Starting free forum with proboards

[Mila]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading many threads and I still need some direction on creating a forum. So, this is what I have decided so far...

community focus: women travelers
community budget: $0.00

Since I have no budget for my forum, I'd like to start off with a free forum. I am a member on several proboards communities and I like the way they are set up and the simplicity of the designs.

Anyway, what do you all think? Have you had experience with proboards? I'd like any information you have about the proboards (good or bad).

Thanks!

 

[My220x]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading many threads and I still need some direction on creating a forum. So, this is what I have decided so far...

community focus: women travelers
community budget: $0.00

Since I have no budget for my forum, I'd like to start off with a free forum. I am a member on several proboards communities and I like the way they are set up and the simplicity of the designs.

Anyway, what do you all think? Have you had experience with proboards? I'd like any information you have about the proboards (good or bad).

Thanks!

Theres nothing wrong with proboards however you wouldn't be able to convert to any other forum software in the future as you won't have access to your database.

 

[Blind Bandit]

My advice is don't touch proboards.

I have to head out shortly but I'll give a full list of reasons why not later today.

There are better free forum options. Look for one that allows a you to copy your database if you ever want to leave.

 

[theone759]

My advice is don't touch proboards.

I have to head out shortly but I'll give a full list of reasons why not later today.

There are better free forum options. Look for one that allows a you to copy your database if you ever want to leave.

I agree, if you ever decide to move, you can't. Theres no conversion for ProBoards, try a PHPBB3, SMF, MyBB free host, there are plenty of them and will give you hope for the future (check to see if they allow you to get the database for your forum)

 

[Blind Bandit]

I agree, if you ever decide to move, you can't. Theres no conversion for ProBoards, try a PHPBB3, SMF, MyBB free host, there are plenty of them and will give you hope for the future (check to see if they allow you to get the database for your forum)

Agreed no matter what software check to make sure you can take the database with you.

And for anyone who is wondering I do run a proboard. see my sig. And it really limits you once you want to move to something bigger and better.

 

[williamjack38]

Though proboard is free, I suggest you dont use it. All the time its down for maintain and heavy traffic. I have used it before 2 months but not good results. Find some others which are cheap and best.

 

[Blind Bandit]

Though proboard is free, I suggest you dont use it. All the time its down for maintain and heavy traffic. I have used it before 2 months but not good results. Find some others which are cheap and best.

True not to mention glitches.

 

[MissMoke]

Createmybb is an excellent option for a free forum-- free hosting, lots of control, mods, themes, etc.

In fact if you can afford a small hosting package, or somehow wrangle some free hosting I'd just go for the MyBB software right out of the gate. If *I* can install it, anyone can because I am most clueless!

I agree you want something you can move later, but even if you never move, you'll regret not being able to control things. I was on proBoards EONS ago and personally it is the bottom of the barrell as forum software goes. I dislike phpbb with a vengeance but I'd go phpbb before Proboards.

 

[spykawg]

I agree with what has been said about proboards, the inability to move is a huge downside to using them. You may be required to pay for a backup on another forum host but at least you can do something with it.

Take a look here for a list of free forum hosting options with ratings from users: Free forum hosting

I'd personally say to try http://www.forums-free.com

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I started out on proboards and liked it. moving to your own domain and other software will suck tho since you cant access the db but i know of successful proboards, one if i may plug is http://staffs.proboards.com/index.cgi

Total Topics: 4,742 - Total Posts: 65,346
Total Members: 1,204

 

[Blind Bandit]

I started out on proboards and liked it. moving to your own domain and other software will suck tho since you cant access the db but i know of successful proboards, one if i may plug is http://staffs.proboards.com/index.cgi

Total Topics: 4,742 - Total Posts: 65,346
Total Members: 1,204

I'm not saying you can't grow big on proboards.

But once you do it become glitchy and slow.

So as someone who has extensive experience with proboards I would recommenced everyone look else where.

 

[breakmydreams]

I love proboards, but I actually don't recommend starting out with it unless you really like them... I would actually suggest http://www.yuku.com , but that is just me...

 

[sambling]

You may just want to go for free hosting, you'd have more control than if you go with a free forum host.

 

[Tink1301]

I actually really like proboards.... I've had my forum on there for almost 4 years now and I'd probably not consider moving! You have the option to buy your own domain name etc now, so you're not stuck with .proboards.com in your title if you dont want to be... but to be honest, I don't see the point in shelling out a lot of money for a forum when some of the free ones are just as good, I'm super happy with my proboards forum!

 

[gogoblender]

I don't see the point in shelling out a lot of money for a forum when some of the free ones are just as good,

What if someone were to tell you that with the amazing content you had, you could pull in a few hundred extra dollars a month by getting all the advertising revenue instead of Proboards.

Would that be an interesting option?

I actually like free board software and free hosting, it's definitely got a place on the net. I'm just worried about pro boards ability to let someone have their Dbase if they wanted to move off and start their own if they should so choose.

Does Proboards at least allow you the choice of paying for your Dbase and hosting it on your own?

And welcome to Taz, Tink1301!



gogo

 

[Tink1301]

What if someone were to tell you that with the amazing content you had, you could pull in a few hundred extra dollars a month by getting all the advertising revenue instead of Proboards.

Would that be an interesting option?

I actually like free board software and free hosting, it's definitely got a place on the net. I'm just worried about pro boards ability to let someone have their Dbase if they wanted to move off and start their own if they should so choose.

Does Proboards at least allow you the choice of paying for your Dbase and hosting it on your own?

And welcome to Taz, Tink1301!



gogo

Thanks for the welcome gogo...

I guess maybe I'm different in that I'm not all that interested in makin money off my forum, I just enjoy the community side of it and I do have a donate button if anyone wishes to help out, and any donations I do get go on competition prizes etc.

Pro boards does give u the option to buy a domain name and run it that way

 

[gogoblender]

Pro boards does give u the option to buy a domain name and run it that way

That's a great way to further personalize the site.

But what about for someone who feels like they want to settle down in their own site, after getting a great start from proboards.

Does Proboards offer support for folks that want to buy their own database and take it somewhere else?



gogo

 

[meetdilip]

Free scripts are ok, but not free hosting. Had bad experience with 000webhost, lost content because they accused me of spamming (which I never did) and deleted my account (it was in my early days). You can get real cheap deals for hosting these days. I think for $ 20 you can get a host and a domain for one year.

 

[HallofFamer]

Well Id recommend you not to touch proboards either. From as far as I know, they've forced crawler converter designers to remove the converter, which means that you will definitely not be able to move out of their service once your forum grows bigger. There may still be ways to acquire proboards converter, but its definitely painstaking. The simple rule of thumb is never to touch freehosts that hold on to your database and refuse to let you have a copy of it even if you pay.

 

[southernlady]

I'm not saying you can't grow big on proboards.

But once you do it become glitchy and slow.

So as someone who has extensive experience with proboards I would recommenced everyone look else where.

AMEN...we WILL be moving to XenForo on my dedicated as soon as all the legal details are worked out...I am not the owner so I had no option as to where we started but I am getting them off there as soon as possible.

Noticed about 2 days after we started the board, it got glitchy...you see new threads pop up but you are the ONLY one online...and yes, I know there is an invisible option but out of 800+ new members in 4 days, we can't ALL be invisible. I can't see my own husband online and he's sitting next to me (he's a member as well) and he doesn't see me...and we both are visible.

To be honest, I am glad that we can't import the database as far as posts as we need a fresh start but I REALLY wish there was a way to export/import the users and passwords so we don't have to start that over again too.

Btw, the board is going thru legal aspects to set up as a non-profit which is why we can't go ahead and move...waiting til the organization is set up and a domain name is official.