Forumotion Review
| Last Version | Hosted. (April 24, 2009). | Released under | Proprietary License. |
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| Resources |
 Forumotion Website
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 Host your Forum...
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| Price | Free. | ||
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Pros & Cons
Forumotion Demo
Status: Online.
Accounts and Passwords
| Moderator | moderator / moderatordemo |
|---|---|
| User | user / userdemo |
Show Notes...
Recent User Reviews
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What is Forumotion?
Forumotion is a professional free forum hosting service. They actually offer the hosting on 4 existing forum softwares:
Among the huge list of features, here are the most interesting:
- Free and unlimited forum. Unlimited messages and users
- Free image hosting
- Domain name + Customized emails
- Automatic and secured updates.
- Chat box, gallery, portal, calendar, Role playing game...
- 3000+ free skins for your forums
Forumotion is recommended for Huge Community.
(and supports smaller communities perfectly as well.)
Client Requirements
| Browser & Client Requirements | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Compatible Browsers
List of Compatible Browsers.
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Required Plugins/Technologies
Additional or Basic Requirements from Client Side.
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HTML, Javascript, AJAX, CSS. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Localization
Languages supported by Forumotion.
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Yes.
Supported Languages:
Supported Languages are listed here. |
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Mozilla Firefox
Internet Explorer
Google Chrome
Opera
Apple Safari
Konqueror
Mozilla SeaMonkey| Compatibility with Smartphones | |
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Compatible SmartPhones
Compatible Cellphone Brands and Manufacturers.
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Application Distribution / Type
How it is distributed / App Store Availability
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Android
iPhone
BlackBerry
Forumotion - Smartphones |
- Most Smartphones Operating Systems are supported with an optimized version of the forum for small screens.
Forum Threads & Posts
| Forum Threads / Topics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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Forum Style
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Flat/Threaded |
Forum Organization
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Thread Icons
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Yes |
Topic Tags
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No |
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Hot Topics
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Yes |
Unread Topics
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Yes |
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Hidden Topics
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Yes |
Sticky Threads
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Yes |
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Related Threads
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No |
Detect Duplicate Threads
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No |
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Announcements
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Yes | ||
| Posting Messages / Answers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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Message Editing Form
How to Post Messages.
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Post Editing Format
Supported Markup Language (HTML, Wiki, BBCode,...).
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Spell Checker
Checks typos on posts and topics.
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Yes | ||
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Image Attachment
How Images can be Attached and Displayed in Message Posts.
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Embedded Videos
Videos and Media Websites Supported in Message Posts.
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No. | ||
| Posting Features | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Reply Box | Yes |
Smileys
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Yes |
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Attachments
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Yes |
Syntax Highlighting
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Yes |
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Message Rating
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Yes |
Message Quoting
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Yes |
Additional & Technical Features
| Additional Forum Features | |
|---|---|
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Poll Creation
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Yes |
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Private Messages
Users Can Communicate using an Internal Messaging System.
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Yes |
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Instant Messaging
Discuss with Visitors and Members in a Chat Window.
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Yes |
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Calendar
Topic, Member Birthdays, Events are available from the perspective of a calendar.
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Yes |
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Online Users List
Connected User List (Often Found in the Forum Footer).
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Yes |
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Members List
Search and Consult the List of Members.
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Yes |
| Technical Features | |
|---|---|
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Bundled Software
Additional Software Available with the Forum.
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RSS/Atom Syndication
Posts and Threads Exported to Feeds Aggregators
 .
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No. |
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Friendly URLs
URLs are clear and contain information about the topic (title, message,...).
Highly recommended for SEO purposes.
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Yes |
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Post by Email
Post Directly From your Email Box.
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No |
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Remote Control
Remote Control from External Software/Websites.
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No. |
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Cache System
Cache pages to optimize bandwidth and load times.
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Yes |
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Template Engine
It is easier to theme a forum using a known template engine (more docs & examples,...).
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No. |
Note that the forum features depend on the Forum Software you choose. Please refer to the related forum software reviews for more details:
- PhpBB 3 Review
- PhpBB 2 Review
- PunBB Review
- Invision Review - Not available for the moment.
User Profiles & Options
Some details about Forumotion features regarding members.
| Member Options & Features | |
|---|---|
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Bookmark Threads
User Profiles Keep a List of Followed Posts and Topics.
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Yes |
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Email Notifications
Receive Emails When New Messages are Posted in Followed Threads.
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Yes |
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Export private messages
Private Messages can be Downloaded by Users.
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Yes |
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Payment Subscriptions
Paying Membership Subscription.
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Yes |
| User Profiles | |
|---|---|
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User Profile
User Information and Settings.
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Yes |
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Avatars
Pictures of Members, Useful to Easily Identify their Posts.
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Yes |
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Signature
Signatures Added at the Bottom of Each Message.
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Yes |
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Ranks
Tags and Labels Identifying the Members, based on specific criteria (Total Posts Count, Credits, Moderation Level...)
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Yes |
Moderation & Users Management
| Moderation & Threads Management | ||
|---|---|---|
| Moderation |
Post-Moderation
The moderation is done afterwards, if an administrator notices a problem or if a member reports something wrong. Each message is therefore directly published.
Reactive Moderation
By reporting any problems, members are reactive against moderation problems.
Moderators' main objective is to regularly check user reports, without having to follow each threads.
Distributed Moderation
By organizing the forum around moderators, who are usually power and experienced users, moderation is self-powered and only depends on the community.
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| Moderator per section | Yes | |
| Global Moderator | No | |
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Move Threads
Move Threads from Topics
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Yes | |
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Shadow Topics
When a thread is moved, the previous position is kept in order to inform users of this modification.
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Yes | |
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Close/Lock Threads
Close/Lock Problematic Threads
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Yes | |
| Users Management | |
|---|---|
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User Groups
Organize and define groups of users, and apply different actions and settings on them.
Common Groups: Guests, Members, Moderators, Administrators,... |
Yes |
| User Registration |
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Limit Features For New Users
Features are limited if a user has created a small number of posts.
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Yes |
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Guest Posting
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Yes |
| Multiple Administrators | Yes |
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Send Warnings to Users
Inform users by email or PM that they infringe the board rules, and could be excluded for such behavior.
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Yes |
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Forum/Section Restricted Access
ACL could be use to determine if a user or a group of users can access (in read only, post message) to some sections
and topics.
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Yes |
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User Banishment
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Yes |
The way of limiting features to new users is really well implemented:
- First, you need to create a user group, and define a minimum posts count on it.
- Then, go to Categories and forums permissions, and specify the limitation you want to setup for this particular group.
That's it, your users have different abilities depending on their total count of posts.
Administration & Support
| Database Management | |
|---|---|
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Backup Database
Backup forum datas that you could store somewhere else.
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Yes |
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Prune Database
Remove old and unused datas from your forum.
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Yes |
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Restore Database
Restore a backup of your database if the previous install crashed.
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Yes |
| Administration Tools | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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Statistics
Statistics about posts count, users, traffic...
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Yes |
Error/Notice Log Viewer
Forum Logs could be consulted.
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Yes |
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Tasks Scheduler
Maintenance tasks are regularly launched and could be scheduled.
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Yes |
Mass Mailing
Send an email (newsletters, advertisements, information,...) to all users.
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Yes |
| Installation & Upgrading | |
|---|---|
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Installation Method
How this forum software could be installed.
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Installation Wizard |
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Upgrading Method
How this forum software could be upgraded.
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Upgrade Wizard |
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Updates Notifications
The Admin Panel informs you when a new version is released.
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Yes |
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Forum Migration
Convert an existing forum to Forumotion.
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No. |
Security & Spam Protection
| Security & Spam Protection | ||
|---|---|---|
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CAPTCHA
Captcha protects your forum against spam bots.
e.g.,
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Yes
Complexity:
    Normal |
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Abnormal Behavior Detection
Detect users or request strange behaviors, and try to process proactive actions.
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No | |
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Words Filtering
Offensing Words are automatically replaced.
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Yes | |
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User Blacklist
Prevent specific user accounts to register (based on email address, name,...) and disable potentially harmful members.
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Yes | |
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IP Blocking
Prevent access to spam robots and other scripts that could attempt
DDOS or Brute Force attacks on your forum.
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Yes | |
Customization & Social Networks
| Customization | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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Plugins
Add new features to your forum installation.
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Yes.
Installation:
Normal |
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Themes
Modify the style of your forum easily.
|
Yes. | ||
| Custom BBCodes | Yes | Smiley Packs | Yes |
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Custom Thread Icons |
Yes |
Additional User Profile Fields
Ask more about your members with custom fields.
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Yes |
| Integration with Applications, Social Networks, Intranet... | |
|---|---|
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Social Networks
Users can share information from their social network account...
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CMS / Blog Bridges
Integration with existing Web publishing tools.
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No. |
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User Accounts Integration
Do users be able to log in with their corporate, Google, Facebook,... accounts?
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Content Aggregation
Forum allows to integrate news and content from other website,
using an aggregation protocol (RSS, RDF, Atom,...).
|
No. |
Facebook ConnectNote that the administration features related here depend on the Forum Software you choose. Please refer to the related forum software reviews for more details:
- PhpBB 3 Review
- PhpBB 2 Review
- PunBB Review
- Invision Review - Not available for the moment.
W3C Norms & Accessibility
| Norms & Accessibility | |
|---|---|
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HTML / XHTML Markup
See W3C HTML Definition.
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XHTML 1.1 Transitional.
Click to see if it respects HTML norms.
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CSS Stylesheets
See W3C CSS Definition.
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CSS 2. 
Click to see if it respects CSS norms.
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Accessibility (WAI)
Web Accessibility ensures that the forum is usable by people of all abilities and disabilities.
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Conformance to A level.
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UTF-8 Support
Default encoding used to support all locales and countries.
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Yes |
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Conformance to W3C Norms
Does Forumotion correctly follow (X)HTML and CSS norms?
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Yes. |
Note that norms and accessibility details depend on the Forum Software you choose. Please refer to the related forum software reviews for more details:
- PhpBB 3 Review
- PhpBB 2 Review
- PunBB Review
- Invision Review - Not available for the moment.
Unique Features
Key points and major differences that make Forumotion unique:
- Many modules are installed by default, that is really simpler for beginner community manager: Chat box, gallery, portal, calendar, Role playing game...
Final Words
Great!
The solution provided by Forumotion is extremely efficient, simple and inventive.
This is a perfect way for new users or beginners to create a forum without the need to find a web server, have knowledge in web and database,... More over, the experience they learn is based on best existing forum softwares: PhpBB 2 and 3, PunBB and Invision.
As usual with Hosted Forum, the only point that could be discussed is the fact that your forum totally depends on an external provider, and if in the first months of your community, this has strictly no problems, it could be a little bit annoying later.
In any case, the Forum Software Reviews team has really been interested and is quite sure that hosted forums solution are the future.
Additional Resources:
- Experiment the Forumotion Demo.
- Compare Forumotion vs PhpBB 3 vs Simple Machines 2.
- Ask your questions to the Forumotion Community Forum.
- Get Users Reviews about Forumotion and Share your experience.
Found a Mistake? Tell us »
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Comments (13)
Forumotion ist good, but it
Forumotion ist good, but it must be have Termaple Editing in Phpbb3! And more space in the CSS Field!
My web hosted in forumotion
My web hosted in forumotion from 2008. My experience, Forumotion is the best!
I'm with forumotion about 1,5
I'm with forumotion about 1,5 year, and if you are good in coding you can do a lot of things. I think this is the best platform in the world. lol.
It's fast in China, what
It's fast in China, what surprised me.
But look at the themes shown on their page, and on hitskin.com... How ugly they are!
I just want a subsilver theme or something similar (I hate themes which has profile on the right hand). I can't even find a decent theme on their site. So I will skip it.
realnabarl, you're right.
realnabarl, you're right. This is because anybody can upload a theme there...
I've had my Forum with
I've had my Forum with Forumotion for over 6 years now, the site has done everything i've needed it to do, i have over 400 members, mind you i only run a gokart website. Over all the Admin panel and controls are easy to use and the Support at the Support Forum is absolutely excellent, whether it's from another experienced member or moderator.
Forumotion.com > Best hosted
Forumotion.com > Best hosted service of the year !
This is a signature for the
This is a signature for the Forumotion.com contest.
This is a forum software. I
This is a forum software. I have upgraded my own forum. The staffs are always active.
It is just the best hosting
It is just the best hosting forum!!
The staff is always available and they update their service quickly
The staff of Forumotion is
The staff of Forumotion is really great, always active and available. We have many options and functions to personalize our forums and it's free. For me, it's the best free forum provider.
Love FM there one of the best
Love FM there one of the best forum service i have ever used and really nice kind helpful Support staff members.
FM ACP is really easy and fast to use.
And with template editing now on all there forum systems it's open to a new world of forum hosting for all sorts of members.
And the best part is it's 100% free.
Vote for FM we are the best Free host out there.
Ape
Great, easy to use, easy to
Great, easy to use, easy to customize and fit perfectly with my need and what i was looking for.