Hi, I want to change from PHPBB due to too many duplicate listings, so even though I have 200 urls listed 196 of them are supplementals. (8000 post website) I wanted to know which forum would be better, VBulletin, SMF, or MYBB, I wanted to know which froum would get listed better, also do SMF and MyBB have an rewrite mods which doesn't create duplicates? My only hold back is that on phpbb I have lots of mods and I don't know if I will get the features in the others: 1) You get credits when you post which can be exchaged in the shop 2) Reputation 3) Games, each registered user can play games against others for a top score and it gets recorded on the forum. 4) Report post 5) The admin can activate a control so a image appears in posts, and users have to try and find it, it moves randomly through the forum once clicked by a user and a scoreboard total is given of which user found the image the most number of times (If possible I would like this one) thanks
Vbulletin is the best forum software but it's not free. If you have the money to buy the license I suggest (and most other here) that you use it. And for free forum software I think SMF is currently the leader.
Vbulletin is defintely the best (I will recommend add vbseo to same) I have not came across a modification as mentioned in point no. 5 of yours although once you have bought vbulletin you can request/search for a similar modification on there Official MOdiciation site vbulletin.org
In the last couple of months I have seen several hacked MyBB forums, so I wouldn't recommend them until they get the security stuff worked out.
vbulletin by far. I've been using it for several years on multiple sites. It's so easy to use and customize.
Mybb good but recently has had alot of hacks vBulletin - Expensive but the best SMF- The vBulletin of free forums. I use it on my forums http://www.homebrewhowto.com/forums I have everything you want except for the image (captcha) but I know for a fact it exists. You wont need it with SMF anyway, it doesnt have bot spammers like PHPBB.
vBulletin is the Cadillac of forums.... Affiliate link removed. To answer your 5 hacks... 2 and 4 come stock. 3 is available at vBulletin.org. I am sure 1 is also. #5 I am not sure of. There are literally thousands of free hacks available at vBulletin.org with morebeing added every day. I would STRONGLY recommend vBulletin. I own a number of forums, and every one is vBulletin. They all index and rank well. WITHOUT any mod rewrite (its not needed with vBulletin). Most of the best webmaster/seo forums I know of (including this one)
I am not aware of the security issues others have mentioned with MyBB. Running all three of these softwares on active forums right now, I would rank them : 1) VBulletin 2) MyBB 3) SMF Although MYBB and SMF are closer than VBulletin and MyBB. If you have the means to put down the money, VBulletin is a no-brain investment. If not, pick on of the others and save up the money to convert as soon as possible.
thanks, Can I confirm that if I want html urls in vbulletin I need to first purchase the normal vbulletin and then buy vbseo for $150?
You need to first purchase vBulletin.... (Click Here) -- then you can buy vBSEO or there are several free hacks on vb.org that will do the same thing. Just search for MoD Rewrite
It depends what you want for the site. For serious projects, only vb. But for hobby sites, SMF is great and can always be upgraded to vb in future.
ONLY VB - dunno abt SMF and MyBB - Defenitely not PhpBB cos i had been running one b4 - started off well with hacks n stuff but once traffic increased, started givin me problems and security issues EVERYDAY - hope that justifies my decision.
If I would go from phpBB i'd chose VB. SMF is a script I totally dislike, and myBB is still not as used to have everything you need. I am using phpBB and I'm pleased with it. If I would go to another script only VB would be my option
wait, so if you don't like SMF, you can upgrade it to vbulletin without losing posts/threads and all of that?
Yes. VBulletin has an awesome import feature that works for almost all other forum software. I have had the pleasure to use it twice recently and it works extremely well. On top of it, if you have a phpbb forum, they have a little tool that will set up redirects from all your old posts to the new ones because there is a new naming scheme. I don't want to discourage people from using something else if they don't have the money for VBulletin, but if you can figure out a way to get it, you will not be sorry. At the very least go to the vbulletin.com site and sign-up for the 24 hour demo so you can check out the admin control panel. I know after putting off getting VBulletin for a year it took me two weeks before I bought my second license.