Have you ever tried free hosted forum?

[Kane]

In my early days of blogging I tried free blogging through blogspot, wordpress, weebly, etc. but I never tried creating free forums through platforms like proboards, etc. When I started creating forums, I already had hosting package that allowed me to host multiple websites and to create a forum all I needed was just a domain. I prefered to use open source platforms instead of free hosting platforms.

 

[Shortie]

I have tried free-hosted forums and I have to admit, if you are looking to start up a forum and you are new or you are looking to start up a forum as a hobby, a free-hosted forum is perfect for you!

I have used Jcink and Proboards and Jcink has to be my favourite!

 

[Cory]

Freely hosted forums are all I've ever used, starting back with InvisionFree, then ZetaBoards, and now Jcink. I even used ProBoards for a brief period. I'm mainly a front-end guy and don't get involved with server-side programming, which is one reason I've never bothered with self-hosted communities. I love JavaScript, and that's what most freely hosted forums use to customize the board, which is why I have a board dedicated to coding and Jcink resources.

I know if you have a passion for something you're likely willing to pay for it, but as I see it, freely hosted communities are something I can pursue as my passion freely without spending money I don't have on it. After all, they need some loving too. Not many people are going to create a load of free resources for a free service, but I am an exception.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I don't mind those who use free hosts. In fact, I've used them in the past and Jcink is the best one! You can actually move to self hosting if you want in the future and you're not stuck on the platform like other free forum hosts. Though the thing that sucks about the other ones, if they shut down most of them might not give you a database backup.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I was on ProBoards when it was still on its first server!

That was way back when LOL

Back then, I was such a newb that I thought boards were posts so I'd create an entire board as a post LOL

 

[Nomad]

I think free hosted forums can be good if you are starting out, you can always upgrade your account and use the forum with custom domain. But what if you want to move else where, are you allowed to do this?