Hiring a forum dev

[mcmastodon]

After several rounds of trying to set up my own forum, I'm ready to pay for an expert to do it for me. Once it's set up, I can that person on as an as-needed consultant, but otherwise I can take over.

Anybody here sell set up services? Or any advice about where to go?

 

[zappaDPJ]

A couple of questions to determine the level of help you need.

Do you have a domain name and some web space? Which forum product do you need help with?

 

[DudeThatsErin]

I messaged you.

 

[mcmastodon]

A couple of questions to determine the level of help you need.

Do you have a domain name and some web space? Which forum product do you need help with?

I have the domain name (currently registered with GoDaddy).

I don't have hosting yet, but that's easy to do.

I'm not sure which forum platform. I guess I'm aiming for something that is both cheap or free (open source) with some basic mods, and something with a nice admin backend so that I don't need to call on a dev everytime I make a change.


Something like PHPBB is fine, but I'm open. I've purchased and used Xenforo and Invvission before... both were pretty easy to use, but there were high monthly fees if I wanted to scale, AND... I found it a bit hard to customize things.

 

[ThornInYourSide]

^^^ SMF is about as simple as it gets. If I can do it, anyone can.

 

[zappaDPJ]

^^^ SMF is about as simple as it gets. If I can do it, anyone can.

I agree and some shared hosting packages will have it available as a quick and easy install.

 

[mcmastodon]

I agree and some shared hosting packages will have it available as a quick and easy install.

Does that include Auto installing of the sqlserver? I saw that host gator has a quick install feature for phpbb, but when I call them to confirm that that feature Auto installs everything and I don't need to configure the server, customer service couldn't even figure out what I was talking about. They thought I was talking about WordPress.

 

[mcmastodon]

What is in your experience the easiest Auto install and hosting solution?

 

[Joel R]

After several rounds of trying to set up my own forum, I'm ready to pay for an expert to do it for me. Once it's set up, I can that person on as an as-needed consultant, but otherwise I can take over.

Anybody here sell set up services? Or any advice about where to go?

Once you decide on your forum platform, usually the support forum will have an area where you can request technical assistance / paid services.

I would recommend you post there for help, since those users will be better specialized to your forum and hosting requirements.

 

[zappaDPJ]

Does that include Auto installing of the sqlserver?

It does.

I know nothing about this provider so I'm not recommending them but here is their walk though on how to install SMF via cPanel/Softaculous: https://www.a2hosting.co.uk/kb/installable-applications/softaculous/forums/smf

 

[FTL]

Does that include Auto installing of the sqlserver? I saw that host gator has a quick install feature for phpbb, but when I call them to confirm that that feature Auto installs everything and I don't need to configure the server, customer service couldn't even figure out what I was talking about. They thought I was talking about WordPress.

Oh gawd, that's terrible customer service, steer clear.

You might wanna give XenForo Cloud a try. Perhaps not as cheap as you're looking for, but might be worth looking into, XF support is very good and it's a premium product, as you know.

Join the XenForo Cloud Beta (now with add-on support)

When we announced XenForo Cloud a little while back, we were encouraged by the great feedback we received. Having taken onboard all your comments, we have been hard at work refining our offering to make it an even more compelling proposition, and today we are ready to talk about some of the...

xenforo.com

 

[Cam!]

Does that include Auto installing of the sqlserver? I saw that host gator has a quick install feature for phpbb, but when I call them to confirm that that feature Auto installs everything and I don't need to configure the server, customer service couldn't even figure out what I was talking about. They thought I was talking about WordPress.

I don't have any stats to back it up, but I'd say that most shared hosting providers offer Softaculous within cPanel these days. That's become a pretty standard feature. With Softaculous, you can install all kinds of different scripts with 1-2 clicks, and that includes phpBB, SMF, MyBB, etc. last I checked. I'd personally stay away from HostGator and other hosts under the EIG umbrella.

 

[mysiteguy]

Oh gawd, that's terrible customer service, steer clear.

From my point of view, it's completely unreasonable to expect any hosting company to know the nuances of all the 300+ packages the Cpanel Softalous installer supports, especially when you consider how much people don't want to pay for support.

 

[FTL]

From my point of view, it's completely unreasonable to expect any hosting company to know the nuances of all the 300+ packages the Cpanel Softalous installer supports, especially when you consider how much people don't want to pay for support.

You'd expect them to know the difference between phpbb and wordpress though, two major pieces of software. Confusing one with the other is embarrassing. I've heard from other places over time that their service isn't good and this just confirms it.

 

[DigNap15]

In my experience most webhosts think that the internet just consists of Wordpress blogs

Setting up a forum for the first time is a bit daunting. There is so much to learn.

I was lucky a XF member offered to do it for me (just a standard install and no fancy themes) but that is all I wanted.

 

[Radio Gunk]

After several rounds of trying to set up my own forum, I'm ready to pay for an expert to do it for me. Once it's set up, I can that person on as an as-needed consultant, but otherwise I can take over.

Anybody here sell set up services? Or any advice about where to go?

Sent u a PM

 

[sactown]

I’m in a similar situation with a forum upgrade/migration from vb to xf, wonder who is experienced and offers good service, preferably someone in the US. Security/privacy of my forum data is of utmost importance.

 

[DudeThatsErin]

I’m in a similar situation with a forum upgrade/migration from vb to xf, wonder who is experienced and offers good service, preferably someone in the US. Security/privacy of my forum data is of utmost importance.

PM'd.

 

[JayTech]

After several rounds of trying to set up my own forum, I'm ready to pay for an expert to do it for me. Once it's set up, I can that person on as an as-needed consultant, but otherwise I can take over.

Anybody here sell set up services? Or any advice about where to go?

Hey!

Are you still looking for someone?

 

[DudeThatsErin]

Hey!

Are you still looking for someone?

Nope, I'm helping him.