[Jolteon]

A while ago I registered ForumFFS - 100% Free Forum Hosting.., which i;'m currently building a free host for forums with. (If you visit it, ignore the hideous index page, it's just a quick thing i did in like 2 minutes until i get a proper one done, also if you make one, beware it'll be deleted soon...) It'll freely host MyBB, later on probably a mixture of softwares. I'm also hoping to develop the Multiforums mod, and the MyBB used seperately to the original developers, so it eventually becomes something quite unique. (Like a weirder version of InvisionFree, which uses the old IPB v1.3)

Obviously, this is all a long way away. But I'm just wondering, is there still a demand for free forum hosts?

[Moelman]

I think there are a lot of average quality free hosts out there, but if you could make something that improves upon what they do or offer something that they do not it could be successful. I think most people these days would go with their own paid hosting and domain, but that still probably leaves a lot of others looking for free hosting.

[theezy]

IPB 1.3 is full of security holes and I wouldnt recommend hosting them. Ive seen countless InvisionFree, jcink, IPBFree boards get hacked and cracked in my day. phpbb or mybb may be the way to go if you want to run a free host. As Moleman said, most people might want to get paid hosting but you have to remember that the internet is saturated in teenagers without credit cards so you can be successful as a free host. With the right ads you can also make a bit of revenue as well.

[Jolteon]

I'm going to go ahead with this project. Although currently i haven't got many ideas on how to make it successful, or at least, more appealing that others. Any suggestions are welcome

[theezy]

Awesome. Good luck with it.

[Youpi]

I believe free hosted forums are a good thing. I know a lot of people who run very successful forums using these services. A lot of people don't even have websites but still manage to run a successful forum. Generally the admins don't even want to move from the service even when they get to >100,000 posts, they are happy all server management is done for them and the costs involved in running a large forum are handled by the main forum hosting company.
My one's on Forumotion.com

[rockinaway]

The key, as mentioned, is finding that area that hasn't been targeted yet. If you provide a service that isn't provided by others, it will improve your chances of success. The fact you are using MyBB, makes you unique, as there aren't many free forum hosts that use MyBB compared to the other software.

There is no problem with getting successful, but the question is, how will you make your service different compared to others?

[HighLayer]

Of course, there is always space for one more. Each day new people enter the hosting industry and each day new users enter the Internet. Internet is something that will never stop increasing.

[UltimateOreo]

Free hosted forums are good in two ways, if you get active current users then you can say to them after a week or two being registered that they may be required to add a very small advertising banner to their website or pay a non-add fee of $15.00 works very well. If they are happy then your happy earning.

[Shawn Gossman]

A few questions for using the old IPB!

First, does it create a potential security threat since the software is older?
Second, if you wanted to create a free host using it, how could you obtain the software to do so?