Which Forum Software? Vbulletin, PHPBB, Simple Machines Forum or some other script

Vbulletin - you gotta pay for it, but its worth it

 

Thanks Dan for the answer on if SMF was SEF. In your (or anyone's) opinion, "out of the box", between SMF or PunBB, which would you choose? Looking at SEF only, not features.

And, I need a forum that will display Adsense along with being SEF. Please don't say vBulletin. I already know it's the best forum script, but I need free...

 

I prefer Invision although vbulleton isnt bad either.

phpBB is terrible if your site ever gets traffic, it does way to many SQL queries per page...but the upside it is free.

I think my favorite free forum software is Simple Machines.

 

SMF hands down. As I said, it keeps the HTML separate from the programming logic. You can have multiple themes running (with their own HTML and CSS, among other things, like AdSense blocks) and never have to touch the underlying programming logic that makes the forum run.

 

I agree, Vbulletin is the best and I have had great success using it as its rather easy to customize!

 

Folks, I don't know why people are mentioning vBulletin? I said free forum scripts. Also, I don't know why (if SMF is so SEF) I put in quotes a sentence snippit from various random SMF forums to Google, and Google comes up with nothing. That I don't understand if its so SEF.

 

Dude Vb is well worth the money! SMF and phpbb just wont cut it for a good forum. Trust me I used to code for all of them, now its only for VB coz the other ones are only SO SO.

 

vBulletin is the best

uhh, the TITLE of the thread

 

Teh vB from me

 

Because SMF is still relatively new, and is not as popular as vBulletin and phpBB are (due to their longevity), despite phpBB being an utter piece of junk.

As I've said though, SMF is VERY search engine friendly, and it's easy to modify (definately a lot easier than most other forum scripts).

 

What in the hell are you talking about? SMF can and will cut it for a good forum. You were probably exposed to an early pre-1.0 version or something.

And besides, the rest of your post is pure opinion. While opinion is nice and all, the OP is looking for facts.

 

Amen to that...

and, looks like SMF it is for me!

 

Dan, everyone has their own opinion, if SMF was truly that good and this goes for phpbb as well. They would sell it like Vbulletin. VB Is the best, and always will be!

Invision is not to bad either.

 

vB is definitely the way to go. Not only is the most functional and most widely supported, but most people are just used to it. I also find that I have a lot more respect for a forum when you know it already spent over $100 for software.

Even so, I use SMF, because I wanted to start free, but then one day I made myself a theme from scratch (which, in my opinion, is quite good), so I'm in no rush to switch.

Oh yeah, just one of my pet peeves, I absolutely hate phpbb (at least version two, have seen much of phpbb3). It (again, in my opinion) looks horrible with 99% of themes and is very annoying for anyone used to vB, SMF, or MyBB.

 

Look at DP, it uses Vbulletin, they dont use it coz they can, they use it coz its the best! All the best forums use it, bottom line spend the small fee its worth it!

 

is it vBulletin or the way they've set it up here that you can't tell a new post has been added while you're typing yours?? It drives me nuts here. You find out only after you've sent your post along.

 

Lol, well all forum systems are like that unless they update every 5 seconds, which vbulletin can do. No one enables it though as it is hard on bandwidth.

 

I have to disagree with this wholesale (save for the everyone has their own opinion part). You don't have to sell something just to make it "better" - some people literally GIVE stuff away for free that's so good it makes their commercial counterparts look like steaming piles of crap. Others give away free stuff that's just as good as their commercial counterparts - SMF is a perfectly good example of this.

What vBulletin has over SMF right now is market penetration due exclusively to being the de facto standard since it's been around longer which has given people more time to recommend it. The same thing with phpBB (despite being a steaming pile of crap). It's been around for years, people know about it (unfortunately most know just enough about it to say "it's free - use it") and are quick to recommend it. Doesn't mean it's the best either.

SMF is a newcomer yes, but it's got a very quick start. Not only is it used on small personal communities, but is also used by large corporations and mid-sized companies as well. Word IS getting out about it, and people ARE willing to give it a try. It's also a quickly moving target as well, constantly being updated and revised as it grows to make it the best product it can possibly be.

And like I said, not everything is done for money.

Oh, and your part about vBulletin being the best and that it will always be the best is just your own personal opinion.

 

Alright Dan, I don't need to fight with you. I gave my opinion and I hope you respect it along with your own.

But as I said I have experience with all the major ones, and for a forum owner VB is the best IMO. I also really like the admin panel over the others. Has a lot more control out of the box then either SMF or PHPBB. PHPBB doesn't even have attachments by default. Which IMO is pretty lame!

BUT AGAIN

Its all just my opinion so feel free to ignore me. It wont hurt my feelings

 

You know it is time and time again doing research on what ever and I find myself somewhere within the Digital Point Forum. I have been researching this topic for about an hour. Now I am done (and sleepy)
Thanks guys, I am going to install SMF onto my new forum in the AM....Done!

Cheers!

Jeromy