Which Forum?

[Cassie]

I'm new to this hosting/website/forum and to cpanel.

Was dumb struck at how cheap it was with so much support - I thought there must be a catch - haven't found it yet....

But then I looked at cpanel and nearly fainted - what on earth is all that stuff - how can I have so many things I can use at such a small price

So I have lots of questions about what it all is and which bits I am allowed to use with my Lunux Shared Hosting package. I must say the help files in cpanel is not much help when you don't know all the lingo.

First question.

With my previous hosting I was using a Cutecast pl script in my cgi-bin to run my forum. It's a bit limited but easy to use and customise. Unfortunatly I can't get it working on here - been to tech here and no help as it is not their script - fair enough. Been to Cutecast forum and that is almost completely void of visitors.

Therefore I will bite the bullet and change and renew my forum (losing all the old posts but never mind).

Which one in cpanel? I am sure I saw there was more than one - fantasico has some or do I want chat or blog or ...... I am just so confused as to what they all are and which is best.

Any help / opinions would be really good

The other questions will come after this has been sorted I am sure.

[Mark]

cPanel is a fully-featured web-based control panel that provides a complete range of functionality to manage all aspects of your web site.

Check the cpanel flash tutorials it would be definitely helpful for you: http://www.webhosting.uk.com/cpanel.php

[Pumazooma]

I've got a lot of experience with phpBB if you want to go down that forum route.
There's a lovely looking new version due out very soon too.

[kev woodman]

Sorry but other than posting on them I know sfa about forums. I do have a cat called Cassie though

[unknown4]

I also have abit of knowledge on phpbb forums, having trouble with the email part since the host i applied doesnt support web based emails ...
and i think the new version of phpbb is out 3.0 something but in beta i think
I have experience on moderating vbulliten and invision thats about it ..
I could help you there

[Pumazooma]

Yes phpBB3 is out in beta but it's not for live use yet. RC1 looks to be out very soon though.

[Cassie]

Ok - so which of the many options in cpanel would be best to use? Chatroom, PhpMyChat, Bulletin Board, Simple GuestBook, Advanced GuestBook, phpBB2, SMF, ViPER Guestbook, b2evolution, Nucleus, pMachine Free, WordPress - all are options in cpanel.

I found the help files a little lacking in detail about what each program is about (or even for). They tell you what to do (quite basic but some above my head) but not really why you should do it or what they are for. Some of the tutorials didn't look anything like the cpanel I have.

And what is fantastico? Are they all freeware stuff or what?

I have never had so much choice - not good for a woman

Sorry Kev but I really do not like cats - now dogs......:p - but I guess a dog called cassie might be a bit sissy

[Administrator]

scripts included in Fantastico are free so you can try installing those and see how all this scripts look once installed.

some scripts like perldesk are paid one's but others are free. I've used phpbb for forum, wordpress for our blog, phplist and guestbook till now.

I've never used others but you can visit website of respective script providers and go through the documentation and tutorials they have. no one will be able to explain this things in detail as the scripts are free so you will need to read documentation on websites of respective script providers.

[kev woodman]

I'd recommend Wordpress for a blog but why not just install a forum from Fantastico and give it a try - you can always get rid of it if it doesn't suit.

I have dogs as well - no coincidentally named ones though.

[Cassie]

Ok - so call me thick But I don't even really know the difference between a Forum, Blog or Guestbook.

The sort of thing we have already is at "cpu-enterprises.com/cgi-bin/cutecast/cutecast.pl". It's not going to be much interest to you as a forum because it is for knitting yarn but it might show you the level we are at.

The forum we had on the site hosted here (craftbits.co.uk) was much less used so could be simpler - just New Items and Craft Questions etc. Can't show you that one as can't get the .pl script to work on this hosting (did on last ok).

[jon123]

You're not thick, everyone starts off at the beginning. I know nothing about knitting but that doesn't mean I am thick! well apart from knit one perl one

A forum is a script where members can interact with each other by creating new topics and replying to other peoples topics, just like this forum here.

A guestbook is a script that allows visitors to leave messages/feedback on your site.

A blog is like a diary that you publisice online. Maybe just tellling people about your day.

I had used phpbb for years but now use SMF.
I think I would plum for phpbb as there is more support for it and also easy enough to install, especially using fantastico.

[Cassie]

I had a look at the Bulletin Board which is in the cpanel (YaBB) but it looked a bit complicated to set up.

I looked at the phpbb one from the fantastico icon and found it very easy to use - in fact it is quite like the Cutecast one I was using before. I don't think there is any way of automatically getting the posts from the Cutecast into it so I may have to start again.

What do you all think - should I try and recreate the posts that were there (I have a backup so could re-post all of them) or just start again.

If you were a previous member of a forum which died what would you prefer?

Also what is PhpMyChat & Chatroom in the main cpanel ?

I have never been in a Chatroom (or I don't think I have) so I don't know what the difference this would be to a forum or how easy to configure and keep an eye on.

Thanks for you posts so far - hope you can help further

[Administrator]

Originally Posted by Cassie

What do you all think - should I try and recreate the posts that were there (I have a backup so could re-post all of them) or just start again.

If you were a previous member of a forum which died what would you prefer?

vBulletin has an option to import threads and posts from all other forums but phpbb has no such option. you should search in google and see if phpbb has any addons available which can help you to import posts from your previous forum. If the quality is not that much then you can consider posting those threads once again but that would be a tedious job for you.

Also what is PhpMyChat & Chatroom in the main cpanel ?

its a software that you can use to have group discussion. similar to MSN conference. not sure if thats going to be of any use for you but there's no harm in installing it once and testing its features.

[Pumazooma]

Originally Posted by Administrator

vBulletin has an option to import threads and posts from all other forums but phpbb has no such option. you should search in google and see if phpbb has any addons available which can help you to import posts from your previous forum.

There are numerous converters for phpBB. But I doubt there are many about to move a perl script message board into anything else.

[jon123]

there isn't a converter for cutecast > phpbb

Maybe best looking at installing cutecast here or look at another flat file forum like yabb, ikonboard, they may have a converter