did anyone ever look at PHPBB?
Oh yes indeed.
There are many places where you can set up a free message board environment without having to mess with the phpBB software or hosting services. Most offer all the bells and whistles that one expects of a contemporary forum--rich text formatting, embedded pix and vids, RSS, etc...(even private messaging and personal blogs with YUKU).
Here's a small sampling:
http://www.yuku.com/home/learnmore/
http://www.boardhost.com/features/
http://www.setbb.com/chat-and-forum-features.html
http://www.phorum.org/free-php-message-board-phorum.php
http://www.big-boards.com/
BUT the issue of copyright liability remains and the content-chasing lawyers will come after the owner of any forum they consider in violation of copyright.
As a (now-retired) 'basher', I carry a $2MM rider on my homeowner's policy to cover me for inintended legal consequences of my posting, but I'm not sure if it covers copyright issues.

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