paid for.
For example www.phpbb.com is a well known free one.

Searching for 'forum script' will shows you lots of similar ones.

The more advanced the script the more likely it will require a MySQL databse. If you are after a small forum you can get away with one that uses a 'flatfile' database which means you won't need MySQL. But this would only cope with a relatively quiet forum.

Remember to think about security when installing a forum script. They are often attacked - so if you are installing someone else's script make sure it one that is well supported.

NB. I beleive Freeola's 'Web site builder' (launching soonish) will come with a forum option so this could also suit you. Just looked at the link in MyFreeola and it mentions BLOG, I thought it also mentioned forums in the past...


^{Search Freeola Chat}

I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction on how to create a forum for my clients to use and to keep it in my domain. I have seen all the ones where they host it for you but I would really like to be able to host one myself.

Any help would be much apreciated.