Looking for forum hosts- suggestions and opinions

[LadyLuna]

Amber, if you want this taken down, that's fine.

I'm looking for a place to host a forum for the members who watch me. Most of them from before didn't really feel comfortable here, except a certain few. I'm not looking to steal anyone from here, just want a way to hang out with my crowd.

So here's the problem: at the moment, I have absolutely no money to devote to this. So, I need it to be 100% free. Since it will revolve around my camming identity, it needs to be adult-entertainment friendly. I know nothing about forums, so having a built-in forum creator is a plus, but if it doesn't, I can learn. (if anyone knows of a good free-forum creator, that would be awesome too)

My partner is convinced that somewhere is something that will provide this for free with no ads. I'm doubtful of that.

I found Seraphim Labs which has two free options and some paid options, but does have ads. I'm actually leaning towards them, but not sure.

He found easyxsites which says nothing one way or the other about ads, but the TOS says I can't make any money off of any of the content on there. Fine, so, no paid members area if I go with them. Wasn't planning on one of those until I could pay for my own site anyway.

He also found Racyspace WARNING: link has autoplay music. (it's not bad, just turn your volume down before you click) This actually looks like exactly what I want. But, the autoplay music makes me want to strike it from the list...

So, anybody heard of any of these?

 

[vlad.mazare]

Hostgator allows adult content and if you find a coupon you can get the first month for $.01. They even have several forum scripts to chose from in cpanel. And if you get juicy ads account, you can put non annoying ads on the site,and make up for hosting easily plus a lil extra.

 

[LadyLuna]

Hostgator allows adult content and if you find a coupon you can get the first month for $.01. They even have several forum scripts to chose from in cpanel. And if you get juicy ads account, you can put non annoying ads on the site,and make up for hosting easily plus a lil extra.

I do plan on possibly porting to hostgator when I can afford to do so, but I'd rather not do it before then, because there's no guarantee I'll make the revenue from ads. When my forum was active, I had maybe 10 views per day... I shall look into this "juicyads" thing, but I doubt it'll be lucrative for me right off the bat.

And, while watching big think videos on youtube I saw ads for it, possibly because I've looked into hostgator so many times over the last couple days.

So, any ladies wanting hostgator, first month for a penny, here's what you do. Step 1: look into hostgator a few times within a couple days, on chrome. This tells google that you're interested in hostgator. Step 2: watch a bunch of youtube videos. I mean find a playlist with like 20 videos all with ads and watch the vids. A few of the ads will be for hostgator with the coupon code. Step 3: sign up for hostgator using the coupon code from the ads.

Why does this work? Because google owns both chrome and youtube. ^_^

 

[vlad.mazare]

As of this post the coupon code godaddyisdown still works for the $.01 for first month deal.

When I had adult sites,juicy ads was the best converting out of any adult ad network I have ever tried.

 

[The Insider]

you really need to be clear before signing up with anyone if they are ok with adult content. If you don't ask & they have issue with it later they'll drop you like a hot potato

 

[LadyLuna]

you really need to be clear before signing up with anyone if they are ok with adult content. If you don't ask & they have issue with it later they'll drop you like a hot potato

I know this, hence why this is my third day of research before even coming here. ^_^

If I do decide to try the one I'm leaning towards, I will message and ask explicitly about adult content.

BAH! Forgot about my original post.. x.x

I checked out Juicy Ads. Unfortunately, they don't allow prepaid phones for verification, which is all I have at the moment. And it specifically says that I need to be verified in order to work with them. UGH! (okay, so what I have is something between prepaid and contract. No contract, but unlimited text, talk, and web for $40 a month. )

May have to look into a simple phone plan that doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles...

 

[Jawbs]

I know you said "free", but for a few bucks or one nude picture I can easily turn A.C.F. into L.L.F. and you can do whatever you want with this place.

Let's just say the "A.C." is over 2 years behind on payments and is about to lose the "F."

 

[LadyLuna]

I know you said "free", but for a few bucks or one nude picture I can easily turn A.C.F. into L.L.F. and you can do whatever you want with this place.

Let's just say the "A.C." is over 2 years behind on payments and is about to lose the "F."

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Careful there Jawbs, A.C. may kick you to the couch!

 

[Marokite]

If you do decide to get paid hosting somewhere, I do use GoDaddy.com. They are always running specials and currently have a $2.99 a month + free domain for a year. They are adult site friendly. I just bought hosting for a new "adult" company I'm starting.
I have used Hostgator. They are also pretty good, but are more expensive in the long run.
Do stay away from Proboards. I use it for a forum. As soon as there was mention of the possibility of NSFW content among our closed group of adults, they sent a threatening message to remove the reference or they would delete the forum.

 

[Kradek]

GoDaddy has a really poor reputation in the circles I run in. They were a SOPA supporter, the constant upselling, their site is a UI nightmare, and I can recall at least 2 or 3 times they had DNS issues in the past year.

 

[MyCamgirl]

So, any ladies wanting hostgator, first month for a penny, here's what you do. Step 1: look into hostgator a few times within a couple days, on chrome. This tells google that you're interested in hostgator. Step 2: watch a bunch of youtube videos. I mean find a playlist with like 20 videos all with ads and watch the vids. A few of the ads will be for hostgator with the coupon code. Step 3: sign up for hostgator using the coupon code from the ads.

Or you can google "hostgator coupon code" and find a bunch of sites offering coupons. But if you go to HostGator right now, they are offering 20% off on first invoice. You can get a shared server for $53/year. HostGator is always running some campaign with discounts. They have excellent support.

I know nothing about forums, so having a built-in forum creator is a plus, but if it doesn't, I can learn. (if anyone knows of a good free-forum creator, that would be awesome too)

You don't need a forum creator. phpBB has an install wizard that makes everything easier. Two minutes or something to have it up and running.

GoDaddy has a really poor reputation in the circles I run in. They were a SOPA supporter, the constant upselling, their site is a UI nightmare, and I can recall at least 2 or 3 times they had DNS issues in the past year.

The DNS issue was an attack. Some say it was because they were supporting SOPA and PIPA. I wouldn't host a serious project with them. Although, I must say the customer support is better now.

 

[LadyLuna]

So anybody know anything about the three hosts I posted?

 

[JerryBoBerry]

May i put in my :twocents-02cents: worth for http://www.atspace.com/ They have a basic plan that is free so you can see most of the services and check it out. The blog and board features are not included in the free option. But if you upgrade to their cheapest plan, $2 a month, they are. And I don't know if they still will do this but I signed up for the free one initially and within the first month they started having a banner on my sign up page to upgrade for $5 for the first full year (special offer that would go to normal price after first year). They've been pretty good. They have two methods for uploading files. FTP works with them. TONS of software ready to be installed. If you know php and sql that's a plus but it's still pretty easy to set up if you don't.

This is the direct link to the comparison of features. Really not bad at all and a pretty good price for any of the plans. http://www.atspace.com/web-hosting

And I just looked at my account (paid, not the free version). They have a choice of four forum packages.
Simple Machines Forum
phpBB (this one we are on)
bbPress
PunBB

Here's a screenshot of the software installers available. It may be a bit fuzzy. I had to shrink down the webpage to get it all on one screenshot.