I don't have the money for VBB, and I hear phpBB isn't secure. So far I haven't heard anything bad about SMF, is there anything I should know about it?? Can I go big with it and be "hacker free"? Thanks guys I appreciate it
I tell you now that no software is fully secure, although the paid ones seem to be more secure for obvious reasons. I use SMF on my forum, which you can take a look at, link is in my signature, but anyway I fnd it very good. I can tell you a huge list of things which are great about SMF. Firstly I shall tell you that no free software is greatly secure, although I think the ones like MyBB, phpBB and SMF are the best in free. Now cutting down, I used to use phpBB, yet hated the amount of changes you have to do to code to fulfill your needs, specially with modifications. Although I think that EasyMod is pretty good. Now we have MyBB and SMF, they are both simliar, but I have never properly tried MyBB. SMF is a great piece of forum software not only for the fact it is free but also it has an automatic mod installer. You can do alot of forum maintenance from the admin panel, for example fixing errors. The support is great and also the software is very easy to customize. Also it is built to be search engine friendly and there are also many mods which are actually useful. There is a great portal extension, which other enhancements. Do I need to go on?
Thanks buddy that was one of the most helpful answers I've received on the forum. Rep added. One question though. Can you implement adsense into it, like after the 1st post in each thread?
Well you can trust on smf for the time being, its ok.... and as far as security is concerned, a new flaw always comes up after every some span of time, but developers are aways working to fix them...personally i like SMF more than PHPBB...its just a personal choice though...yes ofcors i have used them both...[i am also using VB] PM me if you want to know more on VB
Thanks for the reps, and yes you can add ads, there is a mod for that http://mods.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=255 There are many position for the ads, including after first post!
But do remeber that mods works only on certain themes..if you are using custom themes, you have to make the fit your codes...
Yes, true, but the amount of changes you have to do for that is very small. I have it installed, and it isn't very hard at all
Yups...but for newbie its a BIG dirty job doing with the code...wel, i agree that its quite a small task comparatively...
And if worst comes to worst, you just ask for help on SMF forum, they would be glad to help edit the files..
Oh, I just had enough with this "phpBB is not secure" thing. I have 3 scripts running in the 9 forums I own: phpBB (6 forums), IPB (2) and VB (1). I run phpBB for 4 years and had no problems at all. And I did have my IPB and VB forums hacked. So .. Just keep database and file backups ready and don't rely on a script to be secure or not. Sometimes the servers can be hacked (we had this problem too) and no script can solve this. if you don't have backups, you're asking for an "early retirement". Just chose what you like more and work on it
SMF is by far the best free forum software available. when you add a mod, its applied o the default theme only, if your using a custom theme you will have to edit a few files, no biggie. its worth it and the support at SMF forums is great.
Yes, IMO the support at SMF is much better than phpBB, no offence to support staff at the phpBB site. I guess there are reasons for the slightly slower response, and longer talking times, as there are many more people on phpBB and also they take you through problems step-by-step. As of yet the member count at the SMF forums isn't as high as phpBB so I guess they have less to reply to, in a while as SMF grows I think the support too will slow down abit, unless they get alot more staff!
Well really it isn't such a big flaw, there must be a way to make the MODs so that they do do that, but, well the software is great isn't it, and change a few lines of code isn't that hard! Yes it would be nice if it did work like that, and I hope they plan to sort it out a versions to come.