yep, in fact if you want something REALLY simple and basic -- at least just to test your idea -- you might check
Arborwood Forums. Can't do a lot with them, and they really don't have many (if any) features, but they're popup-free and easy to set up. It's an alternative at least, in case you don't want to futz with hosting and scripts and all that right now (but like Grumpy said, we can also help with choosing and setting up hosted scripts....been there a lot lately )