Blinded by Web Companies

[Clarehaines]

Hi,

I am starting a web forum and am being bombarded with information. I am not sure what is relevant and what is a sales tool-please help!

1 Spam - I have been told by one designer to use in-vision as this is the only fool proof way of stopping 1000 Spam registrations a day. I have been advised this costs approx £400 a year. Another company said it's down to the coding. I will have a similar registration process to this site. If any one can give me some impartial advice, I would really appreciate it

2. Open Source Products - Do these products restrict the number of users and therefore could I end up in a couple of years having to pay to have this site built again?

3. Advertising - Is it true that lots of banner advertising makes the hosting costs go through the roof?

Thank-you

 

[itHighway]

1- Try V-Bulletin forum. Its price is very reasonable and I guess this site is also using V-bulletin.

2- Most of them don't.

3- If are hosting with a reliable hosting company like godaddy.com, then the answer is NO.

 

[Clarehaines]

Thank-you - it's a nightmare getting quotes. I am dazed with all the technical info. so it's been very useful to get your feedback

 

[ian]

I agree with those comments by ithighway
vbulletin is the way to go, and banner ads should not make a difference to your hosting costs, bandwith is cheap these days.

 

[web67]

my answer is same as ithighway