Lincoln's Note:
Howdy stranger, it's been too long.
Vanilla has been hard-forked by Lincoln, one of the original developers.
It's not intended as an ongoing effort, but "one last release" to get you by.
Every locale, plugin, & theme Lincoln could find is bundled herein

It is all now under the AGPLv3.
Do NOT update to this version if you run a hosting service, because
ALL code that touches it must be released. Yes, even your cloud-only plugins.
I must do the same if I ever use it that way — no more "cloud-only" here.

This release:

• Strips HL logos, replacing with the abandoned original Vanilla logo.
• Defaults new installs to the Keystone theme and legacy layouts.
• Strips all references to cloud & fixes compatibility issues with modern PHP.

Notes:

• I'm still working on getting a built release together.
• Today, Docker install works on localhost as-documented.
• Happy to accept pull requests, but no compatibility breaks or major features.
• Bundle is MUCH larger than previously (TONS of SPA cruft + bundled addons).

Old README, lightly edited, follows.
Stay safe, kindle hope, & organize.
-Linc, MLK day 2026

Online Since: April 2004
Total Views: 3M
Total Registered Users: 3.7M
Total Topics: 5.4K
Post Count: 29.6K
Software: Vanilla

HostBoards has had several names since our start in 2004:
DevDreams.com - lookup 2004 Archive.org
WebmasterPost.com - lookup 2006 Archive.org
HostBoards.com - lookup end of 2014 Archive.org
For several years after 2014, WebmasterPost & HostBoards operated concurrently.
In 2018, hostboards was hacked which destroyed several years of posts. It was resurrected on Vanilla Forums instead of vBulletin.

HostBoards is the combination of 3 different forums into one & then a 4th database was added.

You will receive the forwarded domain WebmasterPost.com with the sale.

Comparisons
LowEndTalk.com is profitable & being the most active Webhosting forum in the world, would sell for well over $30,000 or more. Jon did that with hard work & if you put in the same hard work, you'll get similar results.

How to estimate value of HostBoards? I offered between 5K-10K for (a dead forum) vpsboard.com in 2020 but was rejected. They want over 10K for it.

I offered 5K for LowEndSpirit in 2021 but my offer was SOUNDLY rejected. Not saying LES is for sale but they would want a LOT more than 5K for it if they do accept an offer. Consider that LES will likely always be a copy-cat/reaction forum to LowEndTalk, Better to seek a forum with your own identity free from drama.

HostBoards.com
Hostingboards.com
WebhostBoard.com
WebhostingBoard.com
WebhostingForums.com
WebHostTalk.com
HostGab.com (gab = talk)

Thanks for your help!

I found an incredible PHP Coder @ramesh_vish at Lowendtalk.com who is doing great migrating the forum to Vanilla & modifying it.

He also is good at PHP coding.

I Highly recommend him for being trustworthy and getting the job done.

Send a private message to his username at Lowendtalk.com