I am looking into a site development project and would like to incorporate a bulletin board into the site. I use PHP and MySQL on the back end.
The structure I am looking to use is
Category
Forums
Topics
Posts
I will have 5-7 Categories which I will control. I will control the addition of Forums some of which will have a natural life and be removed or archived when complete. People will then be able to add Topics and Posts to discuss the Forum.
I would also like to have a controlled voting attachment to the Forum level so people can go there from the forum and opt into one or more of the voting (or polling) categories, but I want those identifiable by person.
So I would actually like to use the bulletin board database for control of all four levels but would like the interface for the top two to be somewhat removed from the bulletin board interface and just use the bulletin board interface for topic and post discussions. So I would control selection of the forum and then they could view the discussions if they want and I will take them to the bulletin board but restrict their access there to that forum.
I understand this is a broad question but would appreciate any guidance in which direction to head or any experiences people might have had in this area.
Thanks
You could use an existing application such as PHP Bulletin Board: ttp://www.phpbb.com
Alternatively, you could accomplish what you’re looking for with some PHP and a database. If you’re going to go that route, we’d be happy to answer a more specific question related to your project. Start simple and break that application into individual tasks.
Thanks for the input.
I have in fact looked at phpBB and feel like it would be another career to try to integrate that with a custom site. My inclination is to do it myself but I don’t want to reinvent the wheel if there is something relatively simple out there that I haven’t found or if someone who actually has some experience with this type of thing steers me in another direction. I feel perfectly comfortable in PHP and MySQL so there is no fear there or learning curve for that matter.
I’m in the initial stages of design but don’t think I need a fill blown bulletin board either. It’s more just posting comments and responses to a particular thread in which they want to participate. And since that part of the app is just a two level structure, it seems like it could be pretty simple.
The more I think about it the more I am convinced I should do it myself. Unless someone jumps in screaming calling me an idiot. 
Go for it, jump in two feet first. 
Post here if you need help.
Thanks, at least that way I have no one to blame but myself. You may see me back out here soon.