Best Forum Software?

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

 

wordpress wasnt a forum last time i checked

 

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

 

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

 

IPB is my favorite

 

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...

Thanks,

JJP

www dot icantpostlinkshereyet dot com

 

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

 

I use both phpbb and VBulletin and happy with it.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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 4.1.20qI+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.

 

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?

 

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.

 

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?

 

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.

 

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

 

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