Forum Hosting - Help needed !

[akhileshbc]

Hi guys,

I am going to publish a new forum (it deals about "Medical Science").
My guess is to use vBulletin software for the forum. But I want to know the best hosting site that can be used to host my forum.

It is expected to have 1000+ visits daily (and even more after gaining some reputation ). So, what's your suggestion. Where should I host ?

Thanks in advance....

[gep13]

Hey,

A couple hosts that I recently had recommended to me are:

http://www.softsyshosting.com/
http://jodohost.com/

Hope that helps!!

Gary

[akhileshbc]

Thanks Gary

And for the forum hosting, which plan do you think as safe ?

[gep13]

Hey,

I haven't tried these hosts, but I am away to soon, but I would like to think that I can alter the hosting plan at any point. If it were me, I would start out with the lower plan, get your site set up, then start using the built in logging features to see what sort of traffic you are actually getting, and then alter your plan accordingly.

Gary

[akhileshbc]

Thanks Gary...

I am presently chatting with the JodoHost team.
Do you think these hosting providers as the best?
Because, I am not familiar with the hosting things. I want some advice from experts like you, Gary.

[danasegarane]

Check this one also.. For the lower cost they give the Higher band with and Disk Space.

[akhileshbc]

Thanks danasegarane

Do you use their services ?

[danasegarane]

Thanks danasegarane

Do you use their services ?

No. But Planning

[gep13]

Hey,

I am taking my lead from Mendhak, which is where I got the suggestions from. I think I am right in saying that he personally uses SoftSys. If you were to ask him about GoDaddy you wouldn't get a very good response, and I think he would advice against using them.

Gary

[akhileshbc]

Hey,

I am taking my lead from Mendhak, which is where I got the suggestions from. I think I am right in saying that he personally uses SoftSys. If you were to ask him about GoDaddy you wouldn't get a very good response, and I think he would advice against using them.

Gary

Yeah.. I checked the GoDaddy.com site. The hosting features looks prettier than the others . But they don't provide LIVE Chat help. So, I am unable to ask further questions regarding their hosting !

Edit:
BTW, softsyshosting.com seems to be concentrated in Windows only !

[gep13]

Hey,

Is that going to be a problem for you?

In addition to vBulletin, are you doing anything else, i.e. ASP.Net?

Gary

[akhileshbc]

No.. Only the forum will be hosted..!

I think Linux hosting is more suited for this.(It's cheap )

[gep13]

Hey,

Linux hosting is definitely cheaper, simply because there isn't the overhead of license costs etc.

Personally, I will need Windows Hosting, as I am looking to host an ASP.Net site. So really what you are looking at are the best deals in terms of bandwidth, disk space and databases.

Gary

[akhileshbc]

Thanks Gary,

I am really confused to choose the correct one. If you find any good Linux hostings that is suitable for forum hosting, please don't forget to inform me.

Also, will softsyshosting.com allows MySQL db ? I found it in features page. But they didn't specified the database size that will be provided to the customer. (They don't have Live Help Chat )

[gep13]

Hey,

Yip, they definitely have MySql support, but I can't find mention of the size allowed. You would need to check with support.

Gary

[danasegarane]

Hey,

I am taking my lead from Mendhak, which is where I got the suggestions from. I think I am right in saying that he personally uses SoftSys. If you were to ask him about GoDaddy you wouldn't get a very good response, and I think he would advice against using them.

Gary

. Suggestion only some of my friends using Godaddy only

[Pradeep1210]

I won't name any specific web host. But you can judge yourself who is the best host for your needs.
Here are some tips:
Tips on selecting the best web hosting for your needs

Get answers to these questions from various web hosts you are considering, and that should help you make a decision for yourself.

[danasegarane]

I won't name any specific web host. But you can judge yourself who is the best host for your needs.
Here are some tips:
Tips on selecting the best web hosting for your needs

Get answers to these questions from various web hosts you are considering, and that should help you make a decision for yourself.

Really good link .

I was thinking of buying for one year. But Now choose the Monthly Payment option.

[techgnome]

I'm hosted with www.1and1.com ... offer both windows and linux setups...In the nearly 10 years I've been with them, I've only had one issue.

I've also used jodohost before too... no complaints there either.

-tg

[gep13]

. Suggestion only some of my friends using Godaddy only

One of my colleagues uses GoDaddy as well, and as yet, he hasn't had any issues with them either, I was just going by what I have heard on the grapevine

[akhileshbc]

I'm hosted with www.1and1.com ... offer both windows and linux setups...In the nearly 10 years I've been with them, I've only had one issue.

I've also used jodohost before too... no complaints there either.

-tg

They are providing 10 GB Space, unlimited bandwidth, 2 gb email. But the db space they are offering is only 100 MB

[akhileshbc]

Thanks guys...

After reviewing the vBulletin prices, I am little afraid. Because, if the forum isn't a success, I may lost my Rs. 10000 (approx. price for a single license. ie. 195 $).

Do you guys know some other forum software that offers the same or more offered by vBulletin software ?

Edit:
I had done some research on Invision's forum software. And it looks like it's also having some what similar pricing (140 $). But the interface and other things doesn't looks interesting. May be it's because, I never used that forum software before.

[gep13]

Hey,

There are a number of free forums out there, for instance:

http://www.yetanotherforum.net/

You find want to check them out before forking out any money.

Gary

[akhileshbc]

Hey,

There are a number of free forums out there, for instance:

http://www.yetanotherforum.net/

You find want to check them out before forking out any money.

Gary

Thanks Gary..

That forum looks pretty (from screenshot). But when I checked their support forum, user interface looks somewhat annoying. The user area of each posts (ie. left side of posts) is somewhat annoying because of it's large size and huge spacing. Also, the topic titles are having a bigger font size.

I think it is possible to change the theme later
What's your opinion about that forum ? Do you know sites that uses that forum ?

Also, I searched the phpBB forum. It looks nice.

[techgnome]

there's also http://bbpress.org/ which I've used before.

-tg

[gep13]

Thanks Gary..

That forum looks pretty (from screenshot). But when I checked their support forum, user interface looks somewhat annoying. The user area of each posts (ie. left side of posts) is somewhat annoying because of it's large size and huge spacing. Also, the topic titles are having a bigger font size.

I think it is possible to change the theme later
What's your opinion about that forum ? Do you know sites that uses that forum ?

Also, I searched the phpBB forum. It looks nice.

The good thing about using something like YAF is that it is open source, meaning that if something isn't quite to your liking, then you can change it.

I seem to remember seeing a couple sites that were using it, but for the life of me, I can't remember which ones they were. I will have a hunt around and see if I can find them.

Gary

[gep13]

Thinking about it, do a search for:

Powered by Yet Another Forum.net

That is the copyright footer that ships with YAF. It turns up a few sites that are using it.

Gary

[akhileshbc]

there's also http://bbpress.org/ which I've used before.

-tg

Thanks...

The interface looks simple. I will check that.

Thinking about it, do a search for:

Powered by Yet Another Forum.net

That is the copyright footer that ships with YAF. It turns up a few sites that are using it.

Gary

Thanks...

I will check that...

[gep13]

Hey,

Let us know what you decide. I am still up in the air about what I am going to do, so will be interesting to hear if you run into anything.

Gary

[akhileshbc]

Hey,

Let us know what you decide. I am still up in the air about what I am going to do, so will be interesting to hear if you run into anything.

Gary

Hey Gary,

Among all those forums that I checked and when I rank them, vBulletin comes to the very top. So, I am still confused to go with that one or not.
Since, my forum deals with "Medical Science" (I didn't find so many forums for this field. That's why I choose this topic ), I think I should try to include some more interesting features to keep it a success, or the subject line should be changed (ie. from "Medical Science" to some other).

Also, if I consider vBulletin, will it allow certain new things like:
>> Including a separate counter to count the number of posts for each month, for each user (ie. apart from the the Posts field).
I mean, I want to display the top 10 posters each month. At the end of month, counter will be set to 0 and starts over again, counting the posts. Like that.

[gep13]

Hey,

On the specific functionality of vBulletin, I really couldn't comment, I haven't played with the administration side of it.

If I had to guess, I would say yes, but that is all that it would be, a guess.

I would suggest that you give Rob a shout, from what I understand, he has a lot of hands on experience with using vBulletin, and he should be able to help.

Gary

[akhileshbc]

Hey,

On the specific functionality of vBulletin, I really couldn't comment, I haven't played with the administration side of it.

If I had to guess, I would say yes, but that is all that it would be, a guess.

I would suggest that you give Rob a shout, from what I understand, he has a lot of hands on experience with using vBulletin, and he should be able to help.

Gary

Thanks Gary

I had send a PM regarding this issue. I hope he will reply soon.

[gep13]

I am sure he will, he never seems to sleep

Gary

[Pradeep1210]

I am sure he will, he never seems to sleep

Gary

I was under the impression that only that three-eyed moderator (aka Mendhak) put Mountain Dew in his eyes.

[gep13]

Ha ha.

I think Rob is guilty of this also

[danasegarane]

I'm hosted with www.1and1.com ... offer both windows and linux setups...In the nearly 10 years I've been with them, I've only had one issue.

I've also used jodohost before too... no complaints there either.

-tg

1and1 not offering 3 months subscription ?

[techgnome]

They should... I do... 3 months at a time. In fact, I jsut got an invoice on Friday.

-tg