In the past two weeks I've done a lot of reading regarding the question: 'What is the best forum platform to use to my new site'… After reading articles, hundreds of post from various forums –it's really a maze… All the following: Phpbb vBulletin SMF Invision Joomla -forum add-on Droplal -forum add-on - got a kind of 'SEO futures' or modes or 3'rd side company add-ons - very popular with large scale sites as resume - got free promoters or affiliates that can make their platform looks great…-and the other platforms terrible I know exactly what my requirements and needs, but all the statements with all the contradictions, hates and enthusiastic fans - I think I'm getting lost.. My need – in order of importance: Flexibility –advanced SE friendly mode (urls and page titles), vast add-ons, easy and design modification Fast response -and lower server resource (including mod-rewrite ramifications) Support – availability of quick and professional help, documentation Maintenance– simple upgrades, back ups Security – I assume all the some, but it's not filed of expertise… More details: Traffic and activity estimations– 5000 registered, 100,000 page views. 10,000 new post or thread / Month Hosting – shared, virtual or dedicated in needed Rack spec (If dedicated): 2 giga Ram, 1 processor, 2 SCSI disk Budget - under 200$ / Year Can you help to decide what the best platform according to the above?- I'm really confused -and it's not getting any clearer when doing more reading…
you mentioning 2 different things in your post. phpbb, smf and vb are all bulletin boards. VB has mod_rewrite if you install zoints or vbseo. the other type you mention are drupal and joomla, which are CMS. These are good if you want to run a portal.
I think both have a built in forum or integration method. I know about the other options-this is why I'm confused…