innerware Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 Hi guys, Well for many years now I have loved coming here. Now I have started a group that meets once a week (industrial designers) and we would love to have our own forum of sorts. My question is about the logistics about this site and how expensive etc it is to run. Was the site a kind of cookie cutter layout? Once I have a domain name and a site where does one get this forum format? I have seen other forums with similiar layouts, where do you get them? How much custom tayloring has to be done. Within our group we have webmasters etc. But I thought I would ask what it is you have done since I like it so much. No one has created a forum yet only websites. Thank you for your time, Kyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagz Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 Kyle - Although, I'm not an admin here, I've setup websites for companies I've worked for, myself and friends. The cost to host a site, that is, what you will pay a company for space on their servers, network bandwidth, etc. varies considerably depending on the features you want to incorporate in your site, how many visitors you'll have, how many forum messages will be generated and stored, etc. The software to run a site like this one is generally open-source. Meaning, you can get it for free. There are lots of pay packages too. I believe this site is running on a Linux server and is utilizing a package called PHPNuke. You'd be surprised how cheaply you can get a site like this started. However, your time to get it going and manage it is another story. If it grows to be very popular and you are storing a lot of info, it will start to become more expensive. The basics you are going to pay for are (I'm guessing on avg. pricing): domain name registration: $10-@20 year.Hosting (I prefer Linux): $5 - $20/month (or much more) depending on your needsCommunity/portal 'system' like PHPNuke: Freeother basic software utilities: Free to $ whatever If you are going to do this yourself, you'll need to understand basic HTML and want to learn some basic PHP if you use Nuke or something similar. You'll also need to understand some very basic Linux commands, be able to use FTP and/or SSH. There are many other details, but if you have the time, the interest and the basic computer skills, it's not too tough to do. Google PHPNuke. You should get lots of hits and find lots of sites with good information about setting it up, etc. I can give you some feedback on a few of the hosting companies I've used (my new favorite is 1and1.com) and what to look for in their packages. PM me if I can help. I'm sure Dan will have all kinds of information about this site and all the work that has gone into it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 Actually it is a lot more expensive than that... throw in new hardware that we've needed to keep up with the demand here and the bill has skyrocketed. I'm sure someone like Dan will chirp in with the exact numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phailure Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 If you take a glance at the donations thread, I think you will find that it costs a grand or two? I think... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillZ260 Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 Shamles plug for a buddie of mine. He just started hosting and I think he is the cheapest out there, prices start at $2/Month http://fluxforce.net/index.php?page=plans Check it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagz Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 The cost for this site (I am fairly confident) are higher because Dan is responsible for his own server. He may have it co-located in a hosting facility, but I think he paid for the server, upgraded memory, more disk space, etc. These are cost you don't incur if you utilize a hosting service. Those costs are absorbed in the $5 to $25 per month in hosting fees. The downside of using a hosting provider is that you don't have control of the server, bandwidth, memory, etc. I could setup a site like this via a hosting provider for $20/month, but I would be limited to 500Mb of disk space. I'm sure that HybridZ uses A LOT more space. A new, modest site, however, might run under 500Mb for a few years, unless you have thousands of users and/or are hosting lots of images. There are lots of different issues that can affect the costs. You can start a site like this on the cheap. It's like our cars: You can do lots of little mods on the cheap or, you can spend 10s of thousands of dollars really building a monster... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 From an earlier post of Dans... I sat down and figured in the cost for running the site last year March-03 to March-04. What the estimated cost to run for the next year March-04 to March-05. What I have paid for in hardware (servers, firewall etc). What I received last year for donations and this years donation on the T-shirt sale. Here is a breakdown: Account Balance = -$960.00 ( yes, that is a minus sign) Estimated costs for next year = $1908.00 Total = $2868.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phailure Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 Right... a site like HybridZ uses up alot of bandwidth... atleast I know i've used my fair share. If you dont expect to have 1000s of members, you obviously wont need to pay as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagz Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 From an earlier post of Dans... I sat down and figured in the cost for running the site last year March-03 to March-04. What the estimated cost to run for the next year March-04 to March-05. What I have paid for in hardware (servers' date=' firewall etc). What I received last year for donations and this years donation on the T-shirt sale. Here is a breakdown: Account Balance = -$960.00 ( yes, that is a minus sign) Estimated costs for next year = $1908.00 Total = $2868.00[/quote'] I'm sure that is all accurate. All I'm saying that a modest community site with forums, news, minor amounts of large files like images and a user community of less than 100 people can be setup on a hosting service for $20 month. Of course, if the site is sucessful and grows (much like this site) the costs will go up too. I set up a PHPNuke site for a friend with around 15-20 active users via a hosting provider for $6/month. It had a limit of 150Mb of space. It worked well, but never really took off as a community site and was eventually shut down due to lack of interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerware Posted July 22, 2004 Author Share Posted July 22, 2004 As always I am impressed with the level of knowledge this site can provide. Thanks for all the great info. I now have a good solid place to start. We will probably just be a small site dedicated to our immediate group and a few staglers. 500 meg would be plenty, for now anyway. We are meeting tonite so I will ask around for opinions etc. Thanks again, Kyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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