I have a question, What makes all these free forum hosts like forumotion bad? I see many people ranting about them like forumotion is crappy and all that but I never see any solid reason for these people to be hating on them.
All free forum host are started for making money from innocent people who have not enough money to pay for host. They are charging more than they need to maintain the server and they are not giving backup btw. So all are bad!
They place limits on forums to the extent you have to upgrade to some plan, however it's no different as you maintain the feature limits. My biggest pet peeve with these sorts of hosts is that they refuse to give you a database/domain if you so choose to leave and change hosts. This is easy money for them, yet they object and dislike the idea. Basically if you choose to go with a free host, your stuck there until you find a way to get out.
@Austin has a great point, but I think saying "All free hosts suck, never ever ever ever use them" is an over-step. There have been lots of great forums on free hosts, and I think we all need to consider that. As long as a forum is done right, it can be successful; on any host
They don't suck by any means, not all of them anyway. I would defiantly recommend it to someone that is starting out with forums completely(never owned one/ ran one).
The biggest forums in the world are on their own domain names, with proper software (exceptions don't make the rule). There is nothing like a free meal. Not in life, not online. You will have limitations, you will look unprofessional. When a domain name is as cheap as 3 bucks/year (.info for first year) and hosting can be purchased even for 1 dollar a month, I really don't understand why people wouldn't do the things right. I ran free hosted forums 10 years ago, moved 3 times because of hitting the 'limits' lost it all. But back then a php/mysql hosting account had a HUGE price. It's not the case anymore
.info domain is not very good either! You should buy .org .net or .com is still cheap and not very expensives! Yes free forum on free host is bad, I never see good one and all look bad and same.
I have seen a few nicely implemented forums on free forum hosts but yes I do agree with the point of this thread as a forum hosted on its own usually stands a better chance in the jungle of forums that is out there. The admin will know what to do usually when things go wrong or need coreecting and does not have to go through lots of support to get things fixed. I prefer to use forums that are self hosted but I do on occasion visit nice free hosted forums.
I don't think they're bad, it really just depends on the needs and wants of the administrator and the community they're after.
No, I found phpbb to be really helpful and it seems like many forums are using phpbb and are successful.
Free forum hosts are a great way to start out. Also most forum owners can trace there roots back to a free forum host at some point in time.
If you guys worried about lossing backup in free forums. Just hire me i can get you database backup by my method
The big issue for me was the limits. So horrible. And then the software is usually outdated. Then there's the domain. You can't use a custom domain with a free forum host, or at least not on the ones I've read about.
I would have to say no but at the same time yes. Free forum hosts usually require you to have advertisements on your websites and to get rid of them, you have to pay for it. Honestly, I would rather just use a web host to have my own cPanel and full access to my forum instead of just limited access.
Not all free hosts are bad. One of my favorite free hosts is actually proPHPBB. When we hired staff, I always recommended this host so that the applicant can at least get used to the basics of phpBB. Anything advanced we can always teach them or help them out with later. Friendly support staff, awesome uptime... too bad all hosts can't be like that. I remember leaving the support forum one time and after a short hiatus returning (as a member, of course, not as a client) Anyway, the admin welcomed me back warmly and then the next thing you know my intro thread turns into something like my own personal general discussion thread, and we were laughing and joking back and forth and just had all kinds of fun. So I'm very pleased with this host and I'm not afraid to recommend them to any newbie forum owner who wants to experience real phpBB. As far as I can recall, they offer both free and paid plans, but I haven't looked at prices in ages, so I don't know how much anything is. In terms of free hosts, proPHPBB is #1 on my list. However, one host I refuse to recommend is Forumotion. Uptimes okay, but their support is horrible. They seem to be horribly rude to people who have been victims of hacking attempts or crackings. Some of the stories I heard reminded me of a dentist I used to go to. Every time I got a cavity, he always blamed it on drinking too much soda. We went to a new dentist and he said that's not always the case. I'm on a lot of meds for various reasons, and they say that some kinds of meds (especially the capsules) cause tooth decay as well. So too much caffein isn't always the answer. The support forum reminded me of the real life situation I posted. They always seemed to be like: "Someone else has already asked the same question you did; look here!" Okay, that's wonderful that someone else had the same concern/problem, but just because a problem worked for one person, that does not mean that solution will work for you as well. Every forum problem is unique, just like every person is unique, and this is why when running a forum, you must try different options in terms of solving your problem, whatever that problem may be. For example, say if I had a technical issue on my site, and someone else has the same problem as me. Yes, I could try out the suggestion that the staff made to the client with the same issue, but just because a solution worked for him, that does not mean it will work for me too. Now, sometimes you get lucky and find that the solution worked for both parties, but the chances happening are very rare. Also, Forumotion forums are seriously pronned to being hacked. It has nothing to do with passwords either. You could have the best password out there and you could still be hacked. How do I know this? A friend of mine told me and he let me try it with his account. I was horrified at how easy it was to log in to my friend's account exactly as if I owned it! It was a terrifing thought all the same. So the bottom line there is very crappy security. Also, their ACP looks like it was thrown together in a manner of five minutes. As childish as it looks, I'm willing to bet that even a kindergartener could find his way around the ACP with a bit of playing about. It's pathetic and why people still use them, I'll never know. Also, did you know that that's not real phpBB they're using? It's different codes and crap taken from various software. This is one host I will refuse to recommend to anybody!
One of the big problems is they're like a walled garden. If you start a forum on one you may have to pay to be able to get a backup to move from their servers, you may also not be able to get the attachments. I find them often far too slow to meet my needs which makes me avoid them. Adverts exist on some which are yet another downside. If you can find one that doesn't have all of this then great but I'm yet to do so.
I'm afraid so. At least get a free web host and install your own software so it's actually yours and you have access to the files for 100% customization. But I'd recommend getting paid hosting for the speeds, uptime and support. Just invest if you care about your site.. it really isn't much.
No not all free forum posts are bad. At least I like to think they are not. I was part of a huge clan a couple years ago. The forum was hosted using forumotion. We got free hosting and free domain. After about a year, we paid around $20 or so to remove the .forumotion subdomain. The forum was really active and we turned our clan from 5 people close to about 700 people in about 2 years. We had around 500,000 posts and we all loved the site. Almost everyone was the same when it came to power and rights and never had to fight towards anything. It really depends on how you use it. You can make a forum with free forum host go huge.
