Even on our own sites here, we are often faced with the challenging question of which forum software to use--vBulletin, PHPBB, an ASP-based forum, etc. Often if we've aquired a site, the site is already using some specific or even proprietary forum software with a large community already built around it.
What are your opinions about using one over the other? To me, vBulletin is the best that is currently available. It's got many options, has many addons available, is currently supported by the company that makes it, etc. I used to be a strong proponent of UBB, which took over most of the market that the old WWWBoard held, way back in the day. Eventually vBulletin took over the market that UBB once held.
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the subject!
I've used most of em by this time; idealBB (asp-based), phpBB, Prospero (1 of the best), Invision PB (nearly identical to vb), and of course our vbulletin here. That's the 1 I know best since I've used it to the most extensive degree.
I don't know the back ends of the others as well as I do vb but on the front end, they've all become pretty similar. Prospero is still the only one that allows you to reply to a specific post without quoting (and making threads exponentially longer) and still the only one that lets you return replies made only to YOU. But vb probably has the best overall feature set
I am searching for forum software right now to replace the stock 'web-log' that came with the hosting 'package' we just took for our new website. This is a new and interesting experience for me, too, in that a month ago, I didn't even know there was such a thing as back-end code. Man, the learning curve on this one is steep.
The forum I'm most familiar with is on Prospero, and if I'm reading things correctly, it's an .asp based forum. What I like best about it from a user's viewpoint is that you can see all the folders and threads in a nav-bar type frame on the left side of the screen, and the threads open in the main frame to the right. It's very user-friendly; very easy to know where you are at all times.
There's good photo upload and attachment functions with this setup, too; signatures, edit/reply/delete, profiles, e-mail notification of replies, blind e-mailing through the board...all the good stuff is there.
So my question is, where can I find some freeware that'll do all that? No way this non-profit, non-funded outfit I'm responsible for can afford Prospero (we can barely pay for the year's hosting, LOL).
I use Ikonboard (www.ikonboard), probably due to being one of the UK based Ikonboard team.
I'll admit the 3.1.3 was a bit buggy and the skin was ropey, though that was due to a change in owners & coders. The forthcoming 3.1.5 release sees quite a few outstanding issues fixed. Development on 3.2 is well under way (http://wiki.ikonboard.com/wiki/IB_3.2), and as someone with access to the actual dev board it is shaping up to be far better.
Last edited by Brollachan; 05-19-2006 at 07:44 AM.
Reason: typo
I have never owned a proper forum thats lasted long but I have used:
phpBB
IPB
myBB
And I have worked with them all including vBulletin and vBulletin is the best by a long way as it is so easy to work with and so good at the default usage without any hacks or modifications.
Wow i havent been here for ages! Never seen the Forum software forum before!
I use still use and stick by PHPBB cause it is free and easy to use....
Also i have had no problems at yet with it.
It has a very active user base, strong community support, and extensions that are written by the developers themselves!
MkPortal and TinyPortal are two of the better known ones out there.
And SMF comes built in with everything you have to "mod" phpBB in order to have.
Oh, and it's FREE. Can't beat THAT price tag.
We are Linux, you will be assimilated, you will be liberated, you will be confused by our version numbers and installation procedures, resistance is futile...
Trying to optimize a Web page/site for a particular browser is like trying to optimize Tokyo for Godzilla. It's just not going to work.
I tried phpNuke when I first started setting up my forum but I couldn't get my head around it and the forum didn't get off the ground. Now I use phpBB - it's not perfect and there are a lot of improvements I'd like to make to my forum, but the basics work and I really like the board layout, and it's certainly working for me at the moment while I am happy for it to function without doing anything too jazzy!
We have used phpBB and vBulletin for our forums and highly recommend vBulletin for a large community as it has got more features and is more secure than phpBB.
If you can spend the upfront cash then vbulletin is your answer. I feel the support and community has been the best to work with. By far the easiest to implement mods with limited coding knowledge. Otherwise if you have no money and want a basic forum board then get phpbb.
I currently use vbulletin. I've used ipb, przemo modded phpbb, phpbb, phpnuke, ezboard, yahoo and geocities.
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