# New Forum



## Yellow-Cichlid

Oh Yeah


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## Yellow-Cichlid

I always pay my hosting bill (Unlike some Cichlid Forums)... Expect the forum to be up and running 24/7 LoL


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## Blue Ridge Reef

Is this a car forum?


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## resowner92

same coming up from me and instead of theexoticfish it comes up with theexoticforum


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## JustOneMore21

I think its the link that you posted Yellow-Cichlid. If you type in theexoticfish.com its a fish forum, but your link is to theexoticforum.


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Sorry guys, I didn't realize I did that... It's fixed now.


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## fshfanatic

A "must register to view forum"? No thanks.


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## Yellow-Cichlid

LoL :icon_roll

It's to keep guests from hogging up bandwidth by viewing all the images on the site FYI.


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## fshfanatic

You can laugh if you wish. I have been involved in forums for many yrs. There are more people, like myself, that just wont waste their time. You see, what is there to motivate me to join? Many people "lurk" before joining a forum, they read, snoop around and if they enjoy it they may join.

Good luck with that.

If you cant afford to the cost of the bandwidth where you can allow guests to view the site, you are in for a short forum lifespan.


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Don't assume I can't afford the cost of bandwidth. I could very well allow guests to view the forum if I wanted, but I choose not to for the reason I listed. I've also been involved with forums for many years. The incentive for joining are contests that will begin soon. You don't want to waste your time to join a forum that takes less than 2 minutes yet you feel the need to continue to post in this thread. :icon_roll

If people don't want to join then so be it, I'm not forcing anyone to do anything.


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## fshfanatic

Nevermind. I hope it is successful.


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Thank You


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## leviathan0

I've ran many forums as well. Why not just disable guests from viewing attachments? They can still browse the forums that way, but without taking a lot of bandwidth. Just a suggestion, not a knock.


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## Yellow-Cichlid

That's a good idea... I didn't think of that.


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## fshfanatic

That will work unless members are using BB code to embed the images in the actual post. ( I am assuming you have disabled HTML in posting, if not do so. It is a huge security issue. )


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## hooha

I gotta agree with others. Even if it's free to register you will severely limiting your prospective pool of members if you require registration before being able to view any content. That's how I found the two forums I frequent the most - web searches and lurking for a bit.....

Disabling pictures until registered is a great idea.....


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## Yellow-Cichlid

I took your advise and removed the restrictions. There are still several threads that are members only for obvious reasons.


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## fshfanatic

Thought you might.. Good call.


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## Kayakbabe

is that running on vbulletin?


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Nope, phpBB 3.0. Why ?


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## Kayakbabe

I was just curious. It looked a lot like vbulletin that's all.

(I am setting a forum for a civic group I belong to and we want it members only with no browsing for non members. However I don't want to pay a lot... I've been looking at board software for a little bit... I was just curious).


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## fshfanatic

phpbb has many security issues, and always has. If you are looking for a decent, fairly secure bb, I would suggest Simple Machines. I have used them all at one point or another and after all was said and done, I coughed out the cash for vbulletin. The customer support is bar none, it is easy to mod, and there really isnt a more secure bb out there.


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## Yellow-Cichlid

I've used it for years without any issues. Adding Mods can be a real pain though.


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Bump


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## Yellow-Cichlid

On July 10th any ACTIVE member of the forum will be eligible to receive a $10.00USD gift certificate to Big Al's Online. The giveaway will be random and doesn't rely on post count, but you must be actively participating in the forum topics from June 27th until the contest winner is chosen on July 10th.


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## Yellow-Cichlid

The giveaway has been upped to $20.00 and extended until July 20th!


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Update: Total posts *587* | Total topics *104* | Total members *42*


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Total posts 777 | Total topics 129 | Total members 50


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## plantbrain

Yellow-Cichlid said:


> Don't assume I can't afford the cost of bandwidth. I could very well allow guests to view the forum if I wanted, but I choose not to for the reason I listed. I've also been involved with forums for many years. The incentive for joining are contests that will begin soon. You don't want to waste your time to join a forum that takes less than 2 minutes yet you feel the need to continue to post in this thread. :icon_roll
> 
> If people don't want to join then so be it, I'm not forcing anyone to do anything.


Keeps spammers, spam bots and trolls out, most places make you register.........it's not hard. Some don't, but place all sorts of ads in your way, may as well register then.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Why did you quote me on that ?


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## Yellow-Cichlid

The new giveaway will begin August 1st and the same rules apply.

You MUST be ACTIVE on the forum. Simply being a member doesn't get you entered into the monthly contests. Being active means visiting the forum and participating in the forum topics (posting).

Because this contest is going to be slightly longer I'm going to up the giveaway to $30.00 and it's cash via paypal, not a gift certificate. Come join in the conversation for your chance to win!


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Total posts *1109* | Total topics *184* | Total members *69*


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Total posts *2691* | Total topics *314* | Total members *103*


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Total posts *9234* | Total topics *843* | Total members *298

We're running another $20.00 giveaway this month also.
*


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Total posts 17336 | Total topics 1456 | Total members 561


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Total posts 26753 | Total topics 1572 | Total members 737


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Update Update


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## Yellow-Cichlid

The Exotic Fish is giving away an AquaClear110 and fish food as a contest. Join for your chance to win.


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Total posts *52950* | Total topics *3235* | Total members *1217*


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Um sure. 

New forums added.


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## Yellow-Cichlid

Bump It Up !


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## Yellow-Cichlid

New Domain


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