How do I set up a Forum?

I have a homepage provided by my Internet provider ( NTL), I would like to set up a forum, similar in style to this one, where people can leave messages etc ( about camp sites in the uk).
As a beginner I am not sure at all how to do it, is there forum software or do they come as templates or are they provided by someone?.
I would really appriciate some advice and basic information.
Thanks
Cambo

 

www.vbulletin.com for unix/linux based hosts

http://forum.snitz.com/ for Windows2000/2003 servers

 

As Kodo has pointed out the two sites I would first recommend I'll go on to some basics about them. First of all you need to determine if your ISP will support .asp, php, perl or other languages than just java and html (mine does NOT). If you are in the same boat as I am (not having an ISP that wishes to keep up with the rest of the Internet!) then you will need to find a free or pay site that will allow the usage of at least .php or .asp files in order to utilize either the .php based vbulletin (which this Major Geeks runs on) or the .asp based Snitz forums (which my United Federation of Players board runs on). Of course if you cannot or do not wish to get a different host, or you do not wish to get into the nuts and bolts of setting up a forum you can always go with some of the ready made forums out there. The more popular web-based boards are EZ Board and PowerBoard. They each have an easy to use interface for the beginner but they also have pop up ads in the free versions. Hope this helps.....

Wraith

 

Must be a record, this thread goes back to December 28, 2003. But interesting links quoted anyhow. :-D Bazza

 

If you decide to use an independent web hosting service (cost can be as little or $4/mo or lower), many of them offer one or more choices of forum software that can very easily be installed from your host's user control panel. Just navigate to the screen where the option appears and click on a button to install the forum. Of course, you then need to create the specific section/categories of your forum, as you will with any forum package.

I used this approach to install a phpBB forum on a site.