Running a discussion community.
THE OPTIONS
phpBB: free, mature, widely used, straightforward to install
SMF: similar, with a different interface
Discourse: modern and capable, but needs persistent processes and is generally unsuitable for shared hosting
Forum plugins for WordPress, where the community is secondary to the main site
INSTALLING PHPBB
Available in Softaculous or manually. Requires a database and a supported PHP version.
After installing, delete the install directory. phpBB will not function fully until you do, which is deliberate.
CONFIGURATION THAT MATTERS
Registration controls: open registration attracts spam accounts within days
Email verification, which reduces automated signups A moderation queue for new members' first posts Captcha or equivalent
SPAM
A forum without spam controls fills with spam within a week. This is the main operational challenge and it is not optional.
RESOURCES
An active forum generates many database queries per page. Caching helps; a busy community may outgrow shared hosting.
MODERATION
The real cost is human. A community nobody moderates becomes unusable.
