Free forum hosts?

[erik]

try forumotion

 

[Cryckit]

I used FreeForums.org as my preferred free forum host years ago. I made a number of different forums on there. It was really good for me starting out and having forums as a hobby too. Today, I might use a different free forum host if I was to ever to run a forum of my own again.

 

[Teg1]

I have been a strong supporter of ProBoards forums for over 10 years. I got my start in graphics and Web design using that software. I've been a loyal user throughout the years only switching up occasionally to try something different. They're getting ready to release v6 of their software and it's looking pretty great right now.

 

[Allan]

I haven't used proboards in years but I did stop into the support forum and by smangii's site the other day. V6 looks a lot better than v5.

 

[Teg1]

I haven't used proboards in years but I did stop into the support forum and by smangii's site the other day. V6 looks a lot better than v5.

Yeah, as a designer I am really looking forward to building custom themes for v6. I’ve been a member of Smangii’s forum for years, his theme is v5. He’s pure talent.

 

[Allan]

I can't remember when I joined with him, has to be over a decade, but he is a great designer.

 

[Cam]

I have been a strong supporter of ProBoards forums for over 10 years. I got my start in graphics and Web design using that software. I've been a loyal user throughout the years only switching up occasionally to try something different. They're getting ready to release v6 of their software and it's looking pretty great right now.

I didn't even know that V6 is in the works. That's definitely something I need to check out soon.

I haven't used proboards in years but I did stop into the support forum and by smangii's site the other day. V6 looks a lot better than v5.

I've never been very on active on Slightly Insane, but I've had an account on there for a long time. Smangii always has Slightly Insane looking creative and unique. The forum style seems to regularly change.

 

[jyy]

I don't use them, but I don't blame people who do. They are often getting a good deal. Well, for one thing, they don't have to worry about space or bandwidth - given that the trade-off is other people's ads. Also, as others have noted, the themes and mods often match or perhaps even exceed that found in other forum software.

 

[simonweb]

I would never use a free forum hosting service. Because of several reasons, such as:

• You don't own/control the content, instead your hosting provider does.
  
• And because you don't control the content there are privacy concerns, for example, you don't know what kind of personal details the hosting provider tracks of you and your visitors, or what kind of cookies and codes your provider injects on your pages.
• Your site's brand identity is lost when you use a free provider.
  
• You don't have your own domain name, also see point above about branding, so you can't easily switch web hosts.

 

[Daniel1]

Overall, I don't think that free forum hosts are bad in nature. They want to provide those that don't have the know how to install the software themselves or have no interest in doing so.

I have seen some people manage to abandon ship at a certain stage of their forums life on a forum host and get their content moved over but from my understanding it's not terribly easy.

 

[simonweb]

Overall, I don't think that free forum hosts are bad in nature. They want to provide those that don't have the know how to install the software themselves or have no interest in doing so.

Sure, but many web hosts provide simple automatic installations, and in some cases even automatic updates, for popular CMS and forum software such as phpBB.

 

[Daniel1]

Sure, but many web hosts provide simple automatic installations, and in some cases even automatic updates, for popular CMS and forum software such as phpBB.

I agree but there are still people that don't want to be that involved with the install either and they just want something that works.

 

[Nomad]

I have never used free forum hosting, I have always run and managed self hosted forums. I did try free blogs when I was starting out and based on my experience with free blogging, I never used free hosted forums. It is better use social media to create community rather than use free hosted forums.