Frequently asked questions
Everything people ask before they sign up, and most of what they ask afterwards. If your question is not here, the support forums are the fastest place to get it answered.
Signing up
How much does a forum cost?
Nothing. Hosting, the SMF 2.0 software, Gallery Pro, the arcade, the themes, and the upgrades are all included at no charge. There is no trial period and no card required at sign-up.
The service is funded by advertising displayed on hosted forums. That is the entire business model, and it is why the terms of service ask you not to remove those ads.
How long does setup take?
About two minutes. You choose a subdomain, enter an administrator email address and password, and the forum is created immediately. There is no approval queue and no provisioning delay, so you can be writing your first post straight away.
Do I need to know anything technical?
No. You never touch a server, a database, a config file, or an FTP client. If you can use an admin panel with checkboxes and text fields, you can run a forum here. Changing your theme, adding boards, and setting permissions are all done through the web interface.
How old do I have to be?
You must be at least thirteen to create or administer a forum on the service. This is set out in the terms of service and accounts found to belong to younger users are closed.
Can I create more than one forum?
Yes, provided each one is a genuine community rather than an attempt to farm subdomains, spam, or manipulate search rankings. Running two or three real boards on different topics is entirely normal.
Running the board
Who owns the content on my forum?
Your members own what they write, and you administer the board. We make no ownership claim over your discussions, and we do not sell or license your forum's posts. Our involvement is limited to keeping the servers running and enforcing the terms of service.
Can I use my own domain name?
Yes. Every forum gets a free subdomain the moment it is created, and if you already own a domain you can point it at your board so members see your address instead of ours. The DNS records needed occasionally change, so ask on the support forums for the current values.
Are there limits on posts, members, or storage?
No. Topics, posts, members, attachments, and bandwidth are not metered, and we do not throttle a forum for getting busy. Boards that outgrow their hardware are moved to stronger hardware by us, at no cost and with nothing for you to configure.
Can I change how the forum looks?
Yes. The style editor in your admin panel controls colours, fonts, the header, layout widths, and board icons, and there are several bundled themes to start from. What you cannot do is upload custom PHP modifications, because forums share infrastructure. The customisation guide covers how far you can take the built-in tools.
How do I stop spam registrations?
Every new forum starts with registration verification and flood control already enabled. If a spam wave still gets through, tighten the verification settings, require administrator approval for new accounts temporarily, and report persistent networks to us. The moderation guide goes through the settings in order.
Can I have private or members-only boards?
Yes. SMF permissions are set per member group and per board, so you can hide a board from guests, open it only to a staff group, or run an entirely private community that guests cannot read at all.
Ads, cookies, and data
Why are there ads on my forum?
Advertising pays for the hosting. Servers, bandwidth, backups, and staff time are real costs, and the free service has no other revenue. Removing, hiding, or defacing the advertising on a hosted forum breaks the terms of service and will eventually cost you the board.
Can I run my own ads on my forum?
Not in place of ours, and not in a way that interferes with them. If you are interested in a revenue arrangement, use the contact form rather than assuming.
What data do you collect about visitors?
Server logs, the information members supply when registering, and the cookies described in our privacy policy. Third-party advertising vendors, including Google, also set cookies to serve ads based on prior visits to this and other sites. The privacy policy explains what each category is used for and how to opt out.
How do I opt out of personalised advertising?
Visit Google's Ads Settings to turn off personalised ads for Google's own advertising, and aboutads.info to opt out of participating third-party vendors. Both links, and what happens after you use them, are in the privacy policy.
Leaving, moving, and closing
Can I move my forum to another host?
Yes. It is a standard SMF 2.0 installation, so nothing is locked into a proprietary format. Contact us and we will arrange an export of your database, which you can import into your own SMF install elsewhere.
How do I delete my forum?
Send the request from the administrator email address on the account using the contact form, and say clearly which board you want removed. We ask for this in writing from the account owner so that nobody else can delete your community.
What happens to inactive forums?
Boards with no posts and no logins for a long stretch may be removed to free up resources. If you are stepping away for a while but intend to come back, log in occasionally or let us know.
Why was my forum suspended?
Almost always one of four reasons: illegal or infringing content, adult material, spam, or tampering with the advertising. All four are listed in the terms of service. If you think a suspension was a mistake, reply through the contact form and a member of staff will review it.
Someone else's forum is breaking the rules. What do I do?
Use the report form. Give the board address and a specific description of the problem, because reports with detail are actioned far faster than reports that just say a forum is bad.
Still stuck?
The support forums are staffed by people who run boards on this platform every day.