Know-How Exchange : Other

A good free forum is:

https://www.rapidforum.com/english.php

But you cant brand it with your own URL, it just gives you a sub domain of the main site. So it depends on what you want to do with it.

If you just want to have an internal forum for your company then this is fine. If you are going to use it for communicating with your customers then it is going to cost you some $$$ even if you use "free" software to do it.

Some good "Free" forum software is:

https://www.phpbb.com/
https://www.minibb.net/
https://www.yabbforum.com/

You will need hosting with a bit of of space. Approx 700mb

You will need bandwidth.

You will need a good server, data base are VERY cpu intensive.

You will need people to write the PHP and MyQsl data bases.

You will need people to moderate the forum, to make sure people obey the rules, dont flame each other, dont post illegal stuff like child porn and wearzs, make sure that everything works correctly. Then if you want to add extra features to the board you might need to purchase the extras form the company that supports the FREE software.

You will also need to get the word out about your forum, have some one post regally, which takes time.

The market leaders are

https://www.invisionpower.com (this is the most common)
https://www.vbulletin.com/

You really need to have a commitment to making the forum work and create a sence of community. Forums can be VERY time consuming.

Post back what you want to come out of creating a forum eg do you want it to get feed back, use it as another means of customer support for your product if software, get your brand out there, etc etc. Then you might get some more specific answers.

So basicly it is like this site. :P

I am not sure about the rapidforum, but i think you are able to do that.

If you choose to use the free software, then you can do anything you like with it. It is open source which means you can change the code, you can resell it (this is discouraged unless you add some value like support or extra skins etc))

I will ask some more knowledgeable people about using MS Access, but i think it is able to be used.

Bandwidth, well when a server sends information to the end user computer (eg viewing a page, adding a comment, clicking the back button etc etc) this is logged by the ISP. So the more information you send to the computer the more it costs you. I is also sometimes called "transfer".

Also this past question might interest you:

https://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=8641

Did you ever hear of the saying "Nothings for Free" ?
If you are or will be discussing any, however small it may seem to you, that is proprietary to enterprise and/or could be construed as intellectual property, Confidentiality, Non-Disclosure, Non-Circumvention, and several other legal instruments or Agreements should be carefully considered.
I do not want to sound harsh, but unfortunately, you must protect your self or your clients.
Their are always going to be a few bad apples.

Why not just start a blog? Many free services are available (Blogger), or Typepad($4.95 a month, I think). You get more control over the conversation, but readers of the blog can still interact with you.

Mack Collier
www.beyondmadisonavenue.com