# Word Press forum software?



## Joel_BC (Nov 10, 2009)

Hi to all web-savvy readers of this post. I need advice about locating free _or very low-cost_ forum software.

I&#8217;m on the board of directors of a local food-retailing cooperative. Our region is very spread-out, and our co-op is now becoming involved with a regional council of co-ops. Since the representatives to this council can only meet every two months, at best, I think that a Q&A forum could work well for enabling practical networking for new and old co-ops. Information could be shared rapidly, specific to the issues and questions co-op managers are dealing with.

I know next to nothing at all about website software. I&#8217;ve heard that many forums are based on some version or another of Word Press. If this is so, then what I need to find out is whether appropriate entry-level forum software is available for free or very cheap. (We&#8217;d have to _start off_ very low-cost.)

I&#8217;d welcome info and suggestions. Thanks.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

www.proboards.com has free forums (you do get banner ads but they're small)
I run a writers forum there, its good and its easy.


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## Joel_BC (Nov 10, 2009)

mnn2501 said:


> www.proboards.com has free forums (you do get banner ads but they're small)
> I run a writers forum there, its good and its easy.


Interesting, thanks. I'll have to look into that.

Do you think Proboards.com is replacing Word Press as the way to go in setting up a new forum?


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

Different programs with different goals.

Proboards is just forums and is wysiwyg*. Wordpress can be a whole lot more if you're willing to learn their programming (yes its simplified but still not wysiwyg*, or find/buy modules to add. (some are free, the good ones you pay for)

* wysiwyg = what you see is what you get - a simplified "Type this here:" and what you type is what you will see on the site. [with 'this' being different categories (name of forum, title of area, description of forum or area, etc)]

To me Proboards is a simple, quick way to get a forum up without having to learn a lot of technical stuff about it.
Now to be fair Wordpress is much easier than (for example) learning HTML and CSS, or Visial Basic and adding a database to create your own forum and programming your own site. But there is still a lot of stuff to learn in Wordpress.


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## Lilith (Dec 29, 2012)

I have designed hundreds of forums and sites for clients and friends. In the end, paid software with your own hosting is the only way to go for something permanent. My major issue with wordpress is the security sucks! So many people use word press that hacking and spamming your site is easy - this is true of any open source (free and code publicly available) software. If you have several people willing to moderate your forum round the clock, it is an easy and cost effective solution with a ton of daily upkeep. 
If you want something that is going to last and be moderate to easy to maintain, I recommend paying for http://www.vbulletin.com/ it is worth the money spent!


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Vanilla Open Source is a pretty robust free software. I've played with it before when looking for a solution for our office... They do have a paid version too. If you go with the free one, as stated on their site, you break it, you fix it... There's a learning curve, but it is well worth it if you're looking for a free solution.

http://vanillaforums.org/


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## FarmerRuss (Jun 19, 2013)

While WordPress is a great _BLOGGING _platform it's not really designed as a forum. It can be set up as one with the use of a plug-in.

If you have your own domain and paid hosting, there are many free full featured platforms. Just to list a few:
phpBB
Simple Machines Forum
MyBB

It really come down to what you need and how you are gong to use it.


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