Best Forum Software?

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.

 

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?

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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 =]

 

SMF is damn fine forum software for free.

 

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!

 

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

 

Hi

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

Thanks

 

Dojo

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

 

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

 

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

 

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