Free forum host?

[paperclip]

I want to put up a forum (read want, not need) and was thinking about using a free forum host. I have seen a few that offer everything already there, just need to customize to your needs. For those of you who have forums, would that be a good way to learn the ins and outs of the forum background work?

[wantingawebsite]

Free forums are ok, something like proboards, i have never used a free forum due to most of them having adverts and an unmemerable address, ProBoards.com - Free Remotely Hosted Message Boards or something like that.

For just learning about forums then yeh as its free go for it. You can then look into different forums phpbb, smf etc.

Other way create a subdomain and just install one there to play with, by downloading or by fantastico install.

[webme]

Is that a free-hosted forum or a free hosting for your forum. Forums that are already up and running will not tell you much about running the business. If knowing the ropes is your objective, I suggest that you get a free hosting that allows a forum then start from scratch. Once you decide to make it a serious business, you can back-up your forum and transfer to a paid hosting.

[saubryn]

Proboards are OK, but if your forum takes off it will outgrow them pretty quickly.

I'd avoid Forumer - I am a member of a Forumer hosted board and it runs very slowly.

What would you be using the forum for?

[wantingawebsite]

LOL looking back at my host i'm shocked to see that the link i posted actually worked

[samfox]

Freehostia.com ?

[aquariancore]

Originally Posted by webme

Is that a free-hosted forum or a free hosting for your forum. Forums that are already up and running will not tell you much about running the business. If knowing the ropes is your objective, I suggest that you get a free hosting that allows a forum then start from scratch. Once you decide to make it a serious business, you can back-up your forum and transfer to a paid hosting.

That is some good solid advice. It's is kind of what I am doing. I have two forums and both are related to the mainwebsites.

[ACCER]

I own and operate several forums. I moderate several others. At one time I used a free forum provider. I hated it a lot but it was just being used as a gathering place and I didn't want to invest the time and money if the forum wasn't going to float. Well it did very well so I moved it to my own domain and installed some great software (which was actually free). Minimum cost, easy to use and manage and I have full control over the forum.

[Gigi]

I agree with you Accer. If it is just a gathering place for a small group and nothing too fancy, free host is the way to go. If you want to get something going long term, they quickly grow old. But they are a good way to learn on what you do or do not want to do with a forum!

[tcnjpirate]

I used ezboards and really liked it because it basically walked me through everything I needed to do. The only thing it did do for me was moderate, and that you just learn with practice.

[parise1]

They are cool for the small forum idea but if you are trying to bring in a large number of visitors, BAD IDEA. I think you should not go with free hosting. Plus you are limited when it comes to free hosting, you can only do so much so eventually you will end up paying.

[Bizarnon]

I like Forumotion.com. It has a good amount of features and looks rather professional in comparison to some other free forum hosts.

[Jamesr]

I think Awardspace is the best free hosting. I have been using the service for a long time. But the only problem they have is the upload file size limitation. You can uplaod only files with a maximum of 512KB