Making an online community ?

[callumtuckey]

Hi All
For one of my projects i have been asked to make an online community
e.g beebo my space something like that

thats were i need help i don't now what tools i will need or software to develop such a community. It has to be free software or around them lines.


thanks
all your help will be much appreciated

[contink]

Erk... well it all depends on what you want to host it on...

Personally I prefer phpBB2 but then I code mods for it so I'm biased... phpBB3 is more involved and still in release candidate (for how much longer I don't know)... but I've heard good things about SMF so that may be the best bet...

Of course then you have the joy of setting it all up in terms of themes, policy settings, etc.. but it's all reasonably simple stuff..

Most community scripts require a database (usually mySQL), web server (apache, IIS) and PHP so if you have a *nix host you'll find it pretty easy to do.

[callumtuckey]

@ Contink

Thanks for that

for legal reasons would i have to put (TOS) Terms Of Service /policy's
or something similar.
When members join or to use the chat room ?

[contink]

@ Contink

Thanks for that

for legal reasons would i have to put (TOS) Terms Of Service /policy's
or something similar.
When members join or to use the chat room ?

Well most forum scripts like SMF or PhpBB include a standard boiler plate policy that the user agrees to when they sign up.

If you want something a lot more locked down then you're welcome to look at the one we developed for this site http://www.ukrag.net/help/terms_and_conditions.html

They're pretty draconian but it left the site admins and mods with the ability to deal with anything from trolling to severe abuse.

[mark]

We've tried to setup exactly the same thing Callum. We tried Elgg, which does a reasonable impersonation. There's the community bit alright, and security is very good. You can keep out the world and make it entirely private. Embedding videos and mp3s is doable, and users can create their own themes. The automatic tag linking across all users is really nice too. It hasn't quite taken off, due to lack of impetus from teaching staff.

We also tried Wordpress MultiUser which has gone down well too, altough a bit further from the 'community' model, as links are not automatic. We're using it as a specific journalling tool.

[callumtuckey]

@ Mark
Thanks for that im going to give it a go looks good.

All i need to do now is find a server to try it on.