Guys, we're a bit new to forum hosting but have a clan of about 40 guys who want to run a forum. We currently have a forumer forum under phpBB. I set that one up. A member volunteered to take over admin duties (I handle a lot of other things) and the first thing he wanted to do was to switch over to IPB. He says it's much more powerful, easier to work with and allows a lot more flexibility.

First, is that accurate?

Second, upon looking at a conversion utility from IPB I noticed here that you can't use it with Forumer. They give you no access to the server itself. That got me thinking. Is the path with Forumer a one-way path? In other words, if we come here and spend 6 months posting and such are we likely to come to regret the choice given that we won't have any way to backup our forums or move to another solution (like hosting it ourselves) later?

I'd just hate to get everyone rolling here only to have to start them all over again a month from now (or later).

Considering that there are free forums hosted by Forumer that have over 100,000 posts, no Forumer is not just for the small forums. Contrary to what you might believe or what you might have heard about Free forum hosts Forumer forums have a wide range of options that allow you to customize it virtually anyway you want.

IPB offers a wide variety of Forumer supported modifications(found at fmods.com) and the admin controls allow control and flexibility. phpBB2 is more restrictive, as you probably already know, and under Forumer is primarily a casual easy-to-use forum style for less serious administrators. That being said Forumer will soon be releasing phpBB3 to the general public and it offers the flexibilty and customization of the current IPB software.

Hosting the forum yourself will give you unlimited flexibility and a wide variety of customization available to you, that is true, but Forumer is just a step under that. Also consider the costs you will face: domain name, IPB licence, server maintenance, and independent support. The independence from Forumer that allows your great flexibility will also place more responsibilities and costs upon you. Now, I don't say that to discourage you from going independent, for some forums its the way to go. But let me say this: Forumer offers a free forum with a high degree of flexibility and customization, they offer you reliable servers and support in addition to Forumer exclusive modifications(at fmods.com).

Yes people have regretted choosing Forumer, any company or service will experience that, but I assure you the large majority of members, even those with huge forums of tens of thousands of posts and thousands of members will tell you that hosting a free forum with Forumer was the way to go. Yes you will have more restrictions placed on your forum than if you went independent, but bottom line Forumer offers reliable and flexible IPB and phpBB3 hosting where the benefits far outweigh the restrictions and weaknesses.

I personally, and remember I am not affiliated with Forumer whatsoever, hope you will stay with Forumer. Yes, people regret it...but so many others have created thriving communities on Forumer servers and loved every minute of it.