Need a small, closed (!) forum

[alxwz]

Does anyone know where to find a place on the web to set up a small forum for discussions of a small group of people (4 to 5, ATM, but up to a dozen should be possible)? It should be organizable into different topics and threads (just like a real forum) and enable users to upload files and images, although I don't need lots of storage space for that.
Most importantly, it should be a "closed shop", not open to the public. Neither readable by outsiders (access should be password-protected) nor indexable by bots like Google's. The intended use is for a small workshop.

I don't have an own server to set this up, which would probably be best, so I need a hosted solution. Preferably free.

I looked at a lot of collaboration platforms (like Basecamp, Joyent), but none I found so far will let you organize messages by topics and threads like a real forum. Some include chat solutions (like 37signals' Campfire), but real-time chat is not what I'm looking for. Wikis (like pbWiki) can't be structured in the way I need.
There are sites that give you free forums (like freeforums.org or nabble.com), but the forums you can create there all seem to be open to the public.

Any pointers?

[sri]

Try

http://www.forumgogo.com/

http://tooum.com/

[alxwz]

Thanks sri,

but from what I've seen on both sites neither will let you set up a closed shop.

[jgpaiva]

I've used google groups for stuff like that, and it proved itself quite useful!

[steeladept]

If you have or are willing to buy it, from my understanding that is what Microsoft Groove is all about.  It is sort of like Sharepoint but for workgroups; and though there is a server option, it doesn't appear to be required.  The only question here is the forum-like posting ability.  I don't know how well it does that.

[tinyvillager]

http://getvanilla.com/

Their support forum is here http://lussumo.com/community/

Very minamalistic and if privacy isn't built in it most certainly has a plugin http://lussumo.com/addons/

[alxwz]

jgpaiva, Google Groups seems to fit the bill. A pity you can't break it down into sub-forums, but otherwise it seems to offer what I want.

steeladept, I don't know if Groove could offer forum discussions. But it's probably too expensive, anyway. And depending on a local client that's Windows-only, from what I know.

tinyvillager, Vanilla requires your own server/webspace, which I don't have.

Thanks to everyone.

[steeladept]

You are right, it is Windows dependent.  I guess that could make it a deal breaker.  It is part of certain packages of Office 2007, so if/when I get that, I will see exactly what it is all about.  At least they would give you a fairly long free trial if you want to consider it.

[mwb1100]

There's also Yahoo groups:  http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/ownmod/

[iphigenie]

yes, yahoo groups makes it pretty easy to set up a closed discussion board

[Dr-Leech]

Free PunBB Hosted
PunBB is really nice.. I don't know if they offers the hability of make it private, but sure you can disable registration or something, and only allow registered users to see forums.

[autohost]

Try http://www.chatzy.com/

[Austilious]

I'm not sure if you are still looking but I can host it for you I use phpBB 3.0 and have plenty of hard drive space 232gb to be exact. If you are interested send me an email at lordjack1990[at]hotmail.com or visit my site and leave me a pm on my forum at http://leingodproductions.kicks-ass.net/forum

[alxwz]

Thanks, but in the meantime I went with a Google group which is good enough for what I need ATM.