considering i work with almost everyone in my alliance we don't need a forum :P we just go out back to smoke and chat evony lol

if i was to make a forum though i rather like vbulletin though it's not free (i have a pirated copy though) phpbb is free and a good 2nd choice

i like to integrate the forums (whichever i choose) into joomla and make a portal website dealio in addition to forums.

x10hosting.com offers free reliable hosting that has cpanel and 2 databases (1 for the forums and 1 for joomla) don't ask me how it's free, there's no ads or anything...