Technical Aspects of a Private Community

[aimeeandbeatles]

OK, due to the .... train-wreck described in several other threads (I REALLY dont feel like going into details again, PM me if you dont know what Im talking about) Ive thought about creating a private BBS/social network/whatever that can only be accessible by having the direct link to it. For example, not being able to google it. So only nice people can get in. So another thing would be moderator approval of registered members, just in case the URL did end up leaking and nasties tried to join it.
It would just be a small group of people who I know are nice, and another thing too is that I would have somebody else do the moderating (and me do the technical part) cos I would really end up running the thing into the ground.
And the last, most important part: It would have to be free. Even though I have a job now I'm still on a tight budget.

So heres the questions:
1. What would you recommend for this? a BBS, or some sort of private social network, or what?
2. Any suggestions for services that can be used?
3. Is it possible to make a website ungoogleable?

EDIT: Another thing. Itd be nice to have uploads.

 

[Till]

How about making an invisionfree forum, turning on admin approval for registration, require registration to view the board, and then don't spread the url around?

The only thing that's not covered is uploads, but there is no reason why the forum would need those when there are so many free filehosts available. I'm sure there's an ready made upload hack for invisionfree for one of them. And if not, it wouldn't be too hard to write one.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Thanks. The uploads thing wasn't really neccessary so I can just use MediaFire or something. I did some googling and this should prevent most search engines from following it, right?

<meta name="robots" content="noindex" />

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

OK, I have the board set up. I used the noindex code in the previous post and either it's working or Google hasn't found my site yet. The trickiest part is the CSS (i accidentally made it look like a Christmas tree at one point) but it doesnt look too shabby. Thanks

 

[PeteAtoms]

Chances are slim that you are going to be seriously bothered anyway. If you're an active admin and don't publicize your new site with the people you're running away from, it should be fine.

I think there are ways to set up a private WordPress blog, that behaves like a forum.
http://simple-press.com/
http://bbpress.org/
http://chasesagum.com/5-best-choices-for-wordpress-forum-plugins

Webs.com also offers a simple service to set up a social network or forum, and also make it private.

http://vanillaforums.org/

There are lots of choices.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I actually have one set up. Im not about to post the link (Im not sure if "they" are reading this) but PM me and Ill send you the link.

 

[Bratmon]

This thread reeks of paranoia.

 

[PeteAtoms]

This thread reeks of paranoia.

I disagree. It reeks of the "Start My Own" trope.

But there are legit reasons for private discussion groups, whether this thread was started for those reason, I can only speculate...

I wonder if you ought to consider whether a forum is necessary. Unless you have several people involved with your community, there are other mediums of communication that might be more relevant to your needs.

Don't you already have a blog aimee? Why not use that as a hub for your friends to gather, throw in some forum plugins or a chat room and yer good to go.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

This thread reeks of paranoia.

well if you're heard about what I call the train-wreck, it would make more sense why Im like this. Anyways the board has a few members already and it looks pretty good.

 

[fromeast2west]

Google Groups can be pretty good too. Controls are good, and you can share calendars, docs, uploaded files.. all pretty easily.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Thanks. I have my board set up. Would anyone like to critique it. I can PM the board link and the login credentials for a test account. More so about the theme and organization of the sections than the content.Thanks.