Inexpensive/easy way to get a message board on my site?

I’ve got a minor bee in my bonnet about this, but I’m basically clueless.

I have several domains with www.readyhosting.com, and I’ve given a passing thought to getting a message board on there. Just a passing thought. My hosting plans include all that are included here.

Bear in mind that I’m kind of clueless (I know some HTML and I can get around Dreamweaver pretty well, but that’s about it). I have both an OS X Mac and a Windows XP PC, so I could use either computer for this. (Though the Mac is the one that has Dreamweaver.)

Is there any way I can do this without it costing me an arm and a leg and requiring me to learn a whole lot of new stuff? I have a semi-adventuresome spirit, but I’m not a programmer and never will be. (But I’m not afraid to open a computer book and read it—I’ve taught myself Photoshop through books, for instance.)

So, any suggestions? Any advice would be appreciated!

Have you given thought to a board from Ezboard or some other site that has free and/or paid boards?

Thanks Lola, I’ve thought of EZBoard and that’s not been outruled yet, but I figured since I already had this web space bought and paid for, and the host offers certain features (that I linked to in my OP), that if there was a way that I could use my own host, then I’d like to look into that.

But if one of these other freebie boards is pretty good, that’s worth considering, definitely!

One good free/inexpensive board is Discus. Their freeware version is very good, and their Pro version is inexpensive (Less than $100 I think) and very powerful.

Snitz Forums is almost as good as vBulletin, and it’s free (and open source).

I favor InvisionBoard myself.

I think phpBB is the best one out there at any price (and it’s free).

Wow, guys, this is GREAT! Thanks! This gives me a lot to contemplate and explore. Bless your hearts.

I always can count on this board to give me some good answers, can’t I?

I had to do alot of research into this topic for a site I help run, when our previous forums crashed and burned. The word in almost every discussion I came across was that phpBB and InvisionBoard are more or less equal as the very best options in free forums. We went with phpbb ( there are rumors that Invision might be moving to a pay system, and we didn’t want to deal with that)and certainly haven’t regreted it.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com is a great place to find out about things like this. Of course, I know from experience that almost everyone there will tell you to go with invision or phpbb.

Another vote for phpBB.