[DELETED]

Most people will have their own opinions but if you hosting company have fantastico or simple scripts there are quite a few forum scripts to investigate and choose from.On my hosting they also tell you which is most popular and you can go to the sites and see the features.

You can find some free ones via your host like Bluehost or Hostgator some are called PHPBBB or something similar.

I think you will find them a bit tricky to figure out, but that is what late nights are for. Some have opted for free group sites like Google Sites or something similar.

There are a number of free solutions out there for Forums, however, if you're willing to part with the cash, ''IP Board" is a great little product. I've used it to run up forums a few times.

The best forum software would have to be vBulletin (have to pay for a license). Free options are phpBB and SMF...