Wanting to start a forum

1. 55

   Carlos Santoposted 14 years ago

   I've been researching and looking into starting a forum but I do not think that i will be very great at doing all the scripts and stuff. So if anyone wants to help me run/manage the forum I will be glad to have you on board.
   
   P.S I will be glad to fund the project so all you need to do is know how to operate the forum and stuff.
   
   Thanks

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   1. 64

      darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      No need to do "scripts and stuff".
      
      You can pay for vBulletin, or use phpBB (and others that are free). Web hosting with cPanel and Fantastico makes installing phpBB a breeze.
      
      That's the easy bit.
      
      The hard bit is 1) dealing with spammers. It's time consuming and annoying, and 2) it takes a long, long time to get a forum established.
      
      If you've never been involved with running a forum before (such as being a moderator) I suggest that before trying to do one on your own that you find a forum that is similar in idea to the one that you want to do, and get involved. As a user. Be involved, be a part of the community, get trusted. Get a feel for the dynamics involved.
      
      Who knows, you may never want to admin your own forum. You'll get to have fun while someone else has to worry about patching the security or dealing with the ongoing problems.

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   2. 64

      darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Apparently 'glad to fund the project' with someone elses money if you ever manage to find someone else to give the money to you.
      
      Exactly what is it that you bring to this venture? I mean other than complete inexperience in installing and running a forum and needing others to pretty much do and pay for the whole thing?

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2. 55

   Carlos Santoposted 14 years ago

   Yeah, ok. But I need people to help me do the whole thing so if there are any hubbers out there who like this kind of stuff and want to be part of my team, please message me.
   
   Thanks

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3. 60

   Jane@CMposted 14 years ago

   If you want a forum, start with a free basic one an Ning dot com.

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4. 55

   Carlos Santoposted 14 years ago

   So pretty much my forum is up and running and is getting a small amount of traffic. It is all set in place for me to get others to post certain phrases on the site and they get money in return. Obviously this is hard to explain as I have just tried to sum up a 11 Page business plan in one sentence. All I need now is $947 and I can start.

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   1. 0

      ryankettposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Bollocks. You dont need ANY money to start a forum.
      
      Considering about 99% of forums never build a decent revenue.
      
      I have a forum, havent monitised it yet, it gets about 2000 hits a day. I built that up over 18 months.
      
      It has never cost me as much as a cent, I skip from free host to free host whenever they begin to ask me for money.
      
      If the script is free, and there are hosts out there willing to host for free for 12 months, then why do you need $947?
      
      What kind of return on investment do you think you will get? I know somebody who is getting 15000 page views a day, he only makes $200 a month.
      
      Guess what, he didnt shell out a single penny for the first year either. He switched to paid hosting after a year.

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      1. 55

         Carlos Santoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         You are quite right the running of the forum does cost a minimal amount. I seek investment on an actual Product that a am pushing through the forum, whihc is what is costing me the money, as I said, summing up an 11 page business plan in one sentence does leave many holes.

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         1. 0

            ryankettposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            So you think that you need $947 to do what? buy a product? manufacture a product? 
            
            What are your profit margins per product? how much equity does the forum manager and investor get in your scheme?
            
            Are you going to give them some sort of formal written contract? Because it will cost you nearly $947 to get a solicitor to do that. Are you going to incorporate a company? What countries are you operating in? You must meet legal requirements of different countries in order to trade with it.
            
            Why not dropship your product? You will not need any money to buy the product then.
            
            How is a forum going to plug a product? Surely a sales page, or brochure, is going to be more effective at selling a product than a load of spammers from China and India?

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         2. 64

            darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I'm not sure what your business plan is, but people signing up and paying to join a forum just to have a product pushed at them sounds... well quite ridiculous actually.
            
            But you are the man with the business plan. Even though with more than one sentence at your disposal you still can't manage to communicate how it works or what the benefit is to the users.

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5. 50

   badcompany99posted 14 years ago

   If you want a good Forum you are best buying a VB Bulletin one, I ran a great one 4 years ago and it had well over a 100 members and they did all the work.
   
   Just as it was beginning to move up the Google Ranking and make money I fell out with a few members and shut the Forum down. I know you are thinking no way would I be that huffy as to shut down my own work but I did.
   
   I am however going to build a new one in the next month as a sort of place to chill Forum ya know, no relgious freaks allowed ok. Plus ya get a nice fancy Avatar and ya can get to be a Moderator if I like ya. Oh ya get paid bugger all for being a Moderator but ya get a fancy looking gold star beside yer avatar.
   
   Yeah I loved my old Forum, plus it attracted a load of chicks, yup tis my next project but if ya want a good Forum ya need to have a good host and a VB Bulletin Board. Yup ya can get a free one but like a cheap car it doesnt have the extras.
   
   Ooops nearly forgot, cost = £80 for the Forum and I have a friend that does my hosting for nowt and joking aside I had people begging to moderate the Forum for jack shit !

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6. 55

   Carlos Santoposted 14 years ago

   Wow, ok I'm just going to leave it there as I don't feel I need to justify myself anymore. Thanks for everyones input anyway.

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   1. 0

      ryankettposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I take it you have never seen Dragons Den then?
      
      You have come on here with a fake avatar, asking for a grand, to start up a business that you cant tell us anything about.
      
      And at the first sign of anybody knowing anything about business, and asking some pretty simple business questions, you run a mile and say that you "dont feel I need to justify myself anymore".
      
      Good luck ever getting money from somebody without justifying it. I suggest conning old ladies as the only viable option if you are not willing to disclose any info.
      
      And yes, I have invested in two online businesses before, both times over $3000...... both are doing fantastically, I havent taken money out of them yet as they it is all being reinvested back into their growth (although admittedly I could do with some sort of dividend already), but they are both breaking even. One of them is being overseen by one of the UK's youngest millionaires, he is 17, has been decorated by the British chancellor, been in national newspapers and on BBC 1, and that investment will at sometime in the next few months begin to give me the equivalent of a 300% annual return. That investment only gives me a 2% equity stake, so you can work out yourself how profitable that business is expected to become, and then see just how pitiful your unimaginative attempt at leaching money just is.
      
      And yet you cant even tell me basic legalities? Is your 11 page business plan just a load of pictures? Not that I have $947 spare at the moment anyway, but good luck with not finding investment. You must think that people are as stupid as you.

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   2. 64

      darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      You've done a lousy job of justifying yourself thus far, so quitting while you're behind is probably a very good idea.
      
      The best thing you can do is read over everything Ryan has said in this thread. And do some real market research. And also realise this: it's going to be an incredibly hard task to establish a forum even if it's fun and free. Anything else and it will be a definite case of biting off far more than you can chew.
      
      If you do manage to pull it off, feel free to come back and brag and boast. If you find yourself slugging it out for a year without success, then don't be ashamed to throw in the towel.

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