1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

Who knows of recommendable forum hosting?

Discussion in 'Whatnots' started by chevalier, Jan 19, 2003.

  1. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2002
    Messages:
    16,815
    Media:
    11
    Likes Received:
    58
    Gender:
    Male
    Remove all ads!
    Greetings.

    I need info about free hosting for the message board I've planned. What's important is: speed, not much bugs, stability, preferably no ads, sane URL, no knowledge of PHP&SQL required and the degree of adult material allowed like here at SP or Interplay forums or FWStudios or any normal (c)rpg forum. Thanks in advance for links (and a short description if you don't mind).
     
    chevalier, Jan 19, 2003
    #1
  2. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,653
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    570
    Gender:
    Male
    The only place you'll get that is in your dreams. EZboards are the only free forums, and they're crappy, full of ads, and spawn a pop-up on ever page. There's no such thing as free lunch.
     
    Taluntain, Jan 19, 2003
    #2

  3. Aikanaro Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2001
    Messages:
    5,521
    Likes Received:
    20
    [​IMG] Hyperboards are free, but they are also complete crap. Two popups a page, come off it
     
    Aikanaro, Jan 19, 2003
    #3
  4. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2002
    Messages:
    16,815
    Media:
    11
    Likes Received:
    58
    Gender:
    Male
    Yes, Taluntain, I know... I even found one that has one banner only and is totally free, but again they are pro-family. Not that I'm not, but still... Not a good place for fantasy forums... I've downloaded phpbb board and I'll try to find a regular hosting. Some of them actually do give place, freedom and no ads. Only a banner or even not that, but the domain name is enough for them. As for me, I would anyway take a free alias if that be too obscure, so no problem. Heh, still one has too read their tos-es carefully. How much space is needed for an average board? Guys from phpbb forums rarely hit 20 meg, but something like an average rpg forum?
     
    chevalier, Jan 19, 2003
    #4
  5. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,653
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    570
    Gender:
    Male
    You need as much space as big your board will become. 20 megs won't last long. Anyway, for 10 bucks a month you'll get paid hosting with everything you need (and more), so if you plan on being serious about having a board/site, that's your best option.
     
    Taluntain, Jan 19, 2003
    #5

  6. Faragon Gems: 25/31
    Latest gem: Moonbar

     Veteran

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2001
    Messages:
    2,015
    Likes Received:
    0
    Indeed. If you want to have a site (or forum) which isn't pestered by popups and banners every single time a page loads, you need to put down a few bucks. Of course if your site becomes really big (not just in filesize, but mostly communitywise), you need to put down more money, and you might want to add banners and popups to fund the site and drive your own costs down.
     
    Faragon, Jan 19, 2003
    #6
  7. 8people

    8people 8 is just another way of looking at infinite ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2002
    Messages:
    7,141
    Media:
    74
    Likes Received:
    133
    Gender:
    Female
    [​IMG] I know someone who managed to get a forum dead cheap , I'll look into it for you :thumb: I don't have details here.

    Btw

    Is Chevvy trying to takeover SP :eek:

    :shake:
     
    8people, Jan 19, 2003
    #7
  8. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2002
    Messages:
    16,815
    Media:
    11
    Likes Received:
    58
    Gender:
    Male
    The problem is not really with the cost itself, but with that I live overseas, in Poland, and sending a few bucks will probably cost me thrice the amount. This is the only reason I'm looking for a free host that would be ok with banners and one-two popups, but not making an advert trash of my forum. Now I have three options:

    Conforums.com - ready customisable board (Html, css at my will), flexible engine, a bit slower than Invision or Phpbb

    InvisionFree.com - ready customisable invision board, 3 meg for all except posts, accounts etc (ie smilies, avvies, logos etc)

    And I've downloaded Phpbb board which could be installed wherever php4&mysql3.22 is installed with some basic access rights.

    Edit: Heureka! I've just found pipni.cz. They give half gig space, free domain, no ads - banner only, every technical thing needed is covered. If only that was in English, not Czech. A bit similar to Polish, but still I can't figure out several things. Hope they'll answer to my mail.

    Conforums' administration is OK with my ideas, so that's to be the option if pipni.cz doesn't go.

    Edit2: Actually YaBB board might be better than phpBB. It's based on PERL and thus has the advantage over that PHP that I know PERL. And it's way smaller and easier to keep the board little-sized. Share if you know either of the boards from experience.

    [ January 19, 2003, 23:08: Message edited by: chevalier des Trois-Tours ]
     
    chevalier, Jan 19, 2003
    #8

  9. Pac man Gems: 25/31
    Latest gem: Moonbar

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2002
    Messages:
    2,119
    Likes Received:
    1
    Hyperboards are not all THAT bad, it's pretty fast and the popups are easy to kill with a simple popup stopper. Ikonboards is okay too, though i'm not sure if that's free.
     
    Pac man, Jan 20, 2003
    #9
  10. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2002
    Messages:
    16,815
    Media:
    11
    Likes Received:
    58
    Gender:
    Male
    tripod is said to be the best choice... they say for 1000 members & 20000 posts less than 20 meg is enough. I doubt I will ever hit that.
     
    chevalier, Jan 20, 2003
    #10

  11. Faragon Gems: 25/31
    Latest gem: Moonbar

     Veteran

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2001
    Messages:
    2,015
    Likes Received:
    0
    Well, it also depends on the restrictions you set on your members. Will they be allowed personal avatars and signatures? Pictures in their signatures? Will they be allowed to attach pictures to their messages? Stuff like that can eat up your space quick as hell.
     
    Faragon, Jan 20, 2003
    #11

  12. Elios Gems: 17/31
    Latest gem: Star Diopside

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2002
    Messages:
    942
    Likes Received:
    0
    Gender:
    Male
    Value Web, www.valueweb.com has some pretty reasonable rates. I used it for a business I had in Alabama and I intend to use them again in when I start the business in California. My friend uses it to for his business. They offer you a lot of options for the buck. They also have a really nice email newsletter thing that is free untill you have something like 250 users.
     
    Elios, Jan 20, 2003
    #12
  13. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2002
    Messages:
    16,815
    Media:
    11
    Likes Received:
    58
    Gender:
    Male
    You see, it's like that: I live overseas. In Poland namely. So fees for paying fees aka provisions are going to suck my blood, especially if post is concerned. Here in this country even paid service doesn't have half the US free server options. You pay hell of a lot of money for some 30 meg, poor bandwith and slow server. On some US servers they charge for unlimited bandwith and 300 meg space on fast server less than I charge for a single one hour long Latin or English class.

    I'm now hesitating between using some free forum-exlusive service:

    1.conforums.com, ready & highly customisable forums or

    2.InvisionFree.com where boards are faster and ads less intrusive - only one banner of their own - but all boards look the same and there's no customisation

    or

    lycos - by many recommended as the best option for forums to the degree that they've even written a special guide at phpbb.com how to install their board on that server. 50 meg. They say 20 suffices for 1000 members/20000 posts, but I dare doubt.

    Maybe if I don't accept any uploads (hosted avvies etc), no signatures (or hosted externally) and delete old silent threads... Well, any suggestions from experts on for how much/many/long is that enough?
     
    chevalier, Jan 20, 2003
    #13
  14. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,653
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    570
    Gender:
    Male
    [​IMG] There is no such thing as unlimited bandwidth, that's the first thing you learn when you actually look into it. Read the small text. Also, 90% of the sites that offer dirt cheap hosting with unlimited whatever are scams.

    And you were told already, the size your forums will grow to is dependent on dozens of different factors, it's impossible to calculate in advance. That's why you need to have a place where you can expand to start with.
     
    Taluntain, Jan 20, 2003
    #14
  15. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2002
    Messages:
    16,815
    Media:
    11
    Likes Received:
    58
    Gender:
    Male
    Yes, I realise nothing is unlimited really. Thanks for kind advice :) . Now I've been looking for a host for a few days (sleeping 2hs). Sometimes it's good to know tongues :D If I don't find any, I'll either try tripod (there's even a special version of Yabb for Tripod, so someone must be interested) or take conforums.net which is a ready customisable Yabb with a banner and 'free' notice until my semester exams are over (aka tomorrow oops today on condition I don't fail) and I again have the time to give lessons in Latin :D . Provision/commission sucks however. Thanks anyway. I'll post the url in 'pimp your websites' thread when I have it ready.
     
    chevalier, Jan 21, 2003
    #15
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.