Hey everybody, this is my first post on digital point in a like 3 years! Glad to be back! I'm in the process of developing a website as a resource for individuals, their family members, and practitioners who are affected by mental illnesses. The focus of the site will be the forum, which will be moderated by myself and a few others, as well as medication info, personality test, and articles on mental health related issues. It's been a few years since I've done any serious programming (grad school) and I want this site to be as user friendly, interactive, and web 2.0 as it can be. Is vBulletin the right resource, or should I go with something like Drupal or Joomla? I plan on implementing custom content but know nothing about the aforementioned CMS's. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
vBulletin is pretty good (we use it here), but the CMS isn't that great to be honest. XenForo might also be worth checking out. It's pretty nice, but it's also very new.
I would prefer IPB over vB. It seems that vB have been getting lots of negative feedback lately and IPB's latest offering appears to be great. IPB 3.2 is also just over the corner. Looking forward to it. As for Xenforo, I think it is a very neat first attempt by the developer. I would really want to play around with it before commenting. Anyone can sell me a license?
I've only messed around with phpBB in the past (I'm a newbie). However, I just purchased vBulletin 4.0 Publisher Suite not too long ago (I work for InternetBrands the company that owns the license to VB). IMO the support for VB could be A LOT better. For a first time user and newbie like myself I had to do countless hours of research to install the forum and and learn the CMS. It was VERY frustrating and confusing to say the least. My forum is up and running, spam registrations are blocked (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=236117) if you decide to go the VB route, and I feel comfortable with the CMS after about a month. I do, however, regret not looking at other options more thoroughly before my purchase. It's a great forum, but support could be better (you'll learn this with some simple research...). An example, I walked to the VB support department and one of the employees wouldn't help me right there on the spot?! Shoooot we work for the same company! I was told "Please go post on vbulletin.org and someone will get to you shortly." I wish I could be more help.