Most of those remotely hosted bulletin boards...

[zoobie]

Most of those remotely hosted bulletin boards listed here aren't worth the powder to blow them up. :mad:

I have gone thru most if not all of them...They are either grossly misconfigured, very very very old, a resource-hog cgi, mod-less, wildcarded, pop-up covered, or don't work at all. :o

Even some new ones claiming php/mySQL are horrible...

My recommendation is just to wait until a good one comes along.

It shouldn't be too long seeing as there's virtually no competition...:rolleyes:

[conkermaniac]

Why do you care if the boards are coded in CGI and are resource hogs? It's their server, not yours. ;)

[zoobie]

Because it drains their server and makes the boards run slower :confused2

[conkermaniac]

Is http://bb.bbboy.net/ any good? You might want to try them.

[NFTNet.com]

Originally posted by conkermaniac
Is http://bb.bbboy.net/ any good? You might want to try them.

They seem to be quite good. Check the xample...:D

[zubzero01]

I checked http://bb.bbboy.net/ out and i have to say the forum it self looks like ----ing crap.
The only good thing about it is the Admin part the rest you can stick in your ---.

[conkermaniac]

I actually like their layout. They also offer quite some features when it comes to posting. I don't know of another remote hosts that has the feature of allowing users to add attachments, and I like how they have a box next to each message labeled "Interact". It makes users feel like they have options too. So overall, I think this is a great board, and it would be even better if they offered a script version.

[NFTNet.com]

Originally posted byzubzero01
I checked http://bb.bbboy.net/ out and i have to say the forum it self looks like ----ing crap.
The only good thing about it is the Admin part the rest you can stick in your ---.pirate2


I thought the hole thing waz quite good. You can upload your own smilies(as well as many other features!...
[QUOTE]Originally posted by conkermaniac
I actually like their layout. They also offer quite some features when it comes to posting. I don't know of another remote hosts that has the feature of allowing users to add attachments, and I like how they have a box next to each message labeled "Interact". It makes users feel like they have options too. So overall, I think this is a great board, and it would be even better if they offered a script version. :D

[Chicken]

To be honest, I can't see a free, remotely hosted forum host (if that's what they are called) really ever succeeding. Many of the types of forums these hosts run are resource intensive. Even having loads of small boards will drive up the numbers and if they are expecting banner ads to pay for it, then it will never work.

The porblem is that random, untargetted ads shown on forums aren't worth a dime. Ads on forums can work, but only if they are targetted. Some forums might also work in mass quantiites, though I'm not sure they are the type you guys are looking for.

[conkermaniac]

My concern is how the free scripts will survive. Nobody ever bothers looking at the advertising on their main site, and most people don't even bother going to their support forums. Since their script does not have any advertising, how do they make enough money to support the server and development costs?

[Archbob]

There will always be free scripts, those that are not server intensive anyways. As for free forums, its hard to see the future of these things.

[conkermaniac]

Free forum scripts? How will they survive?

[zoobie]

Heh heh...Actually, I went back to Best Boards (bb.bbboy) just as I started this thread. They are quite good. :)

I have now been there most of the week making and checking out stuff. Believe it or not, it's a php board custom written combining Ikonboard, YaBB, and PHPBB (I found their images stashed somewhere). It is quite a fast board.

The customization is truely amazing for a remotely hosted board. You can use their easy customization settings...or completely control with CSS.

They have several different options I've not seen on free remote boards and, like I said when I started this thread, I've been to most if not all of 'em. You can add custom columns, inputs, etc. all very easily. Even a seperate welcome page is included.

Remember...This is all free.

I cannot think of one thing you can't customize at this moment.

You can get rid of the ads for US$2.50 a month which includes 1mb to store your files/smilies/etc.

Although they're new (Oct 2001), they just updated and plan to do more.

After seeing all of the remotes, I'd have to rate Best Boards #1, Ezboard #2, and lump the rest into a large bin with a sign 'do not disturb' on it.

Like their sign says on their front page, 'You've seen the rest...now try the best'. :D

[conkermaniac]

Yeah, I'm moving them to the number one spot on my webpage sometime this week. They seem REALLY good. So much for this thread. ;)

[zoobie]

Wow...Yous guys boards really sucketh! ROTFLMAO

Now, granted, she went overboard on the animations...but take a look at how customizable Best Boards can be with this excellent example (http://bb.bbboy.net/boxofrain). :cool:

[Chicken]

...are you being sarcastic :confused: -it's not to my taste.

[The Red Guy]

It just doesn't look nice...:confused2

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by Chicken
...are you being sarcastic :confused: -it's not to my taste.

I actually quite like it. They have lots of features, and these guys look like they have a solid business plan. The only thing they have to do is get rid of all the clutter. It has LOTS of features, but it's all scattered throughout. It makes the layout confusing. I'm sure most of you would agree with this...:confused2

[Archbob]

That particular board sucked, but it does show bb boards are very custmizable.

[Xanthis]

IMHO, Best Boards is doing something interesting and though pretty new to the game, they'll learn what works and what not. Sure they have a good business model, but how will it work when the layout is quite "cluttered" and looks un appealing to most people.

I personally like clean layout without the vibrant colors or icons that blinks in my face. A few animations here and there is cool, but don't over flood it. Some of the boards like the Rain Box, first sight is cool, but I personally would not revisit it again because it rains so much there :) The rain drops is quite annoying unless you really love the rain.

Most remotely hosted bulletin board developers fall under as programmers or get rich quick. I've seen alot of bulletin boards which are well developed, just doesn't have the right plan to keep boards alive and they'll die or fade away. The get rich quick category, most will rely on another application like suddenlaunch or proboards which in my opinon will be doomed for failure.

Why? They seem to set up new servers every month, but profit wise, they could be making a whole more if they can keep it down to just two servers. One beefed up database machine that stores the content and one rock hard Apache machine. That way if communities begin to die, it just free resources rather than release unusable resources. It's less maintenance whereby going to each server and make patches to the application. You can concentrate on other areas.

Proboards is prime candidate where if a major community on server5 were to quit, what will proboard do? Open sign ups on that machine while at the same time trying to get ppl to sign up on a new server they just setup?

It comes down knowing your stuff. I think that a sucessfull remotely hosting application will only succeed if they developed the application themselves and knows the in's and out's of it rather than relying on some 3rd party app that you have to hack in features for. And requires some marketing skills, knowing what kind of people you want using your service and be the best in what you do.

Whoever has those skills and pursue them daily will be bound for success. Others will just gain some fame for a short while then wilter in the heat.