Website Website OS, Plugins, cost, etc questions

[-=HipKat=-]

The Buffalo Bills forum that I and many others have called home for Buffalo Sports talk, general sports talk and other topics for many years is shutting down at the end of the year.

 

I volunteered to build and host a new forum and have secured several domain names one of will be the new site name. BuffaloSportsVoice.com is probably going to win out.

 

Regardless, I haven't built or run a forum in over 10 years and I LOVE this one. The options for plugins, the layout, etc are perfect but I want to find out best way to start and build the site, basically.

 

I can meet up on Discord if anyone wants to at least point me in the right direction.

 

Thanks!!

 

 

[daredevil]

Aren't they using IPS app as well?  Are they shutting down because of funds OR just someone lost interest and moving on? 

 

My suggestion: IPS is not what they used to be i.e. they removed all custom addons from their site recently and it's freaking mess. Sign up for a demo for both IPS and Xenforo. See which you like and go from their. 

 

As long as you know how to manage VPS / dedicated server, you should be fine.  Use AWS for email or Postfix if you want to run your own mail server. 

 

If you had used commercial web hosting in past, I suggest going on cPanel route till your forum is popular and then change it up. This way you don't need to maintain server but just website. 

 

I got 2 spare IPS license - full suite. Problem is IPS doesn't allow to sell OR else, I would give you one of my license and you would save 500$ + Tax - straight up.  

 

Currently we are paying 400$/year + tax in renewal + Addon $$ (IPS addons mind you are expensive)  - that's just licensing cost. Now, hosting cost is different. 

 

 

Their cloud plan is crazy expensive: 1200$/year + tax. Jeeeeez

 

 

 

[Shoresy]

3 minutes ago, daredevil said:

Aren't they using IPS app as well?  Are they shutting down because of funds OR just someone lost interest and moving on? 

 

My suggestion: IPS is not what they used to be i.e. they removed all custom addons from their site recently and it's freaking mess. Sign up for a demo for both IPS and Xenforo. See which you like and go from their. 

 

As long as you know how to manage VPS / dedicated server, you should be fine.  Use AWS for email or Postfix if you want to run your own mail server. 

 

If you had used commercial web hosting in past, I suggest going on cPanel route till your forum is popular and then change it up. This way you don't need to maintain server but just website. 

 

I got 2 spare IPS license - full suite. Problem is IPS doesn't allow to sell OR else, I would give you one of my license and you would save 500$ + Tax - straight up.  

 

Currently we are paying 400$/year + tax in renewal + Addon $$ (IPS addons mind you are expensive)  - that's just licensing cost. Now, hosting cost is different. 

 

 

Their cloud plan is crazy expensive: 1200$/year + tax. Jeeeeez

 

 

 

Daaamnn. I suppose thats not too bad considering whats included but woah  

[-=HipKat=-]

2 minutes ago, daredevil said:

Aren't they using IPS app as well?  Are they shutting down because of funds OR just someone lost interest and moving on? 

Lost interest, just don't want to keep it going and not willing to transfer the site to a new owner

 

2 minutes ago, daredevil said:

My suggestion: IPS is not what they used to be i.e. they removed all custom addons from their site recently and it's freaking mess. Sign up for a demo for both IPS and Xenforo. See which you like and go from their. 

 

As long as you know how to manage VPS / dedicated server, you should be fine.  Use AWS for email or Postfix if you want to run your own mail server. 

 

If you had used commercial web hosting in past, I suggest going on cPanel route till your forum is popular and then change it up. This way you don't need to maintain server but just website. 

 

I got 2 spare IPS license - full suite. Problem is IPS doesn't allow to sell OR else, I would give you one of my license and you would save 500$ + Tax - straight up.  

That would have been awesome!

 

2 minutes ago, daredevil said:

Currently we are paying 400$/year + tax in renewal + Addon $$ (IPS addons mind you are expensive)  - that's just licensing cost. Now, hosting cost is different. 

 

 

Their cloud plan is crazy expensive: 1200$/year + tax. Jeeeeez

 

 

 

Man this has changed a lot in 10 years....

I better start doing my homework....

[daredevil]

16 minutes ago, -=HipKat=- said:

Man this has changed a lot in 10 years....

 

 

Yup - welcome to inflation and less competition = IPS charging crazy $$. 

 

Go with Xenforo - you will thank me later.  However, Xenforo is learning curve but not bad. Their community is very good.. and I would rate IPS community non existent, after they removed custom addons from their site. 

 

 

16 minutes ago, Shoresy said:

Daaamnn. I suppose thats not too bad considering whats included but woah  

 

It used to be less cost in past.. starting last year, they are pushing for cloud plans and hence made self hosting crazy expensive for initial buyers. 

 

Something like 250$, u can get started.. and now 500$ is just too much. Renewal, they always kept on increasing. 

[Shoresy]

15 hours ago, daredevil said:

 

Yup - welcome to inflation and less competition = IPS charging crazy $$. 

 

Go with Xenforo - you will thank me later.  However, Xenforo is learning curve but not bad. Their community is very good.. and I would rate IPS community non existent, after they removed custom addons from their site. 

 

 

 

It used to be less cost in past.. starting last year, they are pushing for cloud plans and hence made self hosting crazy expensive for initial buyers. 

 

Something like 250$, u can get started.. and now 500$ is just too much. Renewal, they always kept on increasing. 

Nuts. The dedicated server I currently have I split with my work at $65 a month it’s not bad. I haven’t fully tested it’s capabilities as I’m kind of noob at setting game servers up but right now I’m rocking a plain et for fun and I got ark and sons of the forest and squad. All seem to run good. Haven’t had full servers to test load though  

[-=HipKat=-]

23 hours ago, daredevil said:

 

Yup - welcome to inflation and less competition = IPS charging crazy $$. 

 

Go with Xenforo - you will thank me later.  However, Xenforo is learning curve but not bad. Their community is very good.. and I would rate IPS community non existent, after they removed custom addons from their site. 

 

 

 

It used to be less cost in past.. starting last year, they are pushing for cloud plans and hence made self hosting crazy expensive for initial buyers. 

 

Something like 250$, u can get started.. and now 500$ is just too much. Renewal, they always kept on increasing. 

Xenforo does have a big community.

Have you looked at Open Source, like Discourse at all?

[-=HipKat=-]

8 hours ago, Shoresy said:

Nuts. The dedicated server I currently have I split with my work at $65 a month it’s not bad. I haven’t fully tested it’s capabilities as I’m kind of noob at setting game servers up but right now I’m rocking a plain et for fun and I got ark and sons of the forest and squad. All seem to run good. Haven’t had full servers to test load though  

ET Servers used to be the easiest and most affordable, with default configs included But I haven't run a server in probably 10 years.

 

Anyway, the forums used to have easy to upload and modify templates. Now it looks like it's all coding and plugins.... 

[daredevil]

9 hours ago, -=HipKat=- said:

Xenforo does have a big community.

Have you looked at Open Source, like Discourse at all?

 

We are too deep on =F|A= site with IPS. At this point, I can't convert because their is no application available to take IPS data for migration.

 

Discourse is not good - if I have to pay extra, to access my database, that shit, i am not buying. I had carefully selected IPS, in 2010. It's still good just pricey and their latest approach, on downloading addons from Dev site vs IPS, it's just mess. None of their clients are happy with that and I do owe more then a few IPS licenses. Got 1 XF license from RPG Gaming. 

 

You should host forum in conjunction with someone who is experienced or u are on a wild ride at u age (More u go old, memory/learning power goes down - we ain't Einstein) 

 

17 hours ago, Shoresy said:

Nuts. The dedicated server I currently have I split with my work at $65 a month it’s not bad. I haven’t fully tested it’s capabilities as I’m kind of noob at setting game servers up but right now I’m rocking a plain et for fun and I got ark and sons of the forest and squad. All seem to run good. Haven’t had full servers to test load though  

 

ET doesn't need super high resources, just higher clock cpu, stable network/latency and DDoS protection from jerks, who ruin other fun. US host are mostly costly vs Euro host.. that too after 20% power hikes in Europe. Especially IPV4 - this new charges 2$/IP or 10$/month additional cost - just sucks. 

[-=HipKat=-]

3 hours ago, daredevil said:

You should host forum in conjunction with someone who is experienced or u are on a wild ride at u age (More u go old, memory/learning power goes down - we ain't Einstein) 

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone else and it's really, mostly, time. I'm so busy with work, my kids, etc...

 

One thing I see on ISP is a WYSIWYG editor.

I don't see that on Xenforo - unless I'm missing it. The site that's disappearing as an ISP site, transitioning would be easier for the users but yeah... over $1000 a year!  I think Xenforo is less than 700.

 

This isn't a big membership site. Maybe less than 50 people.

Edited December 12, 2023 by -=HipKat=-

[daredevil]

4 hours ago, -=HipKat=- said:

I don't see that on Xenforo - unless I'm missing it.

 

XF is actually better on editor side.  

[-=HipKat=-]

On 12/12/2023 at 8:33 AM, daredevil said:

 

XF is actually better on editor side.  

Sorry, I got away from this over the last week. I looked at both pretty extensively and Xenforo looks like the way to go.

One dumb question, SInce I get 50GB of storage (For Starter), I don't need a web hosting like when I built my own websites in the past, right? And with CPanel, I don't need a web editor (Like Front Page or Adobe Dreamweaver) to build the site and then upload it, correct?? Or no?

[daredevil]

On 12/12/2023 at 5:10 AM, -=HipKat=- said:

This isn't a big membership site. Maybe less than 50 people.

 

For less then 50 people, XF is best option for you.  If not this DDoS shit, i could even host it for you for free, i don't care.. as server has lot of resources. 

 

On 12/21/2023 at 5:55 AM, -=HipKat=- said:

One dumb question, SInce I get 50GB of storage (For Starter), I don't need a web hosting like when I built my own websites in the past, right? And with CPanel, I don't need a web editor (Like Front Page or Adobe Dreamweaver) to build the site and then upload it, correct?? Or no?

 

Don't go on cloud .... Think this way... u get the license -> if u don't need to upgrade, you can take a pause and for 50 users, small VPS or good website hosting will do.  Then its like 15$/month charge. 

 

Cloud -> Recurring billing.. and that's how they make the money.. Subscription $$. 

 

Welcome to site hosting 101. 

 

[-=HipKat=-]

1 minute ago, daredevil said:

 

For less then 50 people, XF is best option for you.  If not this DDoS shit, i could even host it for you for free, i don't care.. as server has lot of resources. 

 

 

Don't go on cloud .... Think this way... u get the license -> if u don't need to upgrade, you can take a pause and for 50 users, small VPS or good website hosting will do.  Then its like 15$/month charge. 

 

Cloud -> Recurring billing.. and that's how they make the money.. Subscription $$. 

 

Welcome to site hosting 101. 

 

I did end up going with them but unfortunately, I didn't read this before I signed up for the cloud service.

 

Right now, I need to figure out how to incorporate my domain name

[daredevil]

4 hours ago, -=HipKat=- said:

I did end up going with them but unfortunately, I didn't read this before I signed up for the cloud service.

 

Right now, I need to figure out how to incorporate my domain name

 

Still not too late. They will refund in first few days if u request nicely OR ask them can they transfer to buying the license cost.. its on discount at present. 

[-=HipKat=-]

8 hours ago, daredevil said:

 

Still not too late. They will refund in first few days if u request nicely OR ask them can they transfer to buying the license cost.. its on discount at present. 

I might stick with Cloud until I have it all figured out and then migrate it to a self-hosted server