Hi all what free forum script is best these days i havent used one for years Last i used was phpbb regards karl
I think it is still phpbb. Phpbb3 seemed to have shake off the vulnerable image of its predecessor. I have been using it and it works great! Another one would be SMF though I would prefer the former given the sheer number of mods that are available.
I'd argue for phorum - simple, clean, easy, and generally not targeted by the spammers. phpbb does have a wider community but I've found it hard to use. It depends on what you're looking for. phpBB has the largest number of plugins and such, I suspect.
PHPBB3 is definitely easy to use, PHPBB2 not so much. So I think your getting your versions mixed up.
i agree phpbb has alot of plugin. im using both SMF and phpbb now.. but my phpbb still version 2, i haven't upgrade it yet. Both are ok for free usage. as for SMF i used both SMF+Tinyportal.
Go with PHPBB. When you get tired of getting hacked move over to SMF. This will make you appreciate a quality forum a little more. SMF has a lot of modifications that can be installed, you can edit the templates and style sheets from inside the admin control panel, and new themes are easy to install. Some feature of the admin control panel are lacking, such as easily arranging forums in certain orders. You can do it, but its a little awkward. If you want a CMS to go with that forum, look into mkportal. It will integrate seamlessly in with SMF. Personally, VBulletin is my favorite forum software, but you asked for free solutions.
My personal suggestion, don't necessarily compare forum software by price. These will by rule establish a high interaction level with the visitor. This can be easily exploited if an insecure system is used. So, I'd recommend setting different priorities when voting for the "right" forum for your business. On the unfortunate day your website gets defaced because of a whong software choice, you'll feel my words. Do extended research, watch them all in action, read reviews, then go ahead and pay the price if a commercial forum is the winner.
From my experiences previously Yabb seemed to be quite a terrible resource hogger, not sure if it has improved, but really not very good experiences with it. Yabb was even banned by a former web hosting company I was using.
phpbb is the only one that uses table less css - that's your answer right there. If you want your pages properly and thoroughly indexed, css is the way to go. Also, take a look at Bog Boards list and see for yourself what the largest, most popular boards use. I don't think there's any doubt phpbb takes the cup.
i think SMF is the best forum site.... coz we can get lots of modifications & themes.... u can modify ur forum as u like...