looking for a provider of forums service

[Skaperen]

i am looking for a provider of forums service.  that would be someone running an advance level of forums software where they can set up a distinct forum space as requested by a customer with possible compensation plans based on ads or a monthly payment plan.  i don't want to run this on my own servers.  the plan is to make a forum for boto and botocore (python tools to access the AWS API).

[Ofnuts]

Look for "shared forum servers". I haven't any to recommend since eventually I chose the VPS (Virtual Private Server) solution ($5 a month for a "droplet" (fully preinstalled Lamp server) on digital ocean).

This said, the [boto] tag is fairly active on StackOverflow, which can be seen two ways:

• pessimistic: the Boto users already have a venue to ask questions
  
• optimistic: there is a sizeable Boto community out there
  

[Skaperen]

Look for "shared forum servers". I haven't any to recommend since eventually I chose the VPS (Virtual Private Server) solution ($5 a month for a "droplet" (fully preinstalled Lamp server) on digital ocean).

This said, the [boto] tag is fairly active on StackOverflow, which can be seen two ways:

• pessimistic: the Boto users already have a venue to ask questions
  
• optimistic: there is a sizeable Boto community out there
  

botocore is quite inactive in stackoverflow.
the only "community" i have found is the AWS forums which are hard to use.
fyi, i won't participate in email-based "communities" ... why i want to set up forums.

how big is that digital ocean vps?  do they have ipv6 there?  (so i could put linux home page dot com there)

[metulburr]

fyi, i won't participate in email-based "communities" ... why i want to set up forums.

As someone who has tried to convert people to a new forum for pygame due to their recent website issues, and has dealt with the forum conversion.....i can say it is really hard to uproot an online community. 

So many people are already going to their current communities to ask for help. When someone new comes along, they dont just move. The only reason this forum worked out is because we had access to the original forum to shut it down. Whereas the pygame community never moved because the roots already existed in other places out of my control. And that was even when tons of people were in agreeance about starting a new forum for it.

[Skaperen]

i would not call stackoverflow a "community".  they are very intentionally trying to make sure stackoveflow, stackexchange, or any other related site, is a question-answer site and not a community.  there is a "community" in the sense of a few regulars answer lots of questions.  but it is not a community in the open friendly sense.

the forums at AWS have not become a community, either.  i do not know why, but i have noticed its UI is just not that friendly compared to MyBB.

[metulburr]

i would not call stackoverflow a "community".  they are very intentionally trying to make sure stackoveflow, stackexchange, or any other related site, is a question-answer site and not a community.

I would have to say that this forum is a much more close knit community than others. But i would still call stackoverflow and AWS a community. Even they themselves (stackoverflow) have in your profile....

Reputation is how the community thanks you

I am not apart of stackoverflow community specifically because i dont like how they control their rep system in asking questions/answering questions. And i much prefer discussion over categorizing the top comment. I would call those that post/ask there a community. I really hate the down/up vote crap. For example: Just post your opinion so i know why you dont agree, but instead they just click a button. Maybe if i knew why someone else didnt agree i would understand..

the forums at AWS have not become a community, either.  i do not know why, but i have noticed its UI is just not that friendly compared to MyBB.

AWS not having a good UI has nothing to do with the fact of calling itself a community. And just because you dont like them doesnt mean everyone is going jump on your forum because of it. Look how horrible the pygame UI site is. http://www.pygame.org/hifi.html
Everyone hates it, except for the devs. The only reason i created a second site was because tons of people were asking for documentation and that its hard to find and get to from that site. And still, not many used my forums, but used reddit...because the community already existed there. 

It also really doesnt matter. You can make a forum for whatever you want. If people dont leave their communities, yours is a ghost town. And you have to have something big over the other community to bring in users. 

Our big edge over python-forum.org, is that you can no longer post there...you have to post here. And that was done on purpose to give this forum the edge. 

Im just saying that to move a community from one site to another, especially if you are competing for users, will just bring down both forums. And it is hard to do in the first place.

how big is that digital ocean vps?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=digital+ocean+prices

Just do the research. 
You can do a forum with Mybb in $5/month. If you have a good user base, they will donate the money for you.

 the plan is to make a forum for boto and botocore (python tools to access the AWS API).

The same exists for Digital Ocean. I use python to make backups of this forum every day

I think people use AWS because they are Amazon fans IMO.

[Larz60+]

Stackoverflow definitely has their own way of doing things.
But when I want an answer that is correct, 99% of the time Stackoverflow comes through.
I do contribute now and then, but am dedicated to this forum.

[Skaperen]

i do consider stackoverflow to be a great place.  when i have questions i usually give it to google and it usually gives me stackoverflow or the like.   when i have spare time i often go to one of the overflow sites and answer some questions, make comments, or click some up/down buttons.  or i come here and hassle y'all.  reddit is probably the place to go.  i am not a facebookie or such (never created an account there).  i'd like to set up a forum for a number of things but i don't want to spend the time managing it.  i don't want to even think of trying anything in google groups.