Still really dislike phpbb. For several reasons... Inline moderation, Ajax Features, Quick Edit, Quick Reply, and a package manager. Imho phpbb is falling terribly behind in competition.
Also - You should consider which free forum software provides the best SEO... I do not know the answer, maybe someone else does though. -pk
If your running a small site as you stated disregard any paid forum software. I mean if it's not going to be huge, why pay anything at all!? Anyways to meet your specifications... Easy to use for members and me. - phpbb Easy to moderate. - phpbb Not take too much time to mod. - vbulletin Have a great numbers of mods and skins. - phpbb Good support. -IPB Free. If can. -Phpbb Without a doubt phpbb is the way to go, from my experience.
What do you mean by post tracking? Is it the same like email notification feature or somewhatelse similar? I think SMF's mod much more than phpBB (I compare this from phpbb.com and simplemachines.org) Of course. Technical supports are paid and it's their job. OK, I've taken MyBB for the community for now, maybe I'll switch to SMF if 2.0 reached stable release. Now, I got another forum to do. I have an internet riddle site, and it needs a forum to discuss levels, comments to the game, and sort of stuffs (no chatting, just discuss the game). What kind of forum is great? I think SMF or MyBB are too featured for this. (No, I am not taking phpBB)
Can't answer on phpbb's part. But my SEO has been great with SMF. I was recently a PR5 until I changed domains. With SMF you can view new replies to your posts, unread posts per forum, ect. And once you read a topic it actually gets marked as read. Its much easier for you and your members. I would have to disagree. I have heard some nightmares about IPB support. Even though support techs are paid. Best of luck with your forum.
Have to agree with Shadow here ... SMF + Tinyportal + Bloc paid skin ... there is no better combo in the free forum world ... Get SMF (I agree that the default skin is ugly but that's easy to overcome) then install Tinyportal ... Now take 2-3 days and go through the Admin panel and study various options ... Then go to tinyportal.net and find some free/paid themes ... They are written by this guy called "bloc" who's a part of the SMF official support and is also great at writing themes ... If you ever run into any issues, bloc is your guy ... Try it, you won't be sorry ...
For your notice Phpbb is not a one man army The websites you can use to fins mods are huge. Phpbb is just like the mother ship. I would say if you know somehitng about software and not a total noob you can use phpbb.All you have to do is use the MODX files to read the install directions. Manual install is always the best option Some of the other sites that you can use http://phpbbchina.com http://phpbb3bbcodes.com http://damysterious.xs4all.nl/ http://modphpbb3.com http://startrekguide.com http://www.phpbb-spain.org/ these are very good for making customisations to your Phpbb, there are tons of MODS out there you have to look for it. If you are lazy then I dont advise phpbb
Well I am lazy, so I do not use phpBB. Using MyBB now because of my laziness, but going to migrate to SMF 2 after it is released. Thanks for the help guys.