vBulletin is most popular forum software

I would have thought phpbb would have been top because it's free and all. vB is better though.

 

Ya, but it isn't. Isn't phpbb open source too?

 

Ahh...you make my point AGAINST VB for me. The problem with VB and it being a paid solution is that you are pretty much forced to keep your code in line with their code in order to avoid being hacked and exploited.

It's INCREDIBLY rare that I see a unique VB forums. So many are cookie cutters all with the same basic features. Very few VB admins bother to change VB very much since it's already full-featured. One of the reasons to choose VB is if you aren't a coder and need a base of mods already made. This is both an advantage and disadvantage at the same time.

I use mybb..I make no secret about it. I was phpbb before and heck UBB even before that (1999?). I used VB on 2 sites both did miserably and the amount of control I had with the code wasn't acceptable. To keep up with the official updates I needed to keep my forums minimally moded. DP is a good example of that. Part of it's success is that it's pretty much default VB and Shawn updates to latest version fairly regularly. The skin is blah and he doesn't add any "fun" stuff. The most common are shops and arcade for VB but reality is they are all the exact same mod.

With mybb I create my own plugins fairly easily. My sites are "unique" and I have been told countless times that my user base loves the streamlined effect of mybb. VB is bulky to say the least. A forums first and foremost are a place to make and read posts. VB has imho lost that direction in the 3x series. They continue to add stuff well beyond what people really need. They add it to the base system to make it worse. Updating VB is a bitch. If you have custom skin...god help you. If you have a lot of plugins/mods...then an upgrade can take you HOURS.

With mybb. I have up to 20 plugins on some sites...all my sites have custom skins made by me. I have about 25 mybb forums right now. Just the other day a big update was released....other than the time to upload the files...every site took just seconds to update. I didn't lose a single plugin or custom theme bit. When I had one VB forums...an update took me a couple hours minimum. And VB doesn't release proper "change only" files. They expect you to reupload the entire package to correctly update. This really pissed me off and really pushed me to leave.

To pay these morons $35 a year to get updates is really an insult. Basically you are held hostage by them. Exploits occur...and eventually they just drop support all-together for old versions. So once you get on the VB train..you don't get off. They could charge $50 or $75 a year for updates and people would be forced to pay. Now realistically the cost of VB is reasonable for what you get. For many webmasters it's a good solution. For me and my many forums...license fees and update hassle make VBulletin the WORST POSSIBLE SOLUTION.

Back to topic...SEO...and what I was getting at is uniqueness. Being that VB offers little in it's uniqueness it's actually imho less SEO friendly. I can take mybb and make a nice custom SEO package for my sites that would create a uniqueness others wouldn't be using. I know this is possible with VB but again..this creates nightmare update scenarios.

What is forum SEO? Why is it required? Years ago I spent a LOT of time doing SEO for my forums. I would take hours making changes to my phpbb sites and doing everything possible to increase it's friendliness to Google. Well guess what...the harder I tried (without blackhat too) the more Google didn't like me. It's kind of like that pushy date that eventually just scares you away...you know they like you a lot but maybe they like you too much and it seems like something is wrong with them.

I have adapted a screw you Google mentality for SEO. I don't really place a lot of effort into the whole optmizing thing. I feel like it's a sham. If you have a good site..good content and good links then you do well. Sure there are obvious things you can do to make your site friendlier for Google but it's VERY basic stuff. Google is definitely smart enough to know good content from bad content.

bah...long post...I hope it makes sense for someone.

 

If you know what you're doing - designing on a vBulletin forum is easy.

It's not hard to code for vBulletin either.

Did you build links too?

How are your sites doing now?

 

Its not the size that matters, or the quality, it's the quantity (as in the number of forums) that denotes popularity.

vB lists 11136 forums on their links page (http://www.vbulletin.com/links.php) and while that's not the true number, it could be a start if the other forums have similar numbers someplace.

 

Coding for VB is harder than coding for mybb...I can certainly tell you that. All the plugins I have written do not require any core code changes nor manual template changes.

Of course I build links...that's the only thing that REALLY matters. SEO is mostly nonsense that computer "consultants" dreamed up in 2000 to make money after the dotcom crash.

My sites are doing well enough...thanks for asking.

 

hi , so you are the 'labrocca' of myBB

remember my forum www.globalcashchat.com ? you did a gr8 work.. looking for 1.4 version

MyBB rocks.....! its free VB

 

Isn't coding for phpbb easier than mybb? Maybe it's the fact that both softwares are open source

 

i know nothin about coding... but when i tried MyBB the coding part was so simple it is like very basics.. i dont think VB offers that simple

 

That is why I dislike myBB, I think it is about time they develop, create their own unique ideas, I know for a fact they have good developers.

Meti

 

I agree to an extent. But when you have the machine VB plogging along adding every feature under the sun then just about every other forum software looks like a clone.

I have some great unique ideas for mybb but so far they haven't incorporated them. 1.4 is great addition though.

Mybb is rather easy to code for. phpbb was a mini nightmare since it required core files changes...with mybb they have a great plugin system. I know that phpbb3 is going to now include a plugin system and I have no experienced it yet (probably never will).

Here is a simple example plugin which adds youtube bbcode to mybb. To install you simply upload the file to plugin directory and then activate in admincp. It doesn't get much easier than that. Plugins can also be very complex. I have a points system (MYPS) which took me some time to code. It's extensive though and it's a pure plugin require no file changes. I remember in my VB that often I was forced to make a change to core files or worse...templates. The template edit system for VB is imho inferior to the Mybb system.

<?php
/*
Plugin YouTube BBCode
(c) 2006 by democracyforums.com Labrocca
Website: http://www.democracyforums.com
*/

$plugins->add_hook("parse_message", "youtube");

function youtube_info()
{
	return array(
		"name"			=> "YouTube BBCode",
		"description"	=> "Adds the tag () to your forums to insert YouTube videos into posts.",
		"website"		=> "http://www.democracyforums.com",
		"author"		=> "Jesse Labrocca",
		"authorsite"	=> "http://www.mybbcentral.com",
		"version"		=> "1.0",
		'guid'          => '411cb1e616ccd0cf41a82183e2e03e4e'
	);
}

function youtube_activate()
{
}

function youtube_deactivate()
{
}

function youtube($message)
{


 $message = preg_replace("#\[youtube\]http://(www\.)?youtube.com/watch\?v=([A-Za-z0-9\-\_]+)\[/youtube\]#i", "<object width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/$2\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/$2\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"></embed></object>", $message);

 $message = preg_replace("#\[yt\]http://(www\.)?youtube.com/watch\?v=([A-Za-z0-9\-\_]+)\[/yt\]#i", "<object width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/$2\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/$2\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"></embed></object>", $message);

	return $message;
}

?>

Code (markup):

 

that Points system plugin was excellent , in fact thats why i choosed MyBB
it had some gr8 features , tried VB's points system i feel its just bulky and takes up more space in the Manage Forums at the bottom

meaning it can be made anything as it was very simple to modify, even like other forum scripts not just VB

 

Thank you...do you have the lottery add-on for it yet? I am working on a bank system now. What annoyed me about the VB points system was it's incredible bulk. So many things I just didn't need or want. I prefer modular coding with small easy to edit and add parts. The larger any package becomes the more difficult it becomes to upgrade. Many coders don't keep that in mind.

There is an old adage for web design and coding...simple is better.

 

This whole war of forums and all. Looks like there are fanboys of MyBB and all.
Ne ways
I will consider following points to determine best forum -
1. Number of Installations - No one shud have a doubt that PHPBB is a clear winner
2. Number of users A board can handle - I have seen PHPBB 2/3 and have seen VB 3.x plus IPB. I think the ebst one to handle the large number of users is IPB. Clear winner. But when I see GIA and other top forums in the top forum list, it seems VB and PHPBB are doing Just fine. But with what I have experienced, the speed in IPB is the greatest.
3. Number of posta nd foum topics - Same as above points. I will give my vote to IPB
4. Easy to use - PHPBB for sure if you are a beginner. VB is good for Advance users. But if you wanna ask me, I will choose IPB as its fairly easy for both type of users.
5. Looks and over all ease of use for USERS - my vote goes to VB. its nice. Its clear. Its readable. Though PHPBB is something of a same but it lacks Ajax. So its a bit time consuming and resource hungry. IPB looks very beautiful. Also it looks rock solid when u see the first look of the forum. I am mentioning this point becuz the look of IPB gives a sense of Confidence of security and professionalism to the user. But VB does Okay. Looks wise(for default theme) its very pathetic and looks as if it was from an era of Black and White television. But onec you use it u start liking it.
6. Easy to Mod and all - PHPBB 3.x no doubt. I have a board which has like 67 Mods. And EasyMod for PHPBB takes care of every damn thing. IPB is also easy. Forget about VB. Its not that easy and u shud take this point blindly as the updates can really screw you. One thing I like about PHPBB is the way they release the DIFFerence patches for different types and version. They do a hard work in that
7. Features : VB. Not a word needed. IPB can compete but cannot win. forget pHPBB unless you mod it
8. Security : Its a vast topic and I am no one to judge about it. I guess IPB does a fairly good job.
9. Fun Element : VB. It has so much to add to its fun. It rocks
10. Easy to use for Users : VB with its true WYSIWYG editor, celarly makes life easier for everyone. IPB is also good, So I can tie them up.
11. Supprot : PHPBB. has a great community and is FREE. I love FREE professional and good things.
12 Last and not the least : The features which we really need : Are all present in VB. IPB lacks one or two. PHPBB has got nothing unless moded. But once Moded it is the best

Winner :
PHPBB if you want to save money. EasyMod can make your life easier givving you an extra minute of sleep daily
VB if you have Money and You want to have a good nice feature rich forum with a fun element added to it
IPB - If you have money(and you are ten$s short of VB's price) and you want a really nice looking Professional forum with the cutting edge technology which is fairly easy to use and modify with some great support.

What I have choosen : PHPBB 3.0 RC7 (And I regret it now) I got 2000 users and I cant upate it to RC8 as it is givine me an error. It sucks. so I will advice you to wait till it gets a gold tag. till then use a good moded version of PHPBB

 

I forgot to mention the world's biggest site runs on a forum based software named http://communityserver.org/
I Have heard so much of good about it that I am learning .NET to use it. People who use it say taht it really rocks. I have seen the speed. Its lightning.

 

Wrong. Look at DP & Sitepoint. Neither lags. If they lag its because of the servers.

vBulletin.

 

Yes but the myspace forums isn't the biggest forums on the net. Simply because myspace uses their solution doesn't really mean all that much. Myspace is not a forum based site...they are a social community with a forums. The reason it's like "lightening" is because it lacks a pile of common features in most forums.

Community Server is more of an Enterprise solution which is a miniscule percentage of internet communities.

http://get.communityserver.org/Enterprise.aspx

 

Exactly, and that's why Myspace has so much spam too. I've never downloaded the community server software, so I can't base my opinion on it.

 

i have seen vb and pho bb both lagging in speeds on average server and caching is a real issue on both of them. VB is good but no one beats IPB.

About the community server.. Its not a competitor but its certainly good. After using some of the ASP.NET based forum, I can tell you that these forums are faster then any PHP based stuff. So I decided to search for a ASP.NET forum and community server was the first in the list from google.

I have seen india-forums.com
Tremendous Speed. Tons of Features and tens of tons of users online daily. It really runs fast and is in the top ten entertainment boards.

 

Okay, why is it that most big-board IPB forums usually switch to vBulletin in the long run? I've seen it happen multiple times.