Well, we agree about Facebook etc. and that it’s not a nice place over there 
About running Discourse as a forum, I can recommend it a lot. It’s a bit of a struggle to get it up and running though. If you are ok with SaaS hosting with a (small) third-party company, that could be the simplest option for you to get started.
There are at least three options:
-
The official Discourse hosting offer. It’s great quality but not cheap, mostly catering to larger, established forums.
-
Cheaper Discourse hosting, I think there are several offers starting from 10-15 EUR/month now.
-
Discourse hosting with Edgeryders. It’s what the Blivande forum uses, and also the other communities to which you can switch from the top-right “Communities” menu.