Newbie with many questions!

[marsh]

Ok, I now have a site (it's not very good because I have yet to master being a Webmaster, but figured I should jump right in if I want to learn)and am thinking about starting a forum. Now my problem is I don't even know where to begin. My host is on a Unix server and it does have MySql and PHP abilies (I don't know PHP yet but will be learning very shortly). What forum program is best for that? Do I need to know PHP in order to run this type of forum? How much time does this type of thing consume? I have a full time job so this would be a part time fun type of thing. Am I jumping in way over my head? Any thoughts or suggestion be be great thanks.

Marsh

[rogerd]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, Marsh. Lots of free and commercial forums will run on your setup - just read the "System Requirements" for the forum software. Avoid forms that require ASP, which are typically designed for Windows servers.

You won't have to learn PHP unless you want to "hack" your forum software, and even then you can probably accomplish what you need to without becoming a skilled PHP programmer. The popular package have many hacks that can be installed with minimal programming knowledge.

As far as time needed, you can probably get a forum up and running in a few hours if you don't do much customization. Ongoing time needs will be low at first (when there is little activity) but will increase if the forum gets busy. One thing you can do to help the workload situation is to recruit volunteer mods if the work really ratchets upwards.

In the early days, consider putting yourself on e-mail notification for new topics - this will let you spot spammers in a hurry, plus allow you to get new posters a prompt reply.

Good luck!