What is an online forum?
An online forum is a discussion group with participants dedicated to common interests. They exchange their views using open messages. It is a great way to interact with like-minded people online. It is a site where people have conversations with posted messages. The forum is like chat rooms but is different with messages often being longer than one line text chat.
The forum has been overtaken in popularity by social media networks. But there is still a place for dedicated online communities. They may often be a part of social media networks. They are sometimes referred to as newsgroups or conferences.
What is a forum used for?
In a regular Internet forum, a user writes a post. Posts may include opinions expressed, questions, images, videos, and links. Other users can access that post at any time. They respond and start a dialogue in which other users take part and creating a thread in the process.
Top Rated Forum Builders to start your own community.
You have the option of the traditional way such as having your own vps or paying for a domain and web hosting sites. If you have coding skills, you can choose to design your own community platform. To do so you may use open-source forum software such as ubuntu(you can find here https://ubuntuask.com/blog/best-linux-web-hosting top rated hosting providers) or centos.
Or you may want to start by creating a free remote hosted online forum for your favorite topic. These are much simpler but will carry ads to be able to give the free service. To start you will want the best forum software creator tools. And have it hosted without the need to maintain your own vps or forum software. For these, you follow the registration process. And have your forum generated for you.
Let us look at three of the best free hosting providers you can use to start your online community.
Mywebforum
Mywebforum is a great choice to have your forum running in a short time. With Mywebforum your forum is search engine optimized and is mobile-enabled. This provider allows you to switch platforms at any time. It also allows you to choose from a pre-designed template. Or customize your display if you have a working knowledge of CSS. Mywebforum is also free and displays advertisements that you can remove and pay. There is no limit on the growth of your forum which will be HTTPS secured.
Site: https://mywebforum.com/
Please take a look promo video about this platform:
Site123
Site123 is a simple, and easy-to-use reliable option for hosting your forum. With this, you have the option of choosing an existing pre-designed theme. Or you may code your own in CSS to customize your display. You can also expand the functions on your forum with HTML codes if you have the knowledge.
Site123 has the features of a good forum service. These include a useful administration section, polls, and user group limitations. It is completely free with displays of ads and the Boardhost brand. You can have these removed for a monthly fee with no limitation on posts, categories, or sub-forums.
Site: https://www.site123.com
ProBoards
ProBoards has many features and is one of the best. It provides one of the easiest and best ways to start your own forum for your community. With this provider, there is no limitation of bandwidth. Or the number of members, categories, or threads you can have for your forum. Some of ProBoard's features include the ability to design and customize with ease. It has an array of moderation tools, direct uploading into posts, and media embedding. There is also, a helpful guide and community support if needed.
The service is free with unobtrusive advertising displayed on each page. You can have these disabled by paying a fee. A premium feature allows you to use your own domain name if you do not want your forum to be a subdomain of proboards.com.
Site: https://proboards.com
