Hosting a forum (bulletin board)

The organization I work for hosts an SMF forum on their current site. We will be changing over to DiscountASP.net in a few months. I was hoping someone would be able to tell me what my options are as far as being able to transfer the existing forum contents or what I have to do to start a new board. I am still cutting my teeth on all this database stuff. /emoticons/smile.gif

 

I certainly do not wish to hijack skyhunter's question, but since my question is the same as his, I thought I would answer the questions that Eric and bruce have asked of him.

I run a tiny professional forum and for a year I've used Vbulletin. I have another year's worth of license fees paid but I've not updated from version 3.1 to the new 3.5 (with some AJAX features) yet, and I'm tired of self-hosting a TV ratings blog/ forum with all the hassles (Cox Business SOHO package was a one year contract which ends not soon enough) and high monthly costs. vB is currently running on W2K3SP2 using WAMP. ( www.en.wampserver.com ) I know vB can be run on IIS, but it prefers Apache. I've seen that you do not yet support PHP5, and that the MySQL is an additional cost option.

If I can find an easily skinnable vBulletin alternative in a .net or asp flavor that's got an active and current user base and support forum, I'll switch quickly from vB to it, but in the mean time, I do want to transfer the forum to your servers soon.

Discount.ASP.NET has been hosting my seperate consultant business site for a month now, and I truly like the efficient and clear manner your business is run. One of the reasons I like you is you've been forthcoming about being not too wild about non .asp or .net forums. However, I take it that you will permit vB on your servers, correct?

 

It is Simple Machines Forum (SMF) 1.0.7 and uses PHP & MySQL.

 

I appreciate the feedback. Just so you know, every time I asked a question over at vB's support forum, the customer service guy was truly hostile, and I've noticed that it is his MO because it happens to many other users. On the other hand, you guys seem to be pro-active. I know it's a different business, but attitude is what will get you guys more business than others.

I'll have to figure out if I should upgrade from 3.0 to 3.5 before moving from self-hosting or do it after the move. My ISP has switched the Static IP I'm paying for three times in 5 days, so I'm in a hurry to get it running somewhere else.

Thanks for the feedback!

pah

 

Interesting. I didn't run into any open hostility over at the vB forums, but there is a bit of an attitude among some of the more active users and staff. There's a steep learning curve with vBulletin, and they tend to run newbies through the wringer. But I've almost always been able to find an answer to my questions there. I guess I was willing to put up with a bit of attitude because I liked the product.

mjp
DiscountASP.NET
http://www.DiscountASP.NET

 

Yes, mjp, that is exactly the issue I have with vB. As a novice to php/mysql/apache and doing self hosting, I was a complete newbie, and it actually seemed as if one of the vB staff there actually enjoyed telling their paid customers that they were ignorant, and worse, incapable of being taught. As I've been working with computers since my Apple ][ (Rev.0) #4054, I'm used to teaching myself but I had never seen such a hostile attitude in a vendor towards new customers.

A quick question about support software needed to run vB here. I see there's a $5 monthly fee for MySQL here. Which version, and who puts it on the server.. you guys or the customer? Finally, do any of your users currently host anything using Apache? I really don't have time in the next month to do more than update vB from 3.1 to 3.5 , then from self-hosted to your servers, and I'm using Apache now and wouldn't mind picking the brains of those who have already accomplished what I hope to do.

Thanks!

pah

 

Thank you all for your replies. I'll be moving my forum here in the next few weeks.

Nice paying money to people who care.