Maybe Alex or other IT peeps can chime in...

So I bought a Nissan Armada for my wife, and have found no good forums specific to the truck. If I wanted to start one (perhaps a Nissan Trucks, or import trucks forum), what would I need....this is what I've come up with...

vBulletin, ~$85/year (could use phpBB for free)

server for colocation, minimum specs?

hosting company.

I know nothing about php or mySQL...how hard is it?

Or does anyone know any good forums? thanks

 

hey eric, have you tried freshalloy.com

they have pretty good stuff for my truck...but mine is like 14 years old.

 

vbulletin >>>>>>> phpbb

I say go for it, start it up, you don't see many boards out there for those types of vehicles, but there has to be enthusiasts out there.

 

http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/postli...t=&Board=UBB26

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=53

this might be a stretch:
http://www.xterraownersclub.com/forums.html


lemme know if you need help with phpBB...

start out with a $10 a month plan. the 4wd club i belong to, uses that. granted we dont have that much traffic

cheap plug: www.gettinoff4x4.com

if you wanna check out a local bay area 4wd club...

 

hit me up on aim when u see me

 

i see that armada as that...

granted it's built on the the TITAN frame/chassis and by itself has gotten some great reviews with it's off road abilties,

i see the armadas of the future in the DUB covers, show vehicles at SEMA, etc...

it's too bad...

 

Hey dude I hate dubs/etc... but the more users I cater to, the bigger the thing grows and the sooner it pays for itself. Much like NASIOC/i-club have entire forums to people who spend $thousands on their stereo's/bodykits/dragracing (all of which I think is lame), I'll definitely have a blingbling forum.

Thanks for the advice guys, I wouldn't want to charge anything at all...just establish a community and foster it. Admittedly I'm not a big off road guy (in that I don't know much), but I think import trucks are just about to start crushing the American makers, so a big void could be filled by such a forum.

Any advice on the hosting? If I didn't colocate, which is probably expensive, how would it work? I can see it getting somewhat expensive to do right, registering all the domains, software, hosting, bandwidth, etc. But if I'm totally willing, as I think it would be fun.

anyway...any suggestions appreciated. and feel free to hate on my armada.

 

how much initial $$$$ you wanna throw into it.

first, make up a cool name like "north american subaru impre...."

ahh never mind.

come up with a cool domain name. then register it. even if it points to your AOL webpage or something... lol.

then if you know a lawyer, make sure the name wont be pulled by the nissan legal team.

although that's hard to do these days.

even nissan gave the "xterraowners.com" a plug on their national commercial.

it was like SOA mentioning i-club on their wrx commercials...

anyways, then start with a hosting company that will allow you to grow.

the club i belong to, for $10 a month, gets you 200Mb of disk space and a 1 gb of traffic per month. but if needed, they will switch up.

if you want to do this as a biz, then find a good webmaster that will take of this for you. then INCORPORATE yourself... LLC yourself...

then enjoy the benefits of being the first to hit up the armada world...

in setting up your forums, check out www.yotatech.com (another one of my toyota 4runner off road site) or the TTORA (.com) site (this is toyota tacoma's pickup truck) and toyota sends big names (like ivan stewart) to various TTORA events.

you might wanna contact local nissan dealers to pass your url to prospective and current armada owners. also contact nissan of america to let yourself known. you know the armada is probably their highest selling vehicle (in terms of $$$) so them helping you foster the vehicle is a win-win situation...

another place to make contact is california 4 wheel drive assoc (www.cal4wheel.com) and become a assoc member for $40 and then advertise there.

 

Hey wow, thanks for the suggestions. Wonder if I can get incorporated fast enough to write off the Armada for 2004. lol.

 

you dont have to be incorporated to write it off.

just declare it as a business tool. make sure log everything and then make sure the GVW is over 6000 and you're set...

that's how those h2 owners are able to write those things off... but the trick is to use it for your biz...

 

I'm gonna start "Armadage.co"... already registered the domain, and am writing the vb software right now!

Thanks for the idea!

 

mexican this is a hosting company that my buddy runs, he has good rates and i think he does all the forum stuff as part of the pacakge.

if not im sure he can work something out with you

http://www.webzpro.com/shared.htm

make sure that you let him know that highwaydrifter from d86 sent ya (he is in my gaming clan).

shoot him an email and see what he says.

 

Will do, thx dre. :banana:

 

www.a-club.com j/k