Would you join a Proboards or Forumotion forum?

[Martin]

i would do forumotion but not proboards i hate it

 

[Umbreon]

I mean, forumotion and proboards is okay for a starter, but the forums will die easily. Some won't, but others will. That is a waste of hard work there...

 

[David]

That's not the case. I have used them both. I don't like either of them that much, really, I am just sort of stuck with them. ProBoards is better, from what I have seen.

I agree with you. ProBoards loads a lot quicker tham ForuMotion.

So you don't care about any other features; as long as it loads faster, it must be the better option???

 

[Cam]

That's not why I prefer ProBoards.

 

[Nathan]

No.

 

[DarkRaven]

Guys, content is so much more important than software/domains. Software and domains really are the icing on the cake, but you can have a perfectly good cake with no icing.

It's the internet - if you take yourself seriously, you get laughed at. There are people out there who legitimately want to run a good forum, but don't see the point in investing money in it, or are just plain broke. So long as they do a good job of managing the community, then I couldn't care less what software they are using, unless it is so crappy that it will hinder me.

And those of you who go on demanding that they have TLDs and on a paid host? Forums are to chat, relax and learn the odd new fact that you wouldn't know from reading the newspaper. Remind me how a TLD helps you to do that...

 

[David]

And those of you who go on demanding that they have TLDs and on a paid host?

Do remember that free forum hosts can be taken down and free domains (like .co.cc) have an expiry date, so you may be having a nice chat, but the chance of a site going down, or a domain expiring and you time wasted, is more likely than having self-hosted (ie. with backups).

A TLD isn't going to give you a nice chat, but it definitely reinforces the likelihood of a nice chat continuing.

 

[fantanoice]

and free domains (like .co.cc) have an expiry date

So do TLDs, derp.

 

[David]

and free domains (like .co.cc) have an expiry date

So do TLDs, derp.

You interpreted it in the wrong context, probably because you haven't read the discussion. The discussion was leading onto admins without any money, so hence the use of the .co.cc is used in the right context, as after a year, they charge $3. (derp)

 

[DarkRaven]

And those of you who go on demanding that they have TLDs and on a paid host?

Do remember that free forum hosts can be taken down and free domains (like .co.cc) have an expiry date, so you may be having a nice chat, but the chance of a site going down, or a domain expiring and you time wasted, is more likely than having self-hosted (ie. with backups).

A TLD isn't going to give you a nice chat, but it definitely reinforces the likelihood of a nice chat continuing.

Servers can go bust and lose your data. Backups can be lost as well. Fact is, hosting service is entirely safe. From my memories of using Zetaboards, they offered us a URL anyway. It was a crappy URL, but it was a URL nonetheless.

The only reason I'm on a paid host with IPB is that I hated the ZB ACP.

 

[AnAccount]

Guys, content is so much more important than software/domains. Software and domains really are the icing on the cake, but you can have a perfectly good cake with no icing.

It's the internet - if you take yourself seriously, you get laughed at. There are people out there who legitimately want to run a good forum, but don't see the point in investing money in it, or are just plain broke. So long as they do a good job of managing the community, then I couldn't care less what software they are using, unless it is so crappy that it will hinder me.

And those of you who go on demanding that they have TLDs and on a paid host? Forums are to chat, relax and learn the odd new fact that you wouldn't know from reading the newspaper. Remind me how a TLD helps you to do that...

See this is why I love running a forum. I can't invest in anything like Vbulletin as that's way more expensive than the hosting... I enjoy forums just to hang out and get to know other members and just to get away from the real world if only for an hour or two. As was said, unless the forum was on a ridiculously crappy host that had loads of downtime or whatever, the important thing is the community interaction and the content that is provided, that's what I believe in as well! Skin, TLD's and what host a certain site is on matters very little to me at this stage. As long as I enjoy the forum and what it's about, I'll commence using it. Just like with my own forum; if I commence enjoying to run it and meeting new members and giving myself something stimulating, if you will, something to kill time even, I'll commence running my site and continue to gain new members. In fact, the only way I'll comment on anything on a forum is if a skin is too light to where it's hard to read or too dark to where it's hard to see anything at all.

 

[David]

Servers can go bust and lose your data. Backups can be lost as well. Fact is, hosting service is entirely safe. From my memories of using Zetaboards, they offered us a URL anyway. It was a crappy URL, but it was a URL nonetheless.

The only reason I'm on a paid host with IPB is that I hated the ZB ACP.

I guess you didn't hear about IPBFree closing down without reason. You say "backups can be lost as well", well, that's poor logic and a bad rebuttal. It would then be the owner's issue, not the host's issue. The discussion is about the hosting, not the responsibility of an owner to save the database. ZB URL's are terrible, SEO wise and are hard to memorise.

 

[Chazz]

I've joined some proboards forums which were active and had a large membership. I will say having an easy to remember domain helps and most free forum hosts nowadays are allowing the use of custom domain names.

I have a pretty active forum on a free forum host and I'm quite happy with it. It's not a large membership but it has some members who post daily and I'm happy with that. I've seen many dead forums running Vbulletin or other paid forum software so having fancy software doesn't guarantee a successful forum.

 

[Maggot]

I'm not a fan of proboards - the feel of it for some reason has always annoyed me. That doesn't mean I wouldn't join one. Same with Forumotion.

 

[Kaynil]

L.O.L. X'D

I can understand that many of you don't like free software, but generalizing and making it sound like it doesn't happen in other software is just laughable.

Anyway.. Proboards and forumotion, just like any other software, I don't mind joining any community.

I never assume if a forum is doomed based on the software, I check other things like when was the last post, last login, check the thread content, check the place in general. that is what makes me say "yay" or "nay" towards joining any community.

Forums dieing or starting are part of the cycle, as well as low and highs in activity. I've seen popular forums been hacked regardless what software or TLD. vBulletin been closed, free hosted forums been tremendously active and fun. I've seen a bit of everything everywhere, so I don't mid a bit.

As everyone there are software I like more than others, but I have never felt rejection towards the ones that are lower in my personal rank. Thanks to proboards at least two great communities where I've made good friends have been created and I could be there, not to leave aside my own forums which started there too. Forumotion, has been gentle with my forums so far and I have enjoying meeting many of you initially when this forum was hosted by them, or just through other forumotion forum. As you see, I have absolutely no problem with either too, specially as a member.

 

[Justin]

Neither. I hate both softwares, I get email after email after email from the forums about every single post made and you can never find a way to turn it off without spending a while and is a general hassle, which I why I don't do it anymore.

 

[Luke]

I like ProBoards ;D

 

[DarkRaven]

Servers can go bust and lose your data. Backups can be lost as well. Fact is, no hosting service is entirely safe. From my memories of using Zetaboards, they offered us a URL anyway. It was a crappy URL, but it was a URL nonetheless.

The only reason I'm on a paid host with IPB is that I hated the ZB ACP.

I guess you didn't hear about IPBFree closing down without reason. You say "backups can be lost as well", well, that's poor logic and a bad rebuttal. It would then be the owner's issue, not the host's issue. The discussion is about the hosting, not the responsibility of an owner to save the database. ZB URL's are terrible, SEO wise and are hard to memorise.

You can back up free hosted forums - you use crawler converters for that. The question is though, would this prevent me from joining a zetaboards forum? Most likely no. SEO doesn't exactly bother me, a member, and if you find ZB URLs hard to memorise, then I have to say you've got a bad memory. They are all s#.zetaboards.com/Something for heaven's sake...

 

[Cam]

Neither. I hate both softwares, I get email after email after email from the forums about every single post made and you can never find a way to turn it off without spending a while and is a general hassle, which I why I don't do it anymore.

ProBoards doesn't do that.

 

[GunsNroses]

I have used a few but I like http://www.forumotion.com the best its simple and easy to use

The best thing about Forumotion is that there is nothing to download and nothing to setup. You just have to choose a forum name and they'll do the rest. You can have a fully functioning forum up and running in less than 30 seconds.