I currently have a Zetaboards forum. I want to move off Zetaboards and onto ipbFree. is it possible for me to switch over here and still keep all my posts on the forum already or do I have to start all over again? If I have a ipbfree forum and say I want to move to vBulliten and still keep my posts forum categories, etc. is that possible as well?
You will have to see if you can get a backup of your forum from Zetaboards and look into the possibility to import it to ipbfree. You need to check if the hosts allow it.
You can, with skill, switch from zetaboards to a server of your own but not to IPBfree. I do suggest you stay at ZB, though, I consider them better than IPBfree.
The problem with free hosts is that you can't normally get backups. If you can then you usually need to pay and most hosts won't allow you to move to them as many free hosts install loads of mods that alter the db and that causes problems. Also if you move from one forum software to another then you need to convert that backup into the software you want to use.
As ZB is a custom software, they won't give you a backup and even if they did, it would be useless and you would need to convert that into a structure used by another software. It can be done but it is not easy. When you make a forum on a free host, you have to kinda accept you will be with them for life.
To be honest, it's not worth the effort. IPB Free is using a really old and crap version of IPB. Zetaboards may not be great, but they are a hell of a lot more user friendly than IPB Free. One thing I'll give them credit for is providing a very userfriendly free host. Administration wise, they seriously suck, but on the user side they are great. They even have some features like a threaded PM system that you'll only find in IPB3 forums.
Trust me, your users will hate the change. Don't bother.
I don't know, i think if you're capable of managing your way around an admin control panel then it's a pretty safe bet to assume you can install and manage your own forum without too much bother, and no one has the knowledge in the first place, but passion is crucial to the success of any forum, so if you lack that you should probably give up now.
