Use a home computer to host a public forum?
Discussion in 'Web Design & Development' started by needafix, Jul 26, 2006.
Anyone know where I can get info on using my home computer for a publicly accessible forum?
I mean the public accessing the forum set up on my home computer.
Realistically you can't do that with dial-up. A) your IP changes each time you reconnect and B) the page loads would be ridiculously slow with just one person trying to view them.
Basic hosting packages start at $5, that gets you a domain, a few e-mail adresses and some web space.
I was suspecting as much as all that between the dialup speed and the dynamic IP. My ISP only gives me 5MB of webspace and that really is nothing except for petty file transfers since I don't allow file sharing and the most useful file extensions aren't allowed on a lot of free webspace and the paid space I find wants to get the money directly from my bank account each month and I don't like that either.
I'm put off that autopay method because I have a fixed income on a budget and if it should happen that they make a mistake like the water company did by over billing me $75, that is enough to put a person out on the streets or otherwise cause dire financial hardship that they essentially have no liability for. They don't give you your mony back either, just credit towards future use.
I think I should just hole this idea.
If you still wanted to go ahead with it you could use something like IIS (Standard with 2000/XP) or Apache Web Server.
But the con's are already outlined above.
Paying for webspace and a domain these days is a lot cheaper than it was a good few years ago, for ease of setup and reliability your better of digging in your pockets and getting it over and done with.
I have used MyIkonBoard in the past. They have a free version, economy version and dedicated version. The free version sticks a banner at the top of your forum.
My Wife's friend's band uses ProBoards. They have a free version as well which has advertising at the top.