a good free messageboard service?

[flosses like fossas]

some friends and i are starting an in-depth dynasty league in 2010, and i'm looking for free, user-friendly messageboards that might facilitate our discussions, rosters, etc.

 

anyone have any suggestions?

[1992casey]

There are two ways you can go... a board that you host yourself or a hosted solution. If you host the board yourself, you have to pay for the bandwidth that it uses. Hosted solutions can be free or ad-supported.

 

Brewerfan and LambeauLeap have opted for a hosted solution due to cost, security, and technical support. As far as server costs go, we're pooling our money with other boards. For security, the main part is taken care of by Yuku. Back when LL was on a self-hosted PHP board, Peavey was having to remove about a hundred spambots per day. (That hastened the LL board's migration to Yuku.) When there's breakage, it's generally Yuku's problem. While it can be frustrating to sit back and wait, it saves us from messing around with a lot of the technical details.

 

I'm not going to wholeheartedly endorse Yuku because it does have its share of problems. They're not very good at fixing bugs. The last code push was in February, 2009, and we have serious bugs that a year or more old. Poster child: Convert URLs (automatically making links in messages clickable) has been an available feature since August, 2008, and it's never worked right. Something that might be important to your potential membership is that Yuku isn't very good on handheld devices.

 

I wouldn't discount Yuku, either. You can get it for free if you're willing to display ads within thread pages. (See BPS for an example of a free board.) It has a nice set of (working) features. You can make your board (or individual forums) public or private. Your Brewerfan/LL login will work on a new board. If you're a Yuku Supporter, it'll apply to all Yuku boards. There's a decent amount of design flexilibity (although it's not carte blanche). There are "real" people who can help, both via a private ticket system and via the Support message board. And there are admins and mods at BF/LL who know the controls and can answer questions. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

On the individual level, Yuku's profiles are fairly powerful, the PM system is OK, and you have a small amount of image storage space (30 MB for non-Yuku Supporters and 100 MB for Supporters). The profile area (including PMs and image management) is currently undergoing a complete rewrite. (Editorial comment: I hope that rewrite isn't coming at the expense of attention needed by the boards, but I'm afraid it will be.)

 

One thing you can do with any of the free systems is create a test board. That way, you can learn your way around. To create a Yuku board, hit the navigation button, then hit the "Community" link in the "Create" box at the upper right of your dashboard. You'll be guided through a few short steps. (Note that board owners won't see ads on their own boards.)

[sbrylski]

I've used Freeforums.org, no real complaints for just a small fantasy football message board.

[1992casey]

I see freeforums.org lets you create custom BBCodes. I'd love to have that feature here.

[flosses like fossas]

thanks for the info guys.

 

i've used topfreeforum.com in the past (not as an admin). it's serviceable but certainly nothing flashy, just thought i'd see what my other options are. i'll look into those two options.

[adamb100]

Theres also proboards.com too.

[DSFastball55]

PHPBB is outstanding (and free). I host my own fastpitch softball forum at www.wisconsinnafa.com, and have had virtually zero problems with it.

[Katuluu]

Google Wave would work perfectly for a relatively small group. Or you guys could always just use IRC.