Free forum provider

**mzltest** · 04-14-2021, 03:51 AM

Hmm...I am not sure whether this is the appropriate place for it but when I am surfing the Internet I saw a website providing free forum service.

The website is https://tribe.so and I'd like to share the experiences.

I.General limits
- The free plan limits the forum member to be no more than 500 members,good to startup as you know this forum has only ~2200 members.

- As always in free service,you forum will have a "Powered by tribe." backlink(but as you can customize the css you might come up ideas about hiding it)

- Some plugins like facebook messanger are premium and not available in free plan.But PM is a free plugin.

II.Personal Experience

a.General look
You know there are many resellers of "createaforum" or something that provides a forum however its quality isn't that good.But this one seems to be an independent service and it looks good.

[Image: Screenshot-20210414-112408-mark-via.jpg]

- Admin panel -

[Image: Screenshot-20210414-112612-mark-via.jpg]

- Admin panel 2 -

[Image: Screenshot-20210414-113023-mark-via.jpg]

- Admin panel 3 (CSS and html<head>/<body> additions.Sorry for showing Chinese as I forgot to change language)

It allows many message types like post(like the status in social networks),question/poll,discussion and blog article and it has a beautiful editor.

[Image: Screenshot-20210414-112851-mark-via.jpg]

- Editor -

The post looks like as we are in a blog and the reply level is limited to 2 (you can only reply to two level of posts,so you might want your members to make good use of the quote function)

[Image: Screenshot-20210414-113755-mark-via.jpg]

- Replies -

Notifications are builtin while PM is a free plugin.

[Image: Screenshot-20210414-114208-mark-via.jpg]

[Image: Screenshot-20210414-114238-mark-via.jpg]

- All plugins -

You can also upload files and currently it seems they have no quota limit.

III.Conclusion
Looks interesting and modern.The only painful point is the 500 member limit.Guest posting is not available so it's not somehow bypassable.If you have a small (somehow,you can set the registration mode for invite-only)private community this one is for you.A large community?Try self-hosting.

**deanhills** · 04-16-2021, 01:05 AM

Interesting discussion @mzltest I think it completely depends what the objectives of your Forum are. If your intentions are to get plenty of exposure and get income from advertising, this would not be a good way to go, as you'll be helping the Forum Host with their clicks instead. But if you have an informal group of friends, with no intention of a serious Forum for making money and getting more exposure, then probably it should be OK. I'd do a big research on trying to find reviews first however. Like I'd only do it with a host who is trustworthy and whose Forums are on a server that is credit worthy and with good reputation.

**mzltest** · 04-16-2021, 03:49 AM

(04-16-2021, 01:05 AM)deanhills Wrote: Interesting discussion @mzltest I think it completely depends what the objectives of your Forum are. If your intentions are to get plenty of exposure and get income from advertising, this would not be a good way to go, as you'll be helping the Forum Host with their clicks instead. But if you have an informal group of friends, with no intention of a serious Forum for making money and getting more exposure, then probably it should be OK. I'd do a big research on trying to find reviews first however. Like I'd only do it with a host who is trustworthy and whose Forums are on a server that is credit worthy and with good reputation.

Yes.Actually It is hard to find this kind of provider.It you search "Free forum hosting" you can hardly find this one - most are forummotion(and its resellers) and proboards.I haven't used proboards but it seems to inject large ad pictures in the hosted forum(especially in mobile version) while forummotion's admin panel looks too simple and it's forum software (I thought)is simply a template.However in this host it looks better and seems it is a dedicated business so I think if you have no access to a web hosting you may want to try this rather than those hosts.

**tryp4vps** · 04-17-2021, 10:03 AM

Nice sharing. I was thinking if it could be used for a beta version of forum before it was going to release.

But unfortunately it does not offer some popular plugins in the free plan.

So, I am afraid it should better be just used for running a private forum with low traffics instead.

**xdude** · 04-18-2021, 10:26 AM

Do they let you take backups? This is one of the biggest problems with those free forum sites. Sometimes those sites just vanish and you lose your years of hard work. Years back there were many of these kinds of sites. But now Facebook Groups getting popular so Forums get fewer and fewer people.

**mzltest** · 04-22-2021, 12:21 AM

(04-18-2021, 10:26 AM)xdude Wrote: Do they let you take backups? This is one of the biggest problems with those free forum sites. Sometimes those sites just vanish and you lose your years of hard work. Years back there were many of these kinds of sites. But now Facebook Groups getting popular so Forums get fewer and fewer people.

Uh.I didn't find this action in the control panel so I am afraid they do not provide it.And yes,seems most sites will not let you take backups .Here instant messangers are more popular than forums.Forums are decaying now.

**xdude** · 04-22-2021, 12:51 PM

(04-22-2021, 12:21 AM)mzltest Wrote: Uh.I didn't find this action in the control panel so I am afraid they do not provide it.And yes,seems most sites will not let you take backups .Here instant messangers are more popular than forums.Forums are decaying now.

Forums indeed are slowly losing their former glory. I think Facebook Group is now more popular as an alternative. Doesn't all those functionalities of a forum and easier for everyone to use. Inability to taking a backup is the biggest drawback in those free forum sites. YOu are stuck there forever. If they decide to close the server your forum is doomed.

**LightDestory** · 04-23-2021, 05:44 PM

To create a forum for free I have always used a platform called "ForumFree", it is nice and not invasive. You don't have to add ads....
Maybe I am wrong, but I find more "secure" ForumFree than your Tribe. Forumfree is very basic but leave you a lot of customizations. It doesn't cost anything.

A lot of big community runs on forumfree and I have rarely, or never, seen a tribe-based forum.

hamed · 04-24-2021, 12:38 PM

And several other sites to build forums and sites
https://iransite.com/weblog/%D9%86%D8%AD...8%A7%D9%86
http://mihanbb.com
www.rozblog.com

i hope to have good day

s173x · 04-28-2021, 01:38 AM

I have thought several times about using this type of free services to make a forum, but I stopped many times because that I'll never really have control over the database and overnight all my work may disappear (because the provider deleted everything, or because the service closed, or for whatever reason). And in the end I come to the same conclusion: isn't it better to have my own installation? That gives me more control over the forum and associated data, doesn't it?

Login

Options

Sponsors: VirMach - Host4Fun - CubeData - Evolution-Host - HostDare - Hyper Expert - Shadow Hosting - Bladenode - Hostlease - RackNerd - ReadyDedis - Limitless Hosting