How do I go about creating a forum?

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revill
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How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by revill »

I'm trying to create a PHP forum and have no idea where to begin. Can anybody point me in the right direction?
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requinix
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by requinix »

Ha. Ha ha. Hahahaha.

You have any PHP experience? Generic programming experience?
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Christopher
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by Christopher »

I would recommend downloading one of these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... _%28PHP%29
(#10850)
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superdezign
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by superdezign »

Creating a forum is good way to get your feet wet if you already have programming experience. It requires a lot of PHP and MySQL communication, so you need to be familiar with PHP and with MySQL queries.

The first thing that you need is a user system. It can be as simple as just a username and password for logging into the account. However, forums normally have profiles with an avatar, their post count, their signature, and their account settings. It's a good idea to separate the basic user system from the user profiles, to allow the system to be usable elsewhere on your site.

Then, you'd need to create the forum database tables. Forums are comprised of threads and posts. You create a table for the forums, then the threads, then the posts. Forums stand on their own (unless you implement categories); threads belong to a forum; posts belong to a thread. The actual way that you organize these can be as creative as you want. Depending on the capability you want (thread splitting, stickies, closed/open threads, censored posts, spam control, etc.), this can be a (relatively) simple task or a difficult one.

Then you just need to display it. You can get as creative there as you want, as well. You don't have to follow the cookie cutter phpBB style of forums. You could come up with a brand new idea that revolutionizes the way that we communicate.


Just remember that whenever you tackle a project, it's better to plan out what you want to do and in what order you plan to do it so that you can stay focused. Good luck.
DaiLaughing
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by DaiLaughing »

Why create what is already there? Download PHPBB or another and it will be up and running in a few minutes.
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papa
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by papa »

DaiLaughing wrote:Why create what is already there? Download PHPBB or another and it will be up and running in a few minutes.
To learn of course. :)

My first goal when learning PHP was to create a community, and after a while that's exactly what I did. :)
DaiLaughing
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by DaiLaughing »

I accept that at a certain point a forum is a good learning experience but not until you are pretty competent generally. I also think that the original poster would be better off administering their forum with an existing product for a year so that they had a good idea of how to do better.

And finally...

I think it would be better to think of something different as a project because then there is a chance of making an impact with it later.

None of these thoughts should stop anyone creating a forum if that is what excites them. The vital thing is to work on what interests you.

It was the "I have no idea" which made me think that a smaller project would be better for now.
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McInfo
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by McInfo »

Step 1: Build an SQLite-driven guestbook.

Edit: This post was recovered from search engine cache.
Last edited by McInfo on Wed Jun 16, 2010 3:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jackpf
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by jackpf »

Why are you guys trying to convince him to use a pre-built forum?

That's not going to help him learn PHP.

I made my own forum...it's great fun :D. http://jackpf.co.uk/index.php?action=forum

It's pretty easy to get the basics down...but I've been working on it and improving it for a while now...there's always new stuff to add. It just comes down to what you want it to be able to do, and how much time you're willing to put into it.

Good fun though...I definitely recommend it. I'd personally never use a "ready made" forum...where's the satisfaction in that? Any retard can set up SMF or PHPBB on a website...it takes skill to make your own though 8)
DaiLaughing
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by DaiLaughing »

sniff.... he called me a retard sob...
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jackpf
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by jackpf »

Haha

Lol

I didn't call you a retard...I was just saying that a retard could set up a forum...

Aww I'm sorry :P
DaiLaughing
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Re: How do I go about creating a forum?

Post by DaiLaughing »

I know and it's true. It took me all of ten minutes but that did mean I could get on with other things so it's the usual - different people have different needs. That's why forums are so good because between us we can give a range of opinions for someone to learn from. [preach mode off]
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