Create a Free Forum
There are many different ways to do so, but in this article you can read about the two most widely used ways to create a free forum. One of which is to use free open source bulletin board software, and the other is to create a free forum through a forum hosting web site.
We will cover the pros and cons of each method, so that you can choose which is the best for you.
First up is open source software. This is the best method for people who are wanting to create a free forum for their business. A good software choice is PHPbb. (www.phpbb.com) There are certain requirements to use this free software, however. You will need to have your own web server or web hosting account. It can run on any operating system, as long as there is support for PHP. You’ll also need a SQL database system. The two most well known (and by association, the most reliable) are Firebird, and Oracle.
While PHPbb is a great choice of discussion forum software for those with a good amount of computer and web know-how, it can be challenging, and even downright intimidating for people who want to create a discussion forum for their own personal enjoyment, or as a hobby.
Another option for people wanting to create a free forum, is to go through a free forum hosting website. There are many different forum hosting websites to be found, and a trip to Google will give you every choice you could ever want. However for this article, we will focus on one of the oldest, and most trusted forum hosting websites.
ProBoards (www.proboards.com) has long been an industry leader, having been providing service for over ten years. Their interface is easy to understand, and intuitive. Not only are you given all the tools you need to have your own forum up and running in a matter of minutes, ProBoards has their own set of help forums to show you how to create a forum, and guides to help you if you run into any trouble. They even have a forum specifically for different colored themes to fully customize your discussion forum.
ProBoards, and other forum hosting sites do have some downfalls though. Your site is hosted for free, and because it is a free service, there will be banner ads. They could cover any number of topics, but they do try to cater the ads to whatever topics your board covers, for example, if you are creating a discussion forum about cupcakes, then you are likely to see ads about cooking utensils.
So if you’re looking to create a free forum, these are some good options for you. Just remember, no matter the reason for why you decide to create a free forum, there are as many options and possibilities as there are unique reasons to create a free forum.