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G'day all. I want to set up a gardeners forum which allows all to read but only A$2.00 per month or A$20.00 per year subscribers to post. I also want to be able to banish "idiots", no refunds. Is all this possible and which plan should I purchase to attach to my existing web site? Thanks
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Yes it is possible to setup a forum that is free to read but requires a $2/month or $20/year payment (via a site like PayPal) to have posting permissions.
You can ban anyone you want, no refund is issued when someone is banned. You can also ban by IP address if need be.
If you want to install the software to a compatible web host, such as in a folder like /forums/ or /community/ you would need to purchase or download version for a one time fee of $249 which includes all future updates to the VB 5.x series.
If you would like to use our vBCloud option you would need to make sure you can create a custom CNAME with your domain registrar (most can) and you would have a URL such as forum.example.com or community.example.com while you main website is on www.example.com.
A vBCloud domain must have a sub-domain like forum or www. Just plain example.com is not a valid vBCloud domain name. -
Many thanks, Joe. My basic plan is to attach an Australian gardening forum to my web site at arismac.com. The A$2/month membership is an attempt to keep the clowns at bay while allowing genuine gardeners to post and display their images (gardeners love to boast).
My question now is, if I call the forum say "AusGardeningForum" how do I go about publicizing the forum? Am I for instance better off to register a new domain name or will search engines find the name embedded in arismac.com? I like arismac.com because it is short, unique and relatively easy to remember.
Many thanks for your help.
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Your best bet to use vBCloud would be to have a forum URL such as forum.arismac.com. But first you need to know about your current site. If arismac.com was registered by your web host ask your host if you can create a custom CNAME for your domain.
If you registered the domain at a separate company from your web host and have setup nameservers that point the domain to your host you again need to ask your host if you can setup custom CNAME records. If your host provides an interface like cPanel the answer is most likely yes and we have instructions for setting up a CNAME with cPanel, among other popular options.
Finally, if you registered your domain with a different company from your web host and already control the DNS serves manually you likely already understand all this and will be able to create a CNAME for forum (or community or whatever you want the subdomain to be.)
In any of these cases we will provide you with the specific vbulletin.net domain to to use in your CNAME record.
As for the forum being found by search engines- assuming your current site arismac.com is regularly indexed and assuming you create one or more links from arismac.com to forum.arismac.com (or whatever it turns out to be) then search engines will automatically find the forum and begin indexing it as well. If you want to help the process along you can also use our built in tools to create and send XML Sitemap files to Google and/or Bing as topics get added to your forum so they are aware of the URLs that need indexing.Comment
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Many thanks for your detailed reply Joe, much appreciated. The domain name AusGardenForum has been registered but is not hosted. I presume this then leaves me the option of uncomplicated hosting with VBCloud? Seems like a good way to go to me. I certainly do want Mobile Application capability so I guess I need to fire up my Visa card and go find how much and where I pay to get started. Have you a subscription package you recommend.Comment
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Unless you have a large site where you're expecting lots of traffic from the start I would begin with the monthly Bronze package. If you like the service, and we hope you will, you can move to an annual package to save money in the long term. Also if your traffic increases or is higher than expected we can always move you to a higher plan, that isn't a problem.Comment
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Very good advice, thanks again Joe. I will get started this week. One final question, please. Does the Bronze package also give me mobile applications?Comment
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vBulletin Cloud uses vBulletin 5 software, which is mobile responsive inherently. The site will automatically adjust to mobile device browser sizes.
The Mobile Suite add-on is what allows you to generate native iOS and Android apps and that is an additional cost of $199, in addition to the costs of developer accounts with the app stores, which you'll need to submit the apps to the stores.Comment
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My site was migrated but the url is not setup the same as the old host. The Home webpage was www.smmas.org and the Forum was www.smmas.org/vb. How do I set that up here? -
Updating your CNAME record allows you to point your custom domain (e.g. myvbulletincloud.com) to the sub-domain assigned to your account. In order to do this you’ll need to visit your domain name registrar... -
Hello Team ;
i have a question for product cloudforum : Can i host the cloudversion on a Domain from me or must it completely host to your Systems ? Thanks for answers : Good Luck to the Team ;...
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