Best Forum Software?

GuyFromChicago

Apr 26th 2004, 8:04 am

I've been working a site that I plan to launch in the next 1 - 2 weeks. The site will be sports related, and will have a forum.

I've been looking around, and from I've seen VBulletin seems to be some of the best forum software out there. Quick, clean, spiderable out of the box, etc. I don't mind the price either. Any opinions on Vbulletin?

Does anyone have any suggestions, pros or cons for different forum software you've used?

Also, since this I have attention of a group of forum users, does the forum itself play any part in decision to participate, assuming you're interested in the topic? Would you post on a forum that was slow, awkward or otherwise "non-user-friendly" if you were interested in the topic? Or would you continue your search until you found an on topic forum that was a little more user friendly?

Any input appreciated.

digitalpoint

Apr 26th 2004, 9:00 am

Well, as I've said before here, I'm very happy with vBulletin... IMO the best forum software.

To answer your other question, I tend to visit forums using vBulletin 3 (vBulletin 2 doesn't count) more often than forums that do not. But that's probably just me.

- Shawn

GuyFromChicago

Apr 26th 2004, 9:05 am

Thanks Shawn. In terns of setup and administration, is it relatively easy? I'm a php rook, but have set up php forums before.

Assuming I go with VBulletin (which I've really been leaning towards), do you have any setup/configuration suggestions that are somewhat easy to implement?

ginostylz

Apr 26th 2004, 9:36 am

http://phpbb.com/ is pretty good and free.
My freinds website is http://www.swoleboard.com which uses phbb and I have been a member there for quite some time, and Google has had no problem spidering it either. An older version need a small modification.
This is my first forum at a Vbulliten, but I like it a lot too.

edited for clarification that swoleboard uses phbb.

digitalpoint

Apr 26th 2004, 9:40 am

schlottke

Apr 26th 2004, 4:36 pm

vB is unreal. I set it up and online in about 15 minutes and hade everything working perfectly in under a half hour.

Bondat

Sep 19th 2006, 12:28 am

Still, VBulletin is the best forum software after 2 years of this thread.:D

dojo

Sep 19th 2006, 4:19 am

If you have the money, then you can get VB. I use phpBB most of the time since I don't have the money, but I have the time and knowledge to mod my phpBBs

hitzatak

Sep 27th 2006, 2:11 am

I've used phpBB twice in the past and both times got hacked. I wasn't even prominently on the SE's. But those fools still found me and exploited the bug.

You get what you pay for.

I'm extremely happy with my vbulletin now :D

rockinaway

Sep 27th 2006, 9:19 am

I think that SMF isn't actually that bad, although in future may change. Highly doubt it though!

Endurer

Sep 27th 2006, 1:03 pm

Josh-H

Sep 27th 2006, 1:37 pm

Vb is a little pricey compared to the rest but, you get what you pay for... and you get one heck of a forum software =]

sawz

Oct 1st 2006, 9:00 am

SMF (http://www.simplemachines.org/) is damn fine forum software for free.

rockinaway

Oct 7th 2006, 3:38 am

Well now after this, really it depends on your needs. If you can pay and are in the position of paying, well then go for vBulletin or IPB, probably vBulletin, although IPB isn't that far behind. Also it depends on how flexible you want the forum software to be, if you want to add MODs, and really customise it then well get vBulletin, or IPB, or get a 'flat' board as I call it ;)

On the other hand, if you are not in the position of paying, which I don't think you are but anyway, there are the 3 biggest in my view, phpBB, SMF and MyBB. All are great, with phpBB being the most popular. All three are flexible. Then there is a huge list of other BBS that you can use, even flat easy ones which are not as flexible but may fill your needs.

Hope that helps!

forumrating

Oct 8th 2006, 5:44 am

vbulletin is always good, though ive seen many using ipb, with huge communities, m happy with vb

ringtonegeezer

Oct 10th 2006, 4:49 am

Hi

Are admin allowed to put text ads and banners around the phpbb forum and o front page?

Thanks

ringtonegeezer

Oct 10th 2006, 9:08 am

Dojo

Can I call on you for help if I need some as I just downloaded phpbb with some language packs?

If you have the money, then you can get VB. I use phpBB most of the time since I don't have the money, but I have the time and knowledge to mod my phpBBs

dojo

Oct 26th 2006, 2:04 pm

Keep me posted on how it works :) I can spare some advice ;)

Flash1

Oct 26th 2006, 9:16 pm

IPB...2.20 is coming out soon. It looks awesome

WoodiE55

Oct 27th 2006, 9:23 am

I've tried various different forum software but I've always ended up with vBulletin - by far the best IMO.

Ratman2050

Apr 2nd 2007, 2:24 pm

I think vBulletin and phpbb are good.

IPB is ok, but I saw a few forums that have IPB, and it isn't as good as compared to vBulletin, but better than phpbb, so its in between.

Then Joomla! and SMF are ok, but they are CMS.

Diether

Apr 3rd 2007, 2:39 am

SMF is not a CMS.
It's a free forum like phpBB (but better imho :p )
http://www.simplemachines.org/

superdomena.com

Jun 24th 2007, 4:49 am

I'm running SMF. Also tried other popular forums. For now I choose SMF.

Brian123

Jun 28th 2007, 12:33 pm

I actually moved to SMF from VB, I like to look and feel of SMF. VB is good, but for free SMF is outstanding, and their support forum is pretty good too.

Darc

Jun 28th 2007, 10:20 pm

I've used both VB and phpBB. I didn't enjoy VB as much, although I have been using phpBB for almost five years now. I've never had a problem with getting my phpBB hacked... and I run tons of servers with it.

Oompa

Jun 29th 2007, 2:02 pm

I would go with vBulletin, hands down. But if you don't got the money, I would get phpBB (www.phpbb.com) or Simple Machines Forum (www.simplemachines.org).

Darc

Jul 9th 2007, 2:50 am

If you use PHP Nuke Platinum the updated phpbb 2.0.22 integrated into the package is really tight. :D

eduoku

Jul 11th 2007, 10:20 am

i started a forum some ago and i am using the latest version of SMF.from what i have heard here,nobody is even talking about SMF,does it mean that it is not a good script?

zexy

Jul 11th 2007, 10:51 am

vBulletin is my favorite,
Very powerful and flexible :cool:

Darc

Jul 12th 2007, 9:40 am

Not heard of SFM, so wouldn't really be able to talk about it much, might look it up sometime

Geoffrey

Jul 12th 2007, 9:51 am

Yeah, vBulletin any day.
Unfortunately the only drawback is the price, but it's worth the cost.
If you're looking for something free, go for PunBB. It's the best in my opinion :)

Darc

Jul 13th 2007, 5:34 am

Alright a quick question for all the phpbb users out there... why is it that the makers of PHP Nuke and PHPNuke Platinum are so whiney about integrating the software? They whine saying it's not stable.... has anyone with phpbb 3x seen any real issues with the software?

gamez93

Jul 14th 2007, 6:21 am

I have not used version 3 of phpbb yet, mostly because i want to wait for a lot more mods to be made for it and for it to be stable

Darc

Jul 14th 2007, 11:03 pm

phpbb 3 RC1 is supposed to be a stable version.... not used it yet, but am going to when I get all these servers setup. was just wondering...

exaltvenkat

Aug 9th 2007, 2:47 am

Hi,

PHPBB also a good software for the community forum software.

Regards
Venkat

lanmonkey

Aug 9th 2007, 2:51 am

phpbb is good and probably the most used forum script there is. Its also arguable the most hacked script on the planet.

If you want a free forum use SMF, or just pay the $160 and get vbulletin, it’s the best there is.

WatchOut

Aug 9th 2007, 3:53 am

vBulletin all the way.

st_jimi

Aug 9th 2007, 10:49 am

im a phpbb man, they offer great support lots of mods lots of templates easy to use and free :D

sairos

Aug 10th 2007, 9:38 am

IPB is the best in my opinion, vbulletin is good but the backend/admin cp is soo confusing. IPB's new admin cp is so smooth

longhornfreak

Aug 10th 2007, 9:41 am

It's definitely Vb. IPB and Vb are very similar, but Vb offers better security and has less vulnerabilities. And any free software just isn't going to cut it, they are out of the question.

trochta

Aug 11th 2007, 2:02 pm

What about BBPress from wordpress? Is it any good? Secure? Looks limited in features.

st_jimi

Aug 14th 2007, 6:24 am

wordpress wasnt a forum last time i checked

scuba5794

Aug 14th 2007, 7:03 pm

i have been thrilled with drupal's forum not sure if it fits the application you are thinking about but it is very crawlable by seach engines hope this helps buddy

Darc

Aug 17th 2007, 7:52 am

I still like phpBB lmfao I have a teaste of VB and it's pretty cool, just like how phpbb is setup and all, and yeah wordpress isn't a forum software

Cemocan

Aug 17th 2007, 8:23 am

IPB is my favorite :D

jjpmarketing

Aug 23rd 2007, 5:53 pm

vBulletin setup is easy... just follow their instructions and you are good to go (it's actually easier to setup than phpBB, which I've setup before).

phpBB does require a few hacks (even the latest version to make it properly spiderable... specifically to get the session IDs out of the URLs for the spiders).

- Shawn

I was actually just searching this forum trying to figure out what software it was. This is pretty sweet. Really $160 isn't a bad price. Has anyone worked with non-unix forum software like Community Server? I have 2... er... 3 hosting accounts. One of which is ASP/Windows. I have installed Community Server 2007 on it and it seems to be very well designed. This is based on the fact that I haven't used VBulletin other than posting on here... but Community Server does blogs, forums, photo galleries, download sections, email posting, etc. I am thinking of using it for my forum that I may be putting together in the next 6 months or so. There are 5 versions of it I think. Free, SMB, Pro, Enterprise... don't remember what the other version was. SMB is $400, and Pro was $2000. Enterprise you have to call for a quote. I am really curious to see if anyone has had any experience with that forum/blog/whatever the crap it is... :confused:

Thanks,

JJP

www dot icantpostlinkshereyet dot com

jjpmarketing

Aug 23rd 2007, 6:05 pm

Oh... sorry forgot to answer your question...

I don't care what forum software is being used as long as it is easy to navigate and it is not slow. I can't stand waiting on a page to load. It also has to have good search features. If I type in a search for say, Rocket Science, there better be a friggin' post about how to build a big 'ol rocket. I don't want something to come up like a Post on "stylish pocket protectors" just because "ocket" was in the title. Ya dig? phpBB may be the most wide spread forum software there is, but this vBulletin software is very clean. I don't like web pages that feel like they have to make every button look 3d. Less is more. However from an admin standpoint, the best forum you could use is the one that gives you the most control over the users/community. You need to be able to ban ip's, suspend accounts, etc. Your forum should be well moderated.

Oh... one other thing... I despise any forum that mimics the Google Groups/Yahoo Groups forums. Why can't they just use a real forum? Those 2 are a pain to navigate.

Lastly, if there is a forum that has something that I really want to read, and can't find it anywhere else... I will still read the forum no matter what condition it is in.

Hope that helps.

JJP

dedsused

Aug 24th 2007, 1:49 am

I use both phpbb and VBulletin and happy with it.

blueparukia

Aug 24th 2007, 2:31 am

MyBB can stand up to vB and IPB. Version 1.4 will include much better features in the ACP and Mod CP. It is already as good as IPB and is ver close to vB.

BP

jac4593

Aug 25th 2007, 7:12 pm

In my opinion SMF is the best. For free anyway.

neelesh

Aug 25th 2007, 7:30 pm

In my opinion, Vbulletin is the best. I would personally put smf in the second position and ipb third, well you would be thinking about phpbb, that would be last in my list

bdmweb

Sep 15th 2007, 5:54 am

jjpmarketing

Sep 15th 2007, 9:31 am

I finally installed PHPBB 2 on my site after getting stuck half way and now my forum isn't working; everytime I try to login, I get this error message: "4 4.1.20qI+WV+nlS<,¢0p?,[gs,!`?Z'ÿBad handshake".

Has anyone ever encounted this problem before?

I might just give up on PHPBB and go to SMF or vBulletin.

PM me the details. I may be able to help you out. I will need to know who you are using for a host, and what directory you have your phpbb placed in. Sometimes php designed software doesn't work all that well, when it is placed in the root directory depending on which host you use and how they have their access setup. I have downloaded the latest release to install on one of my sites and will test it out. If I don't run into problems I would suspect it has something to do with either your host's setup and/or how you configured the phpbb during the installation. Again PM all the details you can, because this is a thread about the best forum software not how to troubleshoot it. Some people get mad if you get just the slightest bit off topic on their thread.

zoltan

Sep 24th 2007, 4:43 am

Which one of the free softwares support search engine friendly URLs? Which one is easy to integrate to an existing community of tens of thousands of members?

jjpmarketing

Sep 27th 2007, 4:59 pm

Simple Machines Forum does the friendly URL's. I would do that with the Dilber Multi Color theme. It is awesome. I am starting to like it a lot. I am using it for 3 of my forums. I'll probably use it for my fourth. However, I think most forums do offer the friendly URL setup. I would check their websites to be certain.

jjpmarketing

Oct 6th 2007, 8:36 pm

I have been using both for a while now. For the last month I have been using Simple Machines Forum. For a free option it is okay... but if money was no option I would definitely use vBulletin. It works a lot smoother than SMF. vBulletin has a lot better layout and functionality. I haven't seen the admin side of vBulletin yet. I may have to eventually fork over the money for a copy of vBulletin. But for now, I am stuck with the free option. Anyone have any experience with converting forums. Is it possible to take an existing forum such as an SMF forum and convert it to vBulletin? Is it possible to keep the posts, messages, etc?

jkrish41

Oct 6th 2007, 8:39 pm

jjpmarketing

Oct 7th 2007, 7:02 am

I like either Vbulletin or IPB.

I use to like phpbb, but there were a lot of exploits for it, and the passwords are not salted, so if a hacker gets the database, everyones password can easily be cracked.

As for vbulletin + IPB, it is salted, and has a lot more security and management features.

Overall, I probably like Vbulletin the most, even though I have more experience with ipb.

What is the full name for IPB. I might check it out. Post a link to the download site or something. The one thing that irks me the most about SMF is how it displays the PM's. I hate Google Mail and any format where it tries to display something like a conversation. If I wanted a conversation, I would pick up the phone.

yks47

Oct 7th 2007, 7:50 am

vBulletin is the best .. thats why im looking for trade :[

jjpmarketing

Oct 7th 2007, 8:47 am

vBulletin is the best .. thats why im looking for trade :[

Trade? What do you mean "looking for trade"?

jkrish41

Oct 7th 2007, 9:31 am

What is the full name for IPB. I might check it out. Post a link to the download site or something. The one thing that irks me the most about SMF is how it displays the PM's. I hate Google Mail and any format where it tries to display something like a conversation. If I wanted a conversation, I would pick up the phone.

IPB= Invision power board
Link: http://www.invisionpower.com

(I think they just call it IP for "Invision Power" now, but they use to call it IPB, so thats why I still call it that...)

You have to pay for the forum, but you can find a demo here:http://www.invisionpower.com/community/board/demo.html

To purchase, Go here:
http://www.invisionpower.com/community/board/purchase.html

Enjoy!

jjpmarketing

Oct 7th 2007, 7:06 pm

Thanks. It looks like it is a cross between vBulletin and Community Server. Definitely worth considering.

Torsten

Dec 17th 2007, 7:36 am

I converted my phpBB fourm to Vbulletin last night and it was as smooth as it could get with impex. IMO Vbulletin is by far the best forum software today. The possibilities are endless as far as administration @ vb is concerned.... I'm considering to establish a forum in the future. For the moment Vbulletin would be my first choice as well. Just as Shawn, I tend to visit vBulleting forums more then others. The next other software they use would be phpBB. I have a forum on one of my sites, but this came with the content management software (DotNetNuke) I'm using. I would give this a relatively good rating, given that it was included in the package.

jjpmarketing

Dec 17th 2007, 9:04 am

My sentiments exactly. I love the way vbulletin forums work. When I first joined DP, I was just blown away by the layout and subscription functionality with threads. That functionality alone blows any other forum away. PHPBB does this to a degree, but vBulletin does it better.