Best Web Forums for Businesses?

ClintJCL asks: "I've recently been tasked to create an online web forum for my employer. Actually, they said 'weblog' but when I got more clarification, it is not really a blog but more of a message forum that is what they want. How do I find a good forum? I have looked into many, many forums, and there are simply too many out there to compare them all myself. Is there a website that reviews online forums and their software? Is there somebody who is experienced in doing this, that perhaps has some good advice?" We last touched on this subject exactly a year ago, and it seems that businesses are warming to the idea. Have new and better options popped up in the intervening time?

"I had started one with a particular provider and worked a few hours on customizing it. Then they wiped my settings back to the defaults without explanation. This is -exactly- the type of thing I would wish to avoid.

The forum would have to support privacy (only approved users get access, since this would be for internal communication only), and it would have to support attachments (since one of the main purposes is for us to store our official documents there).

I strongly suggested that we run one on our own servers, but it seems that this is not an option, so we must look for a 3rd party to supply us with the forum."

Comments

Prefab NNTP Solution?

[RaboKrabekian]

What about setting up an nntp server, and then using a newsreader?

Or, if they want it in website form, using some sort of prefab browser-based newsreader. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Re:phpBB

[Kethinov]

phpBB is NOT lightweight. Granted it's not the most bloated forum on earth, it does have tons of totally pointless "features" that go beyond the scope of most websites. If you want true minimalism, try mine out. Of course mine is still in the developmental stages and there are bugs. But it is totally bloat-free.

Okay, done with my shameless plug. Move along now.