Domain Social Forums

With free hosting you are always given a free domain to link to your website or forum. Many people keep these and don't bother purchasing an actual domain. 

Have you ever used free hosting and kept using the free domain? Or would you rather purchase your own domain so that it's easier for visitors to make their way back to your site?

I never use the free domain that I get with a forum if I am using free hosting. It doesn't cost much at all for me to purchase a domain name for a year so I feel it looks a lot better and more professional if I do that than use the long free domain.