Recommendations for a local forum hosting service?

[mina.magpie]

Hi all,

I want to set up a local support-group type forum and I was wondering if anybody could recommend a forum hosting service, preferably something cheap (read free) like http://www.freeforums.org/ or the like. I'm really hoping to find something that's locally hosted so one doesn't run out of bandwidth halfway through the month.

Failing that, any recommendations on the international ones? Freeforums.org actually doesn't look that bad, except for using phpBB and not SMF.

Mina.

[Ron2K]

The general rule with free hosting services is that you get what you pay for. If you're prepared to pay for hosting, take a look at WebAfrica's Linux Essentials package.

Oh, and I found SMF to be absolutely hideous, but that was back in the 1.0.x days; they may have gotten better since then.

[mina.magpie]

The general rule with free hosting services is that you get what you pay for. If you're prepared to pay for hosting, take a look at WebAfrica's Linux Essentials package.

Thanks yeah, I was afraid of that. Unfortunately paid hosting is really not possible for me at the moment, so I'll have to consider my options carefully. Thanks for the link though, I'll definitely have a look.

[/quote]Oh, and I found SMF to be absolutely hideous, but that was back in the 1.0.x days; they may have gotten better since then.[/quote]

LOL. It's just that I've been on a bunch of forums in my time, and I've just always found the SMF ones much more user-friendly than the phpBB ones seem to be. Of course if the back-end is unusable I suppose it doesn't matter what the front-end is like. I'll give it some thought and ask around a bit.

Mina.

[Ron2K]

LOL. It's just that I've been on a bunch of forums in my time, and I've just always found the SMF ones much more user-friendly than the phpBB ones seem to be. Of course if the back-end is unusable I suppose it doesn't matter what the front-end is like. I'll give it some thought and ask around a bit.

I was actually referring to SMF in general - having said that, I really hated the 1.0.x admin interface. With an absolute bloody passion.

Never used the 1.1.x series, so I don't know if it's been improved.

[maxxis]

Stick to PHPBB and if you have to go free at least look for a hosted solution like http://www.pro-forums.com/new_forum.php

[mina.magpie]

I was actually referring to SMF in general - having said that, I really hated the 1.0.x admin interface. With an absolute bloody passion. Never used the 1.1.x series, so I don't know if it's been improved.

Hehe. Yeah, the early ones did have their ... hiccups. One of my favourite forums ran 1.1 till recently, and it was quite brilliant. They switched over to 2.0 just a few months ago and there were ALOT of bugs to sort out, so you may have a point ... at least till 2.1 comes out.

Stick to PHPBB and if you have to go free at least look for a hosted solution like http://www.pro-forums.com/new_forum.php

I've been reading around a bit and it does seem like phpBB is the preferred platform with more forum admins, so you guys may have a point. Thanks lots for the advice.

So yeah, thanks for the referrals both.

Mina.

[doo_much]

mina.magpie, speak to weasel. He might be able to help you.

Maybe you can share some space on his forum at PCPerfect?

[mina.magpie]

mina.magpie, speak to weasel. He might be able to help you.

Thanks. I'll do that.

Maybe you can share some space on his forum at PCPerfect?

LOL. I kinda doubt that he'd go for that.

BTW, do you read "Looking for a Group"?

Mina.