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    1. best option for a bare-bones message board/forum?

      hello tildes, i am searching for a bare-bones forum/message board. i'll describe what i need and perhaps someone can point me in the right direction: must have the ability to create an account...

      hello tildes,

      i am searching for a bare-bones forum/message board. i'll describe what i need and perhaps someone can point me in the right direction:

      must have the ability to

      • create an account
      • create topics with the ability to reply
      • fully customizable front-end (html/css) so i can make it match my website
      • either self-host or use a custom domain on ext hosting

      unimportant but nice to have

      • display images in posts via external urls
      • different boards (categories?) to post into (would be nice but not vital)
      • nested replies (or some visual way to see what you're replying to)

      free would be ideal (dreams are nice) but probably wouldn't want to spend more than $5/month as this is a supplement to a website where i don't expect much traffic at all due to the nature of the project. no images/video/audio will be hosted ideally.

      i'm ok with "hacker news" or "reddit-like" software but my backend knowledge if very limited. for instance, i looked into self-hosting lemmy but i don't understand how to setup docker. options like phpbb would be fine if i could strip away everything aside from the above-mentioned features.

      i want it to be extremely simplistic in appearance and for the end-user (tildes is a great example of the simplistic end-user experience). tildes could be a cool option but i think getting it setup is a bit out of my skill-range.

      can anyone offer any suggestions/guidence?

      edited to emphasize important aspects and clarify things that are not vital but would be nice to have.

      15 votes