Free forum worth bothering with?

IceBus · 23 Apr 2010 at 11:41

Hey all,

I used to host and run my own forum using phpBB, which shut down a few years ago. Basically I'm thinking about starting a new one, but for professional development in my job sector. It needs to feel as pro as possible, but hopefully be free!

I don't really fancy paying for hosting (bandwidth charges used to cost me a bomb), so is there any free online equivalent of phpBB that would allow a similar amount of control and quality?

I'd like the ability for sub-forums, an anonymous forum and also a reasonable level of control to avoid spambots and trolls.

Thanks a lot for any help/advice!

whitecrook · 23 Apr 2010 at 11:48

ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

You say your board is pro, (i.e. makes money!) yet you don't want to outlay anything on it?

IceBus · 23 Apr 2010 at 11:50

I mean professional in terms of feel/quality (no pop-ups, no ads) and it's going to be free to register as I want as many people as possible. It's not an existing community/forum so again feel is hugely important because it needs to draw (and keep) a good community to it.

Alex53 · 23 Apr 2010 at 12:05

Free forum software, some decent ones nearly as good as vBulletin. phpBB and Simplemachines spring to mind.

Free hosted forums, I wouldnt even consider when you can get hosting packages with yearly fees of £15. All the ones I have tried had some form of advertising. Even worse, you are probably treating all your subscribers to a lot of free spam you have no control of, courtesy of joining your forum. Not nice.

IceBus · 23 Apr 2010 at 12:14

So it sounds like free isn't an option then... Who would you recommend hosting-wise then (preferably with a domain name included) that also has a good bandwidth allowance?

Alex53 · 23 Apr 2010 at 12:40

UK Based - Vidahost and TSOHost
USA - I use and like Bluehost, but the demise of the £ has made them relatively more expensive that they used to be. Main thing I like about Bluehost is Simplescripts, which is a nicer than Fantastico.

Tripnologist · 23 Apr 2010 at 13:17

Alex53 said:
UK Based - Vidahost and TSOHost

You can't go wrong with either of those two hosts. I use Vidahost host myself and for every good thing I could say about them, someone could easily say the same of TSOHost.

jack.mitchell · 23 Apr 2010 at 18:19

I really like the fluxbb forums.

http://fluxbb.org/

IceBus · 23 Apr 2010 at 20:15

Thanks a lot guys.

Vidahost look brilliant... What do people think between vBB and phpBB? I remember phpBB used to need a LOT of upgrading to keep it secure from hacking etc. - is that still the case?