Hello, I'm going to develop one of my domains - rantsforum.com I'm looking for a forum software I can use and eventually move to vBulletin.. However: 1) I don't want to use phpBB, it's easily exploitable. 2) I don't want to use IPB either, it's also very easily exploitable. I've got SMF in mind, but from past experiences, users usually have to reset their passwords once we move to vB from SMF, and that annoys me and the members, and it makes the forum die. Can someone please recommend something worth installing? (and capable of moving to vB)
Umm I don't know where you get your info from but it just isn't accurate. phpBB isn't exploitable as long as you stay current with the versions. I use it on most of my forums and I upgrade them within a week of the original upgrade.
1) With phpbb security, careful scrutinization of mods prior to their installation, proper security settings on your server, and keeping on top of updates, phpbb can be very secure. Out of the box its garbage, but can be wonderful when modded. 2) IPB is not easily exploitable, but their releases are highly buggy, their support staff is piss poor, and their modding communities in on the throws of death. SMF is not a bad piece of software, especially once modded, but it is awful for styling. And it has a crappy ACP. YaBB is a decent option along the same lines as SMF, but requires you to have Perl support, which many hosts do not have. vBulletin is the best option. It has an excellent ACP, good support, and a world-class modding community. Great with out of the box SEO, and has several excellent SEO hacks for it. Great to skin and very powerful. The only drawback is that it doesn't use postgresql. Of course none of the major ones do. Now, if you're not interested in vB, some other options for you to look up are: Web Wiz Forums, Snitz, PunBB, MegaBBS, UBB, WtcBB, MyBB, and XMB.
since ya said no tp phpBB get some money and buy vBulletin, its the only software i would bother with
If you plan on (or even have aspirations) to having a forum with any sort of traffic, you will save yourself a lot of time by starting with vBulletin. Everything about it is better... even down to the moderation tools (a forum of this size could be moderated by a single person). A one-time cost of $160 isn't much when you factor into it everything it does as well as the time saved by using it. Not only that, if you get enough traffic, you can actually MAKE money by running it (I make about $800/year by having the vBulletin link you see on the footer here).