Yeah, hopefully you guys don't have any major issues.  Just need to keep an eye out for them.

I see you are using vB too! Sheep, all of you!

So going along with the post about costs, what sort of operating costs are you expecting... and what sort of reimbursement are you expecting?  I am speaking in terms of sponsors or donors (since there is the "treasury" above).  Sounds as if you already have a plan in place to address these issues!

Well said Omar and thanks.  Basically, if you're willing to get dirty, I think any of the software packages can offer stability and what you want.  Some are going to be easier than others to exploit for your needs and customization.  I think ultimately it comes down to the kind of support you get from others in the community and your comfort level in digging through the code.  If you have the ability to get into the nitty gritty of SMF's code, you'll do well.  One of my friends runs a site using phpBB and he's very aggressive with code modifications.  He's done things with the site far past what you'd expect from the original source code.  If you're resourceful enough, the sky is the limit!

I went through the same thought process when I was looking at packages for my club's site.  Ultimately the decision was driven by a desire to have a compatible front end interface, ease of transition for the end users and the same scalability and flexibility that you mentioned.  That took me to vB, but I don't think its necessarily the choice for everyone.  I think the combined functionality of subdreamer and the support of vbulletin.org is what really won me over.

In regards to the LFA's, I think many of the developers expect most sites to fail or go stagnant within a year.  If you look around, its amazing how many sites there are using message board software with little to no real activity.  And considering how many new sites start every day, there's probably more money to be made on new business with a higher initial start-up cost, rather than higher sustained costs.

I'll check in when I can.  Been pretty busy lately.  I kind of dropped out of the mainstream forum scene so I can focus on the club.  Much more relaxing that way!


That's the most time consuming part of admining a site.  Being active and trying to maintain the back end.  Particularly when you have full time requirements already.  But it certainly is fun.

It'll also catch you by surprise what many people are willing to donate.  Look at frontierboard.com and how many people became "supporting members" within the first 2 months.

For the most part, unless you're hitting 50-100+ active users at any given time, I don't think you're going to tap your server's resources, even on a shared server.  I'm on a shared server, $30 a month and we have excellent response and we get 10-20 people active at a time.

he's ammending that statement to no reply or quote button in any of the INFINITI forums

i pm'd you

Also, did you guys change something so its last post first?  That changed on me since the last time I hopped on.  I didn't change any of my settings, so am a little confused.