Help! Free Forum hosting - any hot tips?

Here's a call out to the community...

Can anyone out there recommend a good free host for forums?

If so, I'd be hugely grateful for any tips left in COMMENTS below!

I'm especially looking for one that can start threads automatically from blog posts.

When I set out to look for some, here's a few I found:-

LEFORA FORUMS
http://www.lefora.com/



In the absence of any advice or tips, I'm probably most tempted to try here - if only for the funkiness and Britishness of this welcome page - anyone actually used a Lefora forum hosting? Let me know what you think!

Here's a random forum hosted there:-
http://mastcelldisorders.lefora.com/



And here's an example of their support, which seems pretty attentive.
http://support.lefora.com/2009/05/30/your-ads-are-destructive/page1/



FORUMER
http://www.forumer.com/



Forumer is the first site that came up on a basic google search, and claims it

provides a high quality and 100% free phpBB3 hosting service. By choosing Forumer to create your online community you are guaranteed a great reliable service and no surprises.

Forumer is the largest phpbb hosting company and we have been growing explosively services since 2003!

Here's a random example of a forum hosted there:
http://gzh.17.forumer.com/


At this point, I'm now feeling slightly overwhelmed, and scared of their font.
Probably not the best way to choose a host... who knows.


FORUMOTION.COM
http://www.forumotion.com/



Anyone out there use these guys?


So now the head is starting to spin... let's pile on a few more options, courtesy of this blog post here:-



Best Free Forum Hosting Solutions
http://webhostingcase.com/best-free-forum-hosting-solutions


Which put me onto...

MAKEFORUM.ORG
http://www.makeforum.org



Funny how a .org on a domain makes you feel warm and fuzzy like it's a piece of altruism - must remember that when setting up shows. Scared of both the font, and their logo that seems to imply the United States formed through bolts of electricity.

There's a nice FREE DEMO here
http://demo.mybb3.org/
which... if you click through to some threads, links to some very very very filthy sexually explicit threads (and why is it the Japanese teens who seem to get it?)




And very distrating if you're trying to find a free forum host. This might win it for them... Because they do look like 'forums'. But I'm torn between that and the funkiness of lefora forums.


But here's the thing, if you are kind enough to leave tips below -- I don't like ning.com - apologies to everyone who uses them, and who's happy on there...
and I know it's about configuring your settings right - but having signed up to a couple of communities there...
there's just something a bit full-on about it. (And features I've ended up switching off completely).


So, what do you think?

Can you recommend any good free forum hosts?

Any tips now or in the mists of the future HUGELY appreciated in COMMENTS below -

THANKS!


CLICK HERE for all posts labelled PRODUCTION

http://storygas.blogspot.com/search/label/production


.