Update on putting up a parents’ forum for chatting during the wee hours

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Remember I asked if anyone was interested in a place (on or linked to this blog) that you could go to talk to other sleep-deprived parents who were either in the throes of sleep training or just in survival mode during one of the transition periods? I got some great suggestions in the comments section about the pragmatics of putting up such a forum. The only problem is that I seem to be tech-dumb. I tried a few options and they all seemed to either be too difficult for me to figure out, not quite what we're looking for, or I had to pay for it (I run this site on my own without the support of HarperCollins or my "day job" and I don't have any ads on this site, so the out-of-pocket stuff can get a bit stressful). This Meebo thing (at the bottom left of the blog) seemed to be as close as I got to what we're looking for, but I have to be signed in at all times so that everyone else can also get into the chatroom… and that's just not possible for me to do 24 hours, round the clock.

Stupid_computer So… I'm wondering if I could ask for some help from the Internets. Can anyone out there hold my hand through the process of getting this chatroom up and running? I'm happy to use any program that will facilitate this goal; it just has to be VERY easy for everyone to use and cost nothing (or almost nothing… I don't mind paying a small start-up fee, but I can't afford monthly or regular ongoing fees).

3 thoughts on “Update on putting up a parents’ forum for chatting during the wee hours”

  1. https://www.vbulletin.com/order/
    I have used this for years at my day job for tracking client requests/internal communication.
    I think that with other sites in the baby internet world, they will most likely have custom engineered sites (baby center.com etc) so that is not an option for you.
    The aforementioned, however, can be setup and ready to go in a relatively short amount of time.

  3. I’m no techie but I came across this application a while ago. Free and gives you forum-based discussion boards. It’s not live chat but it could be great for supporting each other. The site is ning.com. You can set up an account and then a social network page (ie Bed timing) that lets you post articles and then set up a forum that members can use. Maybe there’s a way to link to the forum from here (as opposed to forcing people to go directly from here). Not sure. But worth a play around.
    x

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