Could a free hosted forum last for five to ten years?

[Beverly]

Most of us think of free hosted forums as a starting place, something we use for the first few months. But, what if you start a forum and never bother upgrading to paid hosting? Could a free hosted forum such as one started on Forumotion or Proboards ever last for more than a year?

The downside might be how you can't usually add any advertisements. Also, there could be a lot of requirements you have to abide by. And, a free forum is more likely to go out of business if the free forum host shuts down.

On the upside, you never have to worry about spending money to keep a forum going, so there is never money out of pocket. That could be especially good, if you are passionate about the forum niche but have no realistic way to monetize it. After all, some of us just love a subject but can't really make money from it. And, you still get the same thrill of forum ownership with a free hosted forum as you do with one that you paid for.

What's your point of view about this? Is it ever realistic to leave a forum on free hosting? Is this a viable long term solution?

 

[R44]

I know of one on freeforums.

 

[int0x10]

It's possible, but it depends on a number of factors being in place:
- Low bandwidth usage to avoid being banned from the hosting
- The host actually staying open for 5 - 10 years
- Users not avoiding the site because it's a free host (and probably domain)

So, it's definitely possible, but unlikely.

 

[Cosmic]

It's possible, but it depends on a number of factors being in place:
- Low bandwidth usage to avoid being banned from the hosting
- The host actually staying open for 5 - 10 years
- Users not avoiding the site because it's a free host (and probably domain)

So, it's definitely possible, but unlikely.

Do the big free forum hosts ban websites with high usage? Zetaboards, for example? You'd think they'd make a killing on ad revenue.

 

[Robo86]

Back in the day when Invisionfree was popular. I've seen and been on some of those free forums that got pretty big. One of them had over 300 members and 80,000+ posts before they converted to IPB.

 

[int0x10]

It's possible, but it depends on a number of factors being in place:
- Low bandwidth usage to avoid being banned from the hosting
- The host actually staying open for 5 - 10 years
- Users not avoiding the site because it's a free host (and probably domain)

So, it's definitely possible, but unlikely.

Do the big free forum hosts ban websites with high usage? Zetaboards, for example? You'd think they'd make a killing on ad revenue.

Some don't, but others do, from experience. Also, if you decide to use a domain like .tk, as soon as it becomes remotely popular it gets parked by them.

 

[MisaTange]

Two words: Charlie's Chill, which is on Zetaboards. I don't think they've switched forum softwares.

I'm pretty sure it's because the owner is motivated. Free forum owners tend to lose steam after a while, and on paid forum softwares you have some extra motivation, like getting more bang for your buck type deal.

 

[Graffiti]

Absolutely, it all depends on the forum owner's dedication to his or her's forum. Charlie's Chill been on ZB/IF software for years now, so I agree with Misa.

 

[VirusZero]

Could free forums last for 5 to 10 years?

Depends on the host really. I mean are we talking free web host that someone uses to set up a forum or a dedicated forum hosting site?

I don't honestly think a forum could last for 5-10 years on a free web host simply because they often have so many restrictions and issues that eventually the forum would either die/close or get shut down by the host (if it grew too big).

However if we're talking forum hosting sites then I definitely think sites could last 10 years (or longer) on them. Some sites are likely even approaching/beyond that now (on proboards and InvisionFree for certain).
I was part of an InvisionFree site that lasted 6 years and a proboards site that lasted 5. So I definitely think it's possible. (I was also part of a site that was IF and before it moved to self-hosting, after 5 years of being on IF, it had over a half million posts.)
These type sites don't ban high traffic or large forums because ad revenue makes them money (to cover server costs and whatnot).

- Users not avoiding the site because it's a free host (and probably domain)

This is actually an attitude I've only ever really seen around here (or similar other webmaster/promotion type sites). In most other places I've been people tend not to care about the host whatsoever. Honestly though if someone is going to get a stick up their backside because a site doesn't use paid hosting then they're probably not a person I'd want on my forum anyway. That stated, I've still seen enough cases when I was on free forum hosting where people (ones who espoused that whole "paid hosting only" mentality) couldn't even tell I wasn't using paid hosting... So it's likely most people can't even tell the difference anyway.

I will also state that just because a site is a paid host doesn't mean it's going to stick around either. Regular backups (and keep a copy on a usb drive or external hard drive or something other than your computer... but not cloud storage) if you value your data.

 

[Moonface]

Do the big free forum hosts ban websites with high usage? Zetaboards, for example? You'd think they'd make a killing on ad revenue.

ZetaBoards does not limit communities regardless of their size. Boards that aren't even used or contain any posts are kept online, so why would highly active and established boards be treated differently, and worse?

Onto this subject, my board is on a free forum host, and has been for over 8 years now. The Mario Forums is the same, and that was 3rd place in the huge Site Battle this place hosted a few months ago. Plenty of other boards on ZetaBoards or InvisionFree are just as old, older, or lasted for longer than 5 years before closing due to their own issues, that would have come about regardless of their choice of forum software.

 

[Shortie_]

I am a member on a few forums that have been around for 10 years which is pretty amazing and they are on free hosting. I personally wouldn't hesitate myself to use free hosting for a forum if I really had to knowing that they can last a while and people do take the seriously.

 

[jacktheking]

I know of a forums that are on free hosting. They are growing everyday since the start. Somewhere in June last year.

As long as the administrator is active, even if it is on frer hosting it would still work.

 

[F4nnZ]

it could happen there are many free forums that are popular but I would say that most people like going on forums that have their own url but it could definitely work.

 

[Moonface]

it could happen there are many free forums that are popular but I would say that most people like going on forums that have their own url but it could definitely work.

You don't need a paid host to have a domain.

 

[Atrox]

Let's just have a look at The Walking Dead Forums.

 

[Cedric]

If you think being on a paid software makes you better then a free software, you should just gtfo.

 

[Roxter]

If it's hosted free forums such as Zetaboards, I think it's much harder. To me honestly, more customizable software that you can host yourself has more potential, but who knows?

 

[Rebel]

Personally I find free hosting to be lazy.

No one get upset by that. It's my personal opinion and I make no apologies for it.

A domain can cost less than $2 and hosting less than $7. Software such as MYBB (like FP here) and PHPBB are free and widely used. So for less than $10 a month you could be hosting your own site on your own domain.

To me, a military vet, laziness is the ultimate turn off, and if you can't spend $10 a month and 20 minutes of your time to get your forum up and going...then I have no confidence in your administrating abilities nor your community as a whole.

I simply wont even join communities on free hosting because of this.

 

[mav3n]

When I first started the whole webmaster thing, I was on Forumotion. One thing that I quickly noticed was just how limited things were and if you wanted more, you had to pay for them. This is where paying for your hosting comes in handy, because then you don't have to pay for "extras", they're just there already.

Regarding the software, I don't think there is always a need to go paid. Now, I have used both IPB and XenForo over some of the free ones like MyBB and PhpBB because I preferred the more features I get, but that's it. Being on FP, I have seen many communities more active than ones on free software than paid because it's not the software that makes a community, it's the users. So take that as you will.

 

[Lord Saru]

Irrespective of this, a free hosting is still about finding your own space in the world of internet. Paid hosting do have its own advantages, but these days you can see a lot customizability factor added into these free hosting scripts.