Adding Discussion Forum to a Website

I run a membership association website and the members want to be able to discuss topics with each other, similar to this forum. Some years ago, I tried FrontPage Discussion Group, which was very easy to install and manage, but not so flexible to use and I discontinued it. That was before FP 2003, and I wonder if the discussion feature has improved since then. (anyone using it?)

Some features I want to include: searching for a topic; email notification if someone responds to your posting; member privileges vs non-member (public use). This last is important. I'm not sure what privileges paid members should have but I want to encourage readers to join by providing some benefit. Any suggestions for what a member can do and a non-member can't?

I also want the forum to be part of my main website, not a separate one (again like this one). Any recommendations for what to use? How is SBC forum done?
Thank you!

phpBB is a free, open-source forum that might fit your needs. It is full-featured, well-supported, and there are numerous add-on modules to add functionality. I know that you can set permissions for different users, and depending how you track paid members there's probably a module out there to handle it. As with any open source app, just be sure to stay up to date with the latest upgrades and patches.

Thanks. I've spent some time looking at phpbb and invisionpower which is not free. Haven't found a good beginner's user manual in either. If you haven't been a forum participant, it's overwhelming to plunge in as the administrator. Took the first step of upgrading my host to include MySQL and php.

Invision has both a free and a pay version. So does phpBB.

Not any more for Invision. They stopped it with their new version 2. Costs $69.95. They've got a demo system but it comes without help or instructions.

Not sure if you guys are looking for MS solution, take a look at http://www.communityserver.org/forums this is Community server from Microsoft it has forums, blogs and everything integrated Express edition is free not sure abt other editions ... worth looking into ...

Thanks. Didn't know about it at all. I've already switched my server to one that supports MySQL rather than MS SQL, mainly because it was considerably cheaper. It's so confusing! I suppose I should just pick one (leaning towards Invision) and try it.

This list might be a little old, however, it has lots of gold ;)

http://www.vbulletin.com
http://www.simplemachines.org
http://infopop.com/
http://www.phpbb.com
http://amazingforums.com
Check with your hosting, shopping cart, and affiliate programs to see what they may offer, too.
bbPress Home
CGISpy.com Free Remote Hosted CGI!
HotScripts.com PHP-Scripts and Programs-Discussion Boards
Infopop Home-Free UBB
Invision Power Services
Jaia Interactive™ High-End Content Delivery Solutions
Matt's Script Archive WWWBoard
Senac.com - FREE Webmaster Services
Snitz Forums 2000 - free ASP-based Internet Discussion Forum Software
UBBCentral Home
WebScripts WebBBS-Web based BB

It's at http://theresourcequeen.com/favorites/websitetools.html

I would 100% recommend vBulletin, it is hands down the best forum software you can use. Extremely powerful, excellent Admin interface, and as many free addons as you need. Good support too.

I agree with all but the support issue. I find their support to be near enough to completely and utterly useless that the difference isn't worth discussing. Their reply to every issue is "upload fresh templates".

IMHO, most of the suggestions above are valid.
If your host offers a cpanel with Fantastico your life will be easier because the installation of vBulletin or phpBB is automatic

****FREE**** Take a look at Snitz Forum - http://forum.snitz.com - I have used this particular discussion forum software a couple of times. It is very simple to setup and customize. The download includes the .ASP pages and Access Database. There are several mods available as well. All you need is an ASP hosting provider... and you are ready to go.

Here is an example of the forum in action:

http://www.lastinglandscapes.com/discussion/default.asp

Hope this helps.

For those on the more technical side, try going to Sourceforge.net and enter "discussion forum" into the search box. You'll find a list of free, open-source discussion forum packages that are available.

Bear in mind, that the list will contain a range of programs in various stages of development. You'll want to look for those that indicate "production/stable". Among the production-level programs, not all will have an automated installer like phpBB. But, if you have a specific type of environment (PHP, ASP, Java), this will give you some options.