What's a forum?
According to Merriam-Webster a forum is: "a public meeting place for open discussion".
In short, a forum is place for people to gather that share a common interest or simply enjoy meeting new people.
(Sample of a forum. Template #038)
When you start a forum you are really starting a community. A community that will have a leader(s), members, and maybe even staff. As the owner, you have full control over virtually every aspect of your forum.
Public Forums - If you choose to run your forum as a "public forum" then anyone can come and join your discussions. This is great if you are looking to get as many members as possible.
Private Forums - If you choose to run your forum as a "private forum" then you control who has access to your pages. Depending on your settings, you can make it so only those you personally invite can join, hand approve each member, etc. This is great when your forum is meant for a specific audience and you wish you keep your forum more exclusive.
There are also many forum types between these two extremes. We give you the tools you need to configure your forum exactly as you wish.
Publish anything.
When you start your own forum you are in control.
(Making a new post)
Your forum is your place to be heard. People use their forums for just about everything.
News - Keep your users up to date with the latest news for your group, website, or company.
Share Photos/Videos - Learn about your members by sharing real-life images and videos (but only if you want to).
General Chat - Chat about anything you'd like. Spark discussions on the hottest new movies, political issues, or something funny that happened the other day. The choice is yours.
Feedback - Get feedback on your newest projects and ideas. Use polls to organize the opinions of your members.
Support - Answer customer questions in a way that can be later searched by other customers. Even allow customers to help other customers, saving you time and improving overall support response time.
Engage your friends.
Forums are all about engaging users in a community environment. The more options you have to allow your users to interact, the more likely you are to have a thriving forum community.
(Viewing a member's profile)
Profiles - Let your members stand out. Each member has their own personal profile where they can share information about their interests, hobbies, family, occupation, etc. Allow them to stay up to date by setting email notifications when someone replies to their threads, or for when you post important updates.
Avatars - Members can choose their own avatar to represent their thoughts, appearance, beliefs, personality, etc. Members are often identified by their avatars and use them to build recognition.
Commenting - Allow members to post replies to your threads and the threads of your other members.
Private Messaging - Forums don't have to always be public. Your forum comes standard with a fully-configurable private messaging system to let your members communicate with one another.
Shoutbox - Sometime you just feel like chatting. A shoutbox allows your members to make quick comments about the weather, when they'll be back online, etc.
Design with style.
(Click to view recently added styles)
The design of your forum says a lot. It lets your users know what kind of forum you run from the instant they go to your page. Whether you want to create your own style, choose from a premade style, or customize a premade style to fit your needs, we have what you need.
Premade Styles Impress your visitors with our professional looking unique premade styles! You won't find these styles ANYWHERE else but FreePowerBoards.com! See our latest styles here.
Custom Styles Create your very own styles with FULL CSS editing! Anything you would normally do through css can be done just as easily to your FreePowerBoards forum.
Customize If you find a premade style that you would like to use, but something just isn't right, you can easily change just about every aspect of that layout through the style's CSS page. Easily change colors, fonts, and more from one simple page.
Easy to use.
We take pride in being arguably the easiest forum host on the Internet.
Community Forums - Search for answers or post your question in our support community of thousands of FreePowerBoard users.
Live Support - Stuck and need an answer NOW? FreePowerBoards is the only major free forum site to offer free live support!
Knowledgebase - Literally hundreds of guides to help you on virtually every aspect of your forum. No waiting for email replies, no need to post. Just click and read!
Telephone Support - Nearly 24/7 you can reach one of our friendly support operators via telephone! We now redirect calls to staff mobile phones for even more timezone coverage!
Dr. Forum - Dr. Forum is our friendly troubleshooter program that will walk you through common issues. This program is brand new so expect to see many more options added to Dr. Forum in the near future.
Look like a Pro.
Who says you can't look like a big company? We offer the tools you need to look like a true professional.
Professional Styles - Click here to learn more.
Domains - Give your forum a personal touch with your own unique domain name. Attach your domain to your forum in seconds, for free.
Branding - Put up your own logo to give your forum a customized, professional look.
Mass Mail - Keep in touch with your users with our mass mail feature. Send out emails for promotional offers, newsletters, or simple thank yous.
Ad-Free - Upgrade your account and remove the ads from your forum for a low rate of $4.95/month. (Note: Sign up a new board today and use the Promotional Code: ADFREE90 and get 90 days of ad-free service, right off the bat!)
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