ProBoards

Last updated
ProBoards.com
Proboards look.png
The main page of ProBoards Support, the official support forum.
Type of site
Remotely hosted forum
FoundedJanuary 1, 2000
Owner VerticalScope
Created byPatrick Clinger
URL ProBoards.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationRequired for creating forums; admin optional on individual forums.
Current statusOnline

ProBoards is a free, remotely hosted message board service that facilitates online discussions by allowing people to create their own online communities.

Contents

Ownership and service statistics

ProBoards was founded by Patrick Clinger, who wrote the ProBoards software. [1] Prior to launching ProBoards, Clinger had run HostedScripts, a company aimed at creating free web widgets. [2]

The service hosts over 3,000,000 internet forums, which in turn have approximately 22,800,000 users worldwide. [3] Currently, all ProBoards forums combined receive a total of over 600 million pageviews per month, [4] making ProBoards one of the largest websites on the Internet.

However, according to TechCrunch writer Anthony Ha, those numbers have seemingly dropped as of 2014. In an interview, founder/owner Patrick Clinger stated "ProBoards has been used to create 3.5 million forums", but about 1.2 million of them are still active (i.e. resulting in the occasional page view). [5] In October 2021, ProBoards was purchased by internet company VerticalScope Holdings. [6]

Software history

Proboards is coded in Perl, a popular programming language with web developers. Previously, due to the remotely hosted nature of the service, users could not modify the software directly as with some forum systems, but some customisation was possible through the use of CSS or JavaScript codes. With the release of v.5, however, ProBoards gives Administrators and certain other members access to the HTML and CSS of the webpage, for easier coding purposes.

The first day of business for ProBoards was January 1, 2000. At first, ProBoards originally used software created by the owner, Patrick Clinger. In late 2001, though, ProBoards switched to the YaBB system. At the same time, other changes to the service made it the first remotely hosted service to offer a subdomain with each forum (e.g. username.proboards[servernumber].com)

On June 11, 2002, ProBoards Version 2 was launched. This was coded by Clinger and was a rewrite of the entire software rather than improvements to the existing YaBB based setup. The main goals of this rewrite were to improve the overall speed of the software and add new features to keep the product competitive.

In February 2003, version 3 of the ProBoards software was released, again making improvements on the overall speed of the software and including over 30 new features.

ProBoards upgraded to version 4 of its software on April 30, 2005. This time, the upgrade added over 100 new features and enhancements to the service. Despite this, bugs of varying levels of severity still existed.

The current version of the software is v5.

ProBoards Server 48 hosted at The Planet Temp pbserver48.jpg
ProBoards Server 48 hosted at The Planet

ProBoards' servers - physical machines running the ProBoards software - are hosted by SoftLayer. Previous to November 2010, ProBoards was hosted by ThePlanet.com, and previous to 2006, EV1 Servers. The servers are hosted in multiple SoftLayer datacenters in Texas.

In 2005, Patrick Clinger was invited by EV1 Servers to take part in a commercial for their business. The commercial opened with a voiceover introducing Clinger as the owner of ProBoards.com, and he then gave a testimonial about how EV1's hosting benefited ProBoards. The commercial was shown at the 2005 Houston Bowl. Since 2007, EV1 no longer exists as a webhost, having merged with The Planet.

As of March 2009, the server numbers (boardname.proboards##.com) no longer need to be used due to a recent change that allows every ProBoards forum to be accessed without a server number in the URL. (For example, boardname.proboards.com)

Due to the advent of Facebook, ProBoards transitioned into a social network and forum service hybrid with the introduction of version 5 in 2013. In 2014, ProBoards launched Forums.net, [7] a monthly subscription-based service for hosting private message boards for businesses. [8]

Hosting

Although a number of subscription style features are optionally available, there is no obligation for any user to purchase anything from ProBoards. Forums are hosted for free, with no bandwidth or webspace cap, [9] provided users allow advertisements to be displayed on their forum.

Until September 2003, ProBoards was supported by popunders, but these were discontinued in favor of less intrusive methods of advertising. Currently a typical forum will contain a Google AdSense banner ad and some small text links on every page. ProBoards also sells advertising directly to users through a selfserve system. [10]

ProBoards also has an agreement with a third party chatroom provider, addonInteractive, to provide Java-based chatrooms to users. Each forum admin can activate a free version of the chat on their forum, with paid upgrades available for busy forums. The chats integrate fully with forum accounts.

Policies

ProBoards users are bound by a number of Terms of Service, restricting the type of content which may appear on a ProBoards forum. ProBoards prohibits illegal or adult content. Formerly, only English forums were allowed, but in May 2010 this policy was changed, allowing boards to be created in any language. [11] In addition to content policies, Proboards terms also seemingly prohibit the use of "ad-blocking" technology when accessing its services. [12] In November 2020, ProBoards took the decision to remove a forum used by members of the New York Police Department after an officer who was a regular poster on the board was outed as having used it to share "racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, and homophobic sentiments". [13] [14]

User privacy is protected by a Privacy Policy outlining the use of logged information, as well as cookie policy, forum monitoring, and publicly available information.

The US COPPA law is enforced by requiring all users to enter their date of birth on registration. Users aged under 13 are not permitted to register at any ProBoards forum. According to the Terms of Service, any user under the age of 18 also requires parental permission to register, but this is taken as implied when they accept the registration agreement and not verified.

ProBoards allows users to apply affiliate marketing practices to monetize their communities via a partnership with VigLink announced January 2014. This partnership allows any ProBoards forum managers or creators to generate revenue from traffic with VigLink Insert. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Server (computing)</span> Computer to access a central resource or service on a network

A server is a computer that provides information to other computers called "clients" on computer network. This architecture is called the client–server model. Servers can provide various functionalities, often called "services", such as sharing data or resources among multiple clients or performing computations for a client. A single server can serve multiple clients, and a single client can use multiple servers. A client process may run on the same device or may connect over a network to a server on a different device. Typical servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Web hosting service</span> Service for hosting websites

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing web hosting services are sometimes called web hosts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online chat</span> Real-time texting over the internet

Online chat is any kind of communication over the Internet that offers a real-time transmission of text messages from sender to receiver. Chat messages are generally short in order to enable other participants to respond quickly. Thereby, a feeling similar to a spoken conversation is created, which distinguishes chatting from other text-based online communication forms such as Internet forums and email. Online chat may address point-to-point communications as well as multicast communications from one sender to many receivers and voice and video chat, or may be a feature of a web conferencing service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soulseek</span> Peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing network

Soulseek is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network and application, used mostly to exchange music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet forum</span> Online discussion site

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporarily archived. Also, depending on the access level of a user or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes publicly visible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ESET NOD32</span> Computer protection software

ESET NOD32 Antivirus, commonly known as NOD32, is an antivirus software package made by the Slovak company ESET. ESET NOD32 Antivirus is sold in two editions, Home Edition and Business Edition. The Business Edition packages add ESET Remote Administrator allowing for server deployment and management, mirroring of threat signature database updates and the ability to install on Microsoft Windows Server operating systems.

TeamSpeak (TS) is a proprietary voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) application for audio communication between users on a chat channel, much like a telephone conference call. Users typically use headphones with a microphone. The client software connects to a TeamSpeak server of the user's choice, from which the user may join chat channels.

This article outlines the general features commonly found in various Internet forum software packages. It highlights major features that the manager of a forum might want and should expect to be commonly available in different forum software. These comparisons do not include remotely hosted services which use their own proprietary software, rather than offering a package for download which webmasters can host by themselves.

Remote administration refers to any method of controlling a computer or other Internet-connected device, such as a smartphone, from a remote location. There are many commercially available and free-to-use software that make remote administration easy to set up and use. Remote administration is often used when it's difficult or impractical to be physically near a system in order to use it or troubleshoot it. Many server administrators also use remote administration to control the servers around the world at remote locations. It is also used by companies and corporations to improve overall productivity as well as promote remote work. It may also refer to both legal and illegal remote administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terminal server</span> Device that interfaces serial hosts to a network

A terminal server connects devices with a serial port to a local area network (LAN). Products marketed as terminal servers can be very simple devices that do not offer any security functionality, such as data encryption and user authentication. The primary application scenario is to enable serial devices to access network server applications, or vice versa, where security of the data on the LAN is not generally an issue. There are also many terminal servers on the market that have highly advanced security functionality to ensure that only qualified personnel can access various servers and that any data that is transmitted across the LAN, or over the Internet, is encrypted. Usually, companies that need a terminal server with these advanced functions want to remotely control, monitor, diagnose and troubleshoot equipment over a telecommunications network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UltraVNC</span> Remote desktop software

UltraVNC is an open-source remote-administration/remote-desktop-software utility. The client supports Microsoft Windows and Linux but the server only supports Windows. It uses the VNC protocol to allow a computer to access and control another one remotely over a network connection.

RefWorks is a cloud-based commercial reference management software package. It is produced by ProQuest, part of Clarivate. RefWorks LLC was founded in 2001 as a partnership between Earl B. Beutler and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts from 2002 until being acquired by ProQuest in 2008.

A home server is a computing server located in a private computing residence providing services to other devices inside or outside the household through a home network or the Internet. Such services may include file and printer serving, media center serving, home automation control, web serving, web caching, file sharing and synchronization, video surveillance and digital video recorder, calendar and contact sharing and synchronization, account authentication, and backup services. In the recent times, it has become very common to run literally hundreds of applications as containers, isolated from the host operating system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intel Active Management Technology</span> Out-of-band management platform

Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) is hardware and firmware for remote out-of-band management of select business computers, running on the Intel Management Engine, a microprocessor subsystem not exposed to the user, intended for monitoring, maintenance, updating, and repairing systems. Out-of-band (OOB) or hardware-based management is different from software-based management and software management agents.

Fotki is a digital photo sharing, video sharing and media social network website and web service suite; it is one of the world's largest social networking sites. As an image hosting service, Fotki licenses photo-sharing software for global companies such as Telecom Italia, Alice.it, Sears, Mark Travel, Vegas.com, and Funjet.com, among others.

Wikipedia Review is an Internet forum and blog for the discussion of Wikimedia Foundation projects, in particular the content and conflicts of Wikipedia. Wikipedia Review sought to act as a watchdog website, scrutinizing Wikipedia and reporting on its flaws. It provides an independent forum to discuss Wikipedia editors and their influence on Wikipedia content. At its peak, participants included current Wikipedia editors, former Wikipedia editors, users banned from Wikipedia, and people who had never edited. Though the site is still partially running, the last post was on 31 May 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">StreamMyGame</span>

StreamMyGame was a software-only game streaming solution that enables Microsoft Windows-based games and applications to be played remotely on Windows and Linux devices. It was first released on 26 October 2007 as a Windows-only software.

ConnectWise ScreenConnect, previously ConnectWise Control, is a self-hosted remote desktop software application. It was originally developed by Elsinore Technologies in 2008 under the name ScreenConnect, and is now owned by ConnectWise Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wall.fm</span> Online service for people to build and host social networking services

Wall.fm is an online service for people to build and host social networking services, powered by Oxwall software. Wall.fm allows users over 18 years old to register a free account and create custom social networking websites. The site creation process does not involve any coding, and consists of only two steps. The distinctive Wall.fm features are user roles, customizable themes, activity newsfeed, website/profile/content privacy, monetization pack. One of its main competitive advantages is that the service is built on an open source platform, which means a certain degree of freedom for site owners. Wall.fm offers three plans: Starter, Pro and Ultimate. Plans offer different feature sets, disk space and bandwidth, individual support and vendor's branding removal. Every plan offers free trial.

VigLink is a San Francisco-based, outbound-traffic monetization service for publishers, forums, and bloggers. VigLink specializes in in-text advertising and marketing. VigLink CEO Oliver Roup founded the company in March 2009.

References

  1. ↑ Seeden, Curt (2013-02-20). "Five questions with . . . ProBoards founder and CEO Patrick Clinger". Orange County Register . Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  2. ↑ Bourque, Andre (2014-01-24). "Entrepreneur's journey from dial-up Diablo to 200k forum posts a day". Technorati. Archived from the original on 2014-04-05. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  3. ↑ "Quick Stats." ProBoards.com. 05-21-2009. 15 October 2008
  4. ↑ PatrickClinger.com. "About Me." 26 May 2008
  5. ↑ Ha, Anthony (29 April 2013). "ProBoards Upgrades its Forum-Building Tools with a New Dashboard and Live Search". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
  6. ↑ "VerticalScope Provides Business and Acquisitions Update". Business Wire . 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  7. ↑ https://www.forums.net/ [ bare URL ]
  8. ↑ "ProBoards Partners with VigLink to Create Monetization Opportunities for Internet Forum Administrators". Small Business Trends. 2014-05-18. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  9. ↑ "Terms of Service, Section 2. Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine " ProBoards.com. 01-02-2002. 16 May 2007
  10. ↑ "Advertise. Archived 2012-02-06 at the Wayback Machine " ProBoards.com. 26 June 2008
  11. ↑ "Terms of Service, Section 3. Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine " ProBoards.com. 01-02-2002. 28 July 2007
  12. ↑ "Terms of Service- 19 (d)(e) Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine " Effective 01-05-2010. ProBoards.com. July 2007
  13. ↑ "High-ranking 'anti-harassment' NYPD cop a virulent racist: City Council probe". New York Post . 2020-11-05. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  14. ↑ "Infamous cop blog shut down after NYPD officer ID'd as racist user". New York Post . 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  15. ↑ "ProBoards Partners with VigLink to Create Monetization Opportunities for Internet Forum Administrators". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2015-12-30.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.