Adding a phpBB forum to a GoDaddy website

[MarkS26]

Hi

I'm looking to set up a website for my youth football team and wanted the coaches from the various teams to be able to communicate via a forum. We've tried WhatsApp but as there are 30-40 coaches in the club thread soon get lost. I con't seem to find out how to add a phpBB forum to GoDaddy. They seem to need someone to host the forum which I assume woudl be Godaddy. Or do I need to get someone else to host and then somehow attach that to the GoDaddy website. I'm not very literate in computers so this is all very new to me and I thought that maybe it would be a simple process. We are a not for profit organisation so wanted to keep the costs to a minimum but also wanted it to work for us. If there is an alternative to phpBB then happy to listen to suggestions.

[PL281]

@MarkS26 

Yes you would need to purchase hosting. 

What you may want to consider is using WordPress and BBPress which is a bulletin board / forum plugin for WordPress - you could get the Managed WordPress hosting and then install the plugin - that would then require the least amount of "server" setup / installation for you.

Plus then the forum would be part of the website vs 2 separate websites.  Let me know if you need more information.

[MarkS26]

phpBB looked off the shelf with little or no work required. Would BBPress and WordPress be the same? Is there a there a template I can use? Sorry for the questions but I am completely new to this so a complete mystery. I've sort of followed other sites to get to phpBB. I'd want different sections such as 'drills', 'general chat', 'arrange a friendly' etc so members can post up different topics in different sections. The idea is the website acts as a central resource with the forum a place to ask advice.

[PL281 · Accepted solution]

@MarkS26 

In order to run phpBB you would have to purchase a cPanel server and using the Installatron utility it would install phpBB for you. You would still need to configure the admin / setting but it is "off the shelf" persay - The issue as I mentioned is if you then want to run a website for the league as well - not just the message board, this is where it can get tricky as things need to be in different folders or you need to use subdomains

So while not impossible you do need to understand a little bit of the server setup

WordPress / BBPress would accomplish a seamless integration of a website with the forum and both have multiple templates available https://bbpress.org/

My advise would be to consult with someone that has built WordPress sites before - either local in your community or someone remotely. 

While this isn't that difficult to manage it sounds like you might need some guidance at least to start with. The other thing about a forum is 

1) No one wants to be the first to post, so think of some good discussion starters

2) Think about 1 or 2 people who can help you with moderating it. While this is a "closed group" you still want to monitor it just incase someone posts something they shouldn't or people aren't being civil 

[MarkS26]

Thanks for your help. I'll look at the templates. Hopefully I can find someone in the club with some knowledge. We have a committee and welfare officers but generally we all meet face to face to nothing likely to happen untoward in the group. I can understand if it became bigger and less personal (anonymous) then problems could occur.