Online Communities, Get’s People Talking!

3 Stars – It Rocks!
2 Stars – Not So Bad!
1 Star – Hope they didn’t quit their day job!

FreeForums

www.freeforums.org

Freelance Weekly Rating: 3 Stars

About: Founded in 2007, FreeForums.org has established itself as a leader in the free forum hosting industry, providing a dependable forum hosting solution to millions of users around the world. With a large and highly customizable set of key features coupled with a standards compliant interface, FreeForums will grow with, and complement your website.

Set Up: Enter the signup page. Enter your name and email. Set up your forum by adding your username, password, and then create a forum domain name and select your category.

 

Navigation: A custom admin panel provides forum administrators with all the tools needed to build and launch a successful forum. They offer two versions of the admin panel, one for basic administrators and one for advanced administrators. The simple version provides all the necessary options to manage a forum, displayed in an easy to understand user interface. The advanced version of their FreeForums gives the administrators advanced panel access to all the default phpBB3 options.

 

Sharing: Your FreeForums community can be shared with an unlimited number of people, public or private.

 

Pricing: Free.

 

Customer Service: They have hired support team members all over the world in different time zones. This allows them to offer True 24/7 Support no matter where you live. In addition to support on their support forum, they also offer email support for private issues. Both are staffed with experts in the field and can answer any problem or question you have.

Recommendation: I highly recommend this Online Community to anyone looking for that extra add-on to their website. Very customizable, great features, top notch servers, and 24/7 support, you cannot go wrong.

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vBulletin^®

www.vbulletin.com

Freelance Weekly Rating: 2 Stars

About: Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd is a UK based new media company specializing in developing low-cost, high performance web applications. They aim to maximize the end-user’s community experience, while maintaining a powerful set of administration tools to put you, the user, in full control of your created community. This company has over 8 years of online experience, working with community driven sites since the birth of the internet as we know it today.

 

Set Up: Select your plan, enter in your contact information, and payment method. Once your payment goes through, you then set up your forum by adding your username, password, and then choose a forum name and select your community category.

 

Navigation: Navigation around this site can take some getting used to. Learning your way around the control panel may take a few days or weeks depending on your computer skills.

 

Sharing: Your vBulletin community can be shared with an unlimited number of people, public or private. You can start inviting your community members to join as soon as your online community is set up. I would also recommend sharing your link with all search engines to get that extra boost of members.

 

Pricing: vBulletin prices can start as low as $100.00 and reach up as high as $650.00.

 

Customer Service: vBulletin offers assistance either via online ticket system or by phone. They also have a vBulletin Manual, Community Forums, and Demo videos you can watch for more do it yourself help.

 

Recommendation: This is an excellent source of an online community if you have the money to put into it. If you do not have an extra chunk of change lying around, I think I would stick with a free version.

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ZetaBoards^®

http://s1.zetaboards.com

Freelance Weekly Rating: 1 Star

About: Zathyus Networks, Inc. is a Maryland, USA Company founded by Brandon Kopetzky in 2004. ZetaBoards is new to the online community market. They use a proprietary software that was developed to provide an innovative forum platform that will help their users create vibrant online communities. In addition to message boards, ZetaBoards provides its users with tools to build webpage’s and blogs to help expand their site.

 

Set Up: Select a Board name, pick a username and password, give your email for contact purposes, and a valid birth date.

 

Navigation: Very user friendly. There are four tabs at the top of the homepage to get you where you need to go. Once you are set up, there is no manual to read through, although it is there if you need it.

 

Sharing: Your community can be shared with an unlimited number of people as anyone can view the Zetaboards online directory. You can also get the word out about your new online community by submitting your link to search engines.

 

Pricing: Free.

 

Customer Service: Assistance is offered either via online ticket system or by their Community Forums.

 

Recommendation: This is a great way to create an online community. However, it does not have all the added features that the paid online communities do. I recommend this to someone just getting started and learning the ropes of online communities.