ProBoards

ProBoards is a free remotely hosted message board service that facilitates online discussions by allowing people to create their own online community. Free accounts on ProBoards have advertisements on them such as banner and text link ads (though no popup ads). Any advertisements can be removed through the ProBoards ad-free service.

ProBoards was founded in January of 2000 by Patrick Clinger. ProBoards originally used a threaded Internet forum software developed by Clinger. In late 2001 ProBoards switched to the YaBB system and became the first remotely hosted service to offer a subdomain with each forum (e.g. username.proboards[servernumber].com). In June of 2001 ProBoards Version 2 was launched. This new software was a complete rewrite from the ground up with the main goals of improving the overall speed of the software while adding new features. In February of 2003 Version 3 of the ProBoards software was released, again making improvements on the overall speed of the software and including over 30 new features. ProBoards recently upgraded to version 4 of its software. The upgrade started on April 30, 2005.

ProBoards currently hosts over 1,200,000 internet forums, which in turn have millions of registered users worldwide. This makes ProBoards the #2 remotely hosted message board provider behind Ezboard. Currently all ProBoards forums receive a total of over 1/3 billion pageviews monthly, making ProBoards one of the largest Websites on the Internet.

=Differences from other forum hosts=

While similar to other free forum hosts, it differs in several ways: *It is built in Perl, rather than PHP. *It offers a more user-friendly Admin Control Panel that is intuitive and easier to use than that of many competitors. *They also have a pleasant and active support community.

=Enhancements in the new version=

On April 30, 2005, Proboards began an upgrade on all their servers. With this upgrade were a significant number of enhancements, especially to the admin functions and ease of use for users. There are approximately 120 enhancements to the service, including: *A security log available to the administrator showing the last major actions on the board. *A karma system, which is a community rating of members. *Easier login. *Support for age detection to automatically remove accounts of users under the age of 13 to follow the United States COPPA law. *Quick reply. *Ability to attach files with posts. *Easy banning for administrators. *An improved system, with stricter flood control, and activation keys, keep spammers like Ivan The Terrible, noobiewoobie, and harrypotty out. A full list of features is avalible in the support forum [http://support.proboards.com/index.cgiboard=v4&action=display&thread=1099555771 here].

=External links=

*[http://www.proboards.com ProBoards] *[http://www.yabbforum.com YABB] *[http://www.hyperboards.com Hyperboards] *[http://patrickclinger.com ProBoards s Owner]