http://www.forumwise.com
http://www.forumarena.com
Template List
First off the reason I'm typing it "ForumWise/Arena" is because the support forums and original subdomain registries were with "Forumwise" but if you want to register for their forums the subdomain is "Forumarena".
ForumWise/Arena has phpbb2 hosting but integrates many phpbb3 features into their unique forum system. Some Features include:
• Arcade
• Custom Portal
• ShoutBox (on portal)
• Karma
• Cash (no shops yet)
• Hidden Content (code that hides selected text until you post, and cannot be cheated by quoting)
• Admin Image Upload
• Counter
• Advanced Formatting
• Super Moderators
• Topic Cement
• Web Stats
• Anti-Spam Features
• Global Announcements
Well, since I'm using my old, used Forumarena Forum I'll give you a look at the Administration Panel and a few key Forumarena features here.
As you see when you log into the administration panel it shows a few statistics and the support forum itself, which is great so you can see updates right when you log in. The menu is straight forward so lets go deeper into Forumarena's features.
Forums
The forum system is very straight forward and simple. You can have subforums, and how to is relatively simple so we won't go too in depth there. Notice that at the top of every page and menu there's some help or references so you don't mess up too often.
You can only have 4 private forums, other wise you will have to pay premium. Premium also gets rid of the adsense at the top of the forum.
Portal
Forumarena's Portal is very customizable. You get a recent posts module, a welcome module, a navigation module, 4 custom modules (put whatever html you want in there with the 10000 character limit) , a (google) search module, a top posters module, a poll module, and a bit more. The Shoutbox is located on the portal page of your forum and has its own configuration menu. You cannot put javascript on the portal unless you meet necessary requirements and post a request at the support forum.
Arcade
The arcade is a great feature supported by Forumarena. As you see in this picture, there is a way to charge cash (with their cash feature) to play the games.
Since the games are not installed already when you create a forum, you must do it manually on the Game Add Menu. They have a game list which you can choose games from there to add to your forum. I find it neat if you want to have like a Mario Fan Forum and there are sonic games ready to be installed into the arcade!
So, here's what it looks like once you got a few games installed.
Cash
Here's a look at the Cash Menu.
It's very simple.
Options you can enable/disable cash, show earnings in the posting/reply screen, and of course anti-spam features.
Format is simply naming it, the default amount, and the decimal places you'd like (so you can have cents?) .
Forums is just the forums that you can enable/disable cash in posting.
Earnings are things like the cash image, amount earned for posting/replying, and cash permissions.
Reset is globally reseting the amount of cash of every member on your forum. You can reset them with a specific amount if you want.
And last but not least, Log is the events done with cash.
There is currently no shop to spend cash on, but you can spend cash on the arcade (see the Arcade section above.)
Styles and Templates
Forumarena boasts a plethora of skins to choose from. (If you would like a complete list please check this forum post). Heres a look at the styles Add menu.
As you see, there's no pretty picture previews, but there's a large selection (the list not seen in the screenie though.... that would be pointless to do). In the Styles Management menu, from there you can preview the styles you've added in a nice, alphabetical fashion.
Overview
Overall, I think Forumarena is a simple, easy to use with its phpbb2 interface, well featured and customizable free forum hosting service. The support is great (and you get a support link on the admin panel in case you don't know where it is). If you wanna keep it simple yet have many excellent features (but not too extreme features like blogs and galleries) the I recommend ForumWise/Arena to you!
(And thank you ForumWise/Arena for the excellent months of service, though I reside now at Informe, I appreciate the quality of your service and hope it will serve many others as well.)
-Izzy
