So, I've been thinking about making a roleplay, and I don't know what board/forum host/whatever to use. Could you guys please list the pros and cons of each? Thank you
Honestly this is all control on your part. If you want more control you will want something like phpBB or SMF (if you are only looking at free software) but they both have a decently steep learning curve. If you want simpler then I would suggest PB or Jcink. Jcink definitely has more control then PB but both are by all means easier to control. One thing you want to look at is who is your audience and what do they like?
I'm making a sort of fantasy rp...I don't know what those people like, though I suppose it's more of a personal thing. I'm looking for something free and easy to control, but I also don't want to spend weeks figuring out how to code and skin. Right now, I'm leaning toward Jcink, with PB as a backup choice. But I've never heard of phpBB o.o What's it like?
If you're going to start your own site using free hosts, the only logical choice is Jcink Forum Hosting (JFH). Why? The feature set JFH offers is superb, with virtually no other free host coming close. Case in point? JFH allows users to take copies of their database at will for free. Other hosts either don't let you or they charge you ridiculous amounts for a single backup (and it takes them days to get it to you). This means that if you ever did want to go self-hosted, you could and you wouldn't have to lose any content or members in the process. Beyond that you also have the sub-accounts mod which at this time, no other free host has. More features listed here. Since JFH is built off the IPB1.3 base, it also means that most skins that slide right into InvisionFree will work with Jcink with little to no modification. Plus JFH has it's own easy-import skins (one click and the skin is installed...) like Gunblaza's Alpha Plus 2.1 (with it's own neat features) or GMaster479's iCink. And if that weren't enough, on the Jcink Support forum there are even more skins in .xml format for quick/easy loading. (So that means if you're not graphically skilled, you have plenty of options to make your site look amazing.) If you are skilled with designs then you'll find a lot more control with Jcink than others... since you'll be able to customise the mini-profiles (beside each post), and Jcink has additional CSS classes that regular old IPB or IF doesn't have (so you can really customise things or target them with javascript), and using webpage maker, you can expand how much you can place into the wrappers or create custom pages for whatever you need/want. (Plus it's own filemanager with over 500MB of space so you can host all the images for each skin on the forum itself and negate any potential slowdowns from having to fetch from an external source.) If you're going self-hosted and have never done it before, I suggest you read this first. Otherwise, MyBB is my personal favourite for software. It has the sub-accounts feature plus I just like the basic looks of it better than SMF. Skinning on MyBB sounds to be easier than on SMF also. (SMF has been reported to be a nightmare to skin...)
I'm so glad you asked this! I was thinking the same thing. Usually I use invisionfree, but recently I was introduced to jcink. I like that invisionfree's wrappers are all separated, but the freedom JCink provides along with ease of use is really nice. Good luck with your board!
I recommend Jcink as well Mainly because it does offer everything we want as roleplayers, and you don't need to install money, rep or shop codes because it already has them (unlike ZB who keep refusing). It also has webpages for your informational topics :D
MyBB skinning is much easier than SMF. For something like what you're describing though, I think Jcink would be your best bet for the reasons already outlined above. Good luck!
That depends on everything you want to move over. Jcink has a lot of features, as @VirusZero has outlined above, and it's relatively easy to use some of the guides here to find skins, install them, and even work on topics. doHTML can be enabled or you can use the nifty BBcode feature where you can make your own so you can cut out the potential of hackers (which I have never personally come across happening), and you can move information and have it set up in no time.
If you can get your mySQL database from Yahoo Groups (I've NO idea if you can, I'm just throwing this out here), you won't lose (much) data from Yahoo Groups.
I think most people will recommend Jcink(just like me).It has 10x the features as IF does, and has 10x more security ^_^
For free forums I recommend Jcink. For hosted, I'd go with Xenforo or myBB. SMF is what i use but they are a little trickier to set up, but they are VERY customisable.
