6 months, 160+ members, 1500+ posts......

[akasixcon]

In the past 6 months I managed to be able to get 160 + members , 1500+ posts. However the problem is that the activity is getting kind of low. The forums have been inactive. I use INvisionfree and waiting for Zetaboards (the IPB 2.0 equivalent of InvisionFree's IPB 1.3).

My MAIN problem is getting activity through the boards. I don't have any active members in the board besides me and a team of 6.

My second problem is whether I should get phpBB or SMF instead of the free Invisionfree. The only downside on doing that is I will lose the unlimited bandwidth Invisionfree Provides.

I'm starting to gain interest in the web/internet. I figured that phpBB is definitely more flexible, open and free. The only downside is that I need my own webhost.

[Scott]

Welcome to FU! :wavey:

That's quite a good start to a forum. I think you just need to keep at it to get the activity up. Try and keep those 6 posters active, and if you've got good content, that'll help bring some more people to your board.

Personally, I would suggest getting away from Invisionfree. The problem you'll have is loosing all the posts you've got here, unless you pay for the database dump. At the end of the day, this choice is up to you, but I often find that those forums on free hosts take that little bit longer to get off the ground.

If you do decide to move out of IF, you'll find plenty of reasonably priced web hosts. You'd be able to start of on a shared package until your forum grew. :)

[akasixcon]

Yeah I realized that I needed to get away with it because theres no way to convert to other forum softwares and I cannot backup data.

Do you have any suggestions for a shared web hosting packages to start off with? I heard overpriced hosting 100gb storage, 1 tb bandwidth for $5 is bad. Are there any legitimate hosting prices?

[Scott]

There really are countless shared hosting packages out there. One host I've used and would recommend is Clook.net (UK or US based) (http://www.clook.net). Not the cheapest in the business (but lets not suggest that's what you want), but their support is excellent. I'm sure others will recommend many more hosts to you.

My advice on this is really to look around, Webhosting Talk (http://www.webhostingtalk.com) is invaluable. :)

[Webmaster7]

Low activity? That's normal in most of the forums.

If you want to migrate, better do it when you are starting a community :)

[nameslot]

Well it is a good stats.

I have been running the forum from one year and still the members have only made 3000+ posts.

[Willdex]

Are there any legitimate hosting prices?
I'll tell you what, I'm on Dream Host, it works well for me, and I joined in November '06. Also, how did you manage to get 150+ members in 6 months?

[serverdragon]

heres who i use

www.universal-webhosting.com