ProBoards
Encyclopedia
ProBoards is a free, remotely hosted message board
service that facilitates online discussions by allowing people to create their own online communities.
The service hosts over 3,000,000 internet forums, which in turn have approximately 22,800,000 users worldwide. Currently, all ProBoards forums combined receive a total of over 600 million pageviews per month, making ProBoards one of the largest websites on the Internet.
, a popular programming language with web developers. Due to the remotely hosted nature of the service, users cannot modify the software directly as with some forum systems, but some customisation is possible through the use of CSS or JavaScript codes.
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 v4.5. Although some new user features were introduced with this update, the main change was behind the scenes, as the original flatfile storage system was converted to a database setup.
The next major release, Proboards Version 5 is currently in development, and will weigh in at least 60,000 lines of code when complete. No release date has yet been announced, but the software is known to be in closed beta testing. The new Proboards Blog carries updates and information on the status of v5, primarily covering planned features.
(formerly EV1 Servers). The servers are located in two of The Planet's 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 (username.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.)
or webspace cap, 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.
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.
, 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.
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.
Internet forum
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 at least temporarily archived...
service that facilitates online discussions by allowing people to create their own online communities.
Ownership and Service Statistics
ProBoards was founded and is owned by Patrick Clinger, who wrote the ProBoards software.The service hosts over 3,000,000 internet forums, which in turn have approximately 22,800,000 users worldwide. Currently, all ProBoards forums combined receive a total of over 600 million pageviews per month, making ProBoards one of the largest websites on the Internet.
Software history
Proboards is coded in PerlPerl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
, a popular programming language with web developers. Due to the remotely hosted nature of the service, users cannot modify the software directly as with some forum systems, but some customisation is possible through the use of CSS or JavaScript codes.
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
Rewrite (programming)
A rewrite in computer programming is the act or result of re-implementing a large portion of existing functionality without re-use of its source code. When the rewrite is not using existing code at all, it is common to speak of a rewrite from scratch...
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
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
of varying levels of severity still existed.
The current version of the software is v4.5. Although some new user features were introduced with this update, the main change was behind the scenes, as the original flatfile storage system was converted to a database setup.
The next major release, Proboards Version 5 is currently in development, and will weigh in at least 60,000 lines of code when complete. No release date has yet been announced, but the software is known to be in closed beta testing. The new Proboards Blog carries updates and information on the status of v5, primarily covering planned features.
Servers
ProBoards has 71 servers - physical machines running the ProBoards software - and is hosted by ThePlanet.comThe Planet Internet Services
The Planet was a privately held dedicated server company based in Texas. In May 2006, the company merged with Everyone's Internet, which used the EV1 Servers brand. In 2010, they merged with SoftLayer...
(formerly EV1 Servers). The servers are located in two of The Planet's 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
Houston Bowl
The Houston Bowl is a now-defunct NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was played annually in Houston, Texas from 2000 to 2005. The game was originally known as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl in 2000 and 2001...
. Since 2007, EV1 no longer exists as a webhost, having merged with The Planet.
As of March 2009, the server numbers (username.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.)
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 bandwidthBandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
or webspace cap, provided users allow advertisements to be displayed on their forum.
Until September 2003, ProBoards was supported by popunders
Pop-up ad
Pop-up ads or pop-ups are a form of online advertising on the World Wide Web intended to attract web traffic or capture email addresses. Pop-ups are generally new web browser windows to display advertisements...
, but these were discontinued in favor of less intrusive methods of advertising. Currently a typical forum will contain a Google AdSense
AdSense
Google AdSense which is a program run by Google Inc. allows publishers in the Google Network of content sites to automatically serve text, image, video, and rich media adverts that are targeted to site content and audience. These adverts are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google, and they...
banner ad and some small text links on every page. ProBoards also sells advertising directly to users through a selfserve system.
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 ServiceTerms of Service
Terms of service are rules which one must agree to abide by in order to use a service. Unless in violation of consumer protection laws, such terms are usually legally binding...
, 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.
User privacy is protected by a Privacy Policy
Privacy policy
Privacy policy is a statement or a legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses and manages a customer or client's data...
outlining the use of logged information, as well as cookie policy, forum monitoring, and publicly available information.
The US COPPA
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 is a United States federal law, located at .The act, effective April 21, 2000, applies to the online collection of personal information by persons or entities under U.S. jurisdiction from children under 13 years of age...
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.