I’ve been on the prowl for a suitable web-based replacement for my newsgroups for quite a while, and after testing pretty much every forums package on the market, I’ve decided that the latest version of InstantForum.NET is the best one out there. I’m still testing the software, but if all goes well I plan to offer web-based support forums very soon.
Now, I realize that some people (including myself, btw) prefer the efficient, threaded discussions that newsgroups offer. However, I’m running into more and more customers who are behind corporate firewalls which block them from accessing newsgroups, so the switch really is necessary.
And because web-based forums store their messages in a database, it’s far easier to archive messages for searching and provide features such as RSS feeds. They’re also simpler to moderate, and they’re certainly more customizable.
If you’d like to try out the forums before they go live, feel free to test them by following this link. Note that this is only for testing, though – messages posted now will most likely be removed once the forums go live.