This script is so good that I cannot even recommend any others. It's fast, full featured and easy-to-use. The message board that results is excellent. This script has a free version which has just about everything you will ever need, and a professional version which costs a few dollars which has just about everything else.

Remotely Hosted Scripts

The final option is to take advantage of scripts which are hosted on another server. This has advantage that script is maintained and supported by someone else, and uses their bandwidth and disk space instead of yours. Of course, disadvantages are that you lose control of board, boards are generally not extraordinarily customizable and, most importantly, since they are advertisement supported they tend to be peppered with banners which pull visitors from your site.

Boardhost http://www.boardhost.com/ One of better message board services. Their boards are quick, rarely down, and very customizable.

Beseen http://www.beseen.com/board/index.html A threaded discussion forum for your web site. Build a sense of community between you and your customers. Allow your visitors to interact with you, your staff and each other by posting questions and comments. No programming required. Easy setup and simple to maintain. Customizable to your look and feel.

Bravenet Web Services http://www.bravenet.com/ As visitors can publicly discuss topics of interest in your Forum. Posting new messages and replying to existing ones is simple and fun. Your forum is completely customizable so you can make it look just like rest of your site.

MyForum.Net http://www.myforum.net/ Myforum.net is an easy way to add customized, interactive forums to your web site. They support username.myforum.net (which can be pretty cool), their boards are easy to customize and, of course, they are free.

Additional Information

http://www.internet-tips.net/Msgboards/index.htm Message Boards A way to make a very sticky site is to have an active message board

http://www.internet-tips.net/Msgboards/ethics.htm Message Boards - Ethics Nothing is more sad than a once proud message board being reduced to rubble by a malicious moderator.

http://www.internet-tips.net/Msgboards/contributor.htm Message Boards - Contributor Message boards thrive on contributions. In fact, without contributors there is no board at all.

http://www.internet-tips.net/Msgboards/promotion.htm Message Boards - Promotion Message boards are very useful in getting people to return to your site, but they must be promoted in order to be of maximum benefit.

http://www.internet-tips.net/Msgboards/moderator.htm Message Boards - Moderator The best message boards are wonderfully and expertly moderated. The worst are frequented by nothing but spam robots.

http://www.internet-tips.net/Sticky/msgboards.htm Sticky Sites - Message Boards You can add a message board to your site to get people to want to come back over and over.

One of larger free email providers has recently started charging a minimal fee for its services. Will this spread to other free email providers?

Look around Internet and you will find more web sites closing. Many of these sites provided valuable services and products, however they could not continue in business without showing a profit. It is very difficult to compete with free. The current line of thinking seems to be to settle for lesser free service or product rather than pay for quality products and services.

We have grown to consider these freebies as a right rather than a privilege and therefore resent losing them. This is unjust because we expect to be properly paid for our own efforts. Most of us cannot afford to work for free, yet we expect others to do just that.

Our entire civilization is based on trading what we produce for what others produce. It is a very simple concept. Produce nothing and get nothing in return. Yet many of us expect something for nothing.

Time and effort translate into money, and it takes time and effort to produce and distribute freebies. Without a profitable return on freebies there is little or no reason to provide them.

What happens to Internet when for-profit businesses are forced out of existence by freebies? Will we still have freebies? And if so, what quality of service or product can we expect?