Best forum system?

[RyanJ]

What do you think if the best forum system and why?

 

I think that SMF is good and phpBB too... hate VB and IPB beause they are paid systems.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Dak]

From a users point of view, i dont really see that much difference between most of them, tbh. except ipb, which i really dislike, from both a user and mod pov (tho i cant put my finger on why... somehthing about it just sucks).

 

VB and phpBB are the ones i like using most as a user.

[MulderMan]

I'd go for phpBB. I have never much liked SMF, mainly because of the liscense and lack of expandability. phpBB has got a large community and a large selection of mods + templates available.

[RyanJ]

I'd go for phpBB. I have never much liked SMF, mainly because of the liscense and lack of expandability.

 

I'm not shureabout the lack of extendability, adding things is very easy but it does require you to learn how the system works and thats quite complex

 

I hate VB for one reason - it has plenty of features yes but it is horribly coded. It defines functions for everything, even functions for existing PHP functions!

 

Ir ecently came upon this: http://www.k4bb.org/

 

Looks quite interesting but I'm still looking forward to the new phpBB version. Looks much nicer.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[MulderMan]

I've never heard of that k4, it looks quite interesting, I'll have to test it out sometime.

 

I'm not shureabout the lack of extendability, adding things is very easy but it does require you to learn how the system works and thats quite complex

 

That probably falls under my definition of lack of expandability!

 

As for VB, I've never really liked it beacuse its pay software and not open source. There is quite alot of advanced features, but I think its only practical for large communities.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what type of community are you thinking of implementing, if any?

[RyanJ]

That probably falls under my definition of lack of expandability!

 

I don't think so' date=' let me give you an example:

 

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=73222.0

 

Just wiht that I added a section to th ACP that updaes, displays and what have you. Try that and you'd haveto go into manual DB editing.

 

 

As for VB, I've never really liked it beacuse its pay software and not open source. There is quite alot of advanced features, but I think its only practical for large communities.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what type of community are you thinking of implementing, if any?

 

Not much of one, I have already installed SMF atleast untill the new phpBB is done.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[alt_f13]

k4bb looks awesome! had I seen that a couple weeks ago I might have used it.

 

I'm using Quicksilverforums - http://www.quicksilverforums.com/ - , based on mercury forums. It's pretty good, though not as good as vB.

 

Mine looks way better than their actual site though. - http://www.musictutorials.net

[Dream Master]

What about Web Wiz Forum. It's an asp forum with very good security. There are loads of functions in it; it's probably got as much functions as this vbulletin forum software.

[RyanJ]

What about Web Wiz Forum. It's an asp forum with very good security. There are loads of functions in it; it's probably got as much functions as this vbulletin forum software.

 

ASP is bad because not many servers use it, Microcrap servers only.

 

PHP is generally the best optionfor a forum because its generlly used on all server systems

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[herpguy]

I like phpbb the most.

[Dave]

I have to say that I'm a little biased, but I do love vB. It's got a huge community, mods are easily accessible and the feature set is superb. Obviously, the downside is that you have to pay money for it.

 

Frankly, phpBB (and pretty much every board software) has a long way to come before it can stand up to vB. Hopefully the advent of version 3.0, which has been a very long time coming, will shorten this distance somewhat.

 

I hate VB for one reason - it has plenty of features yes but it is horribly coded. It defines functions for everything, even functions for existing PHP functions!

 

That's not such a bad thing. The simple reason for implenting some in-built PHP functions manually is that a lot of the more interesting functions were only added after about PHP 4.3. There are an awful lot of sites out there which are still only running 4.1, and so to maximize their consumer base they've included their own versions of some of the newer, inbuilt functions.

 

Personally I don't think the standard of coding in vB is bad at all. Versions 3.0 onwards are very fast considering the amount of work that they have to do in grabbing templates from the DB.

 

ASP is bad because not many servers use it, Microcrap servers only.

 

I agree with you on the first bit, but you can get ASP scripts working on Apache servers using something like Apache::ASP.

[5614]

From a user point of view (ie. cost aside) I personally prefer vB.

[RyanJ]

I have to say that I'm a little biased' date=' but I do love vB. It's got a huge community, mods are easily accessible and the feature set is superb. Obviously, the downside is that you have to pay money for it.

 

Frankly, phpBB (and pretty much every board software) has a long way to come before it can stand up to vB. Hopefully the advent of version 3.0, which has been a very long time coming, will shorten this distance somewhat.

[/quote']

 

You have my agreement there.

 

That's not such a bad thing. The simple reason for implenting some in-built PHP functions manually is that a lot of the more interesting functions were only added after about PHP 4.3. There are an awful lot of sites out there which are still only running 4.1' date=' and so to maximize their consumer base they've included their own versions of some of the newer, inbuilt functions.

 

Personally I don't think the standard of coding in vB is bad at all. Versions 3.0 onwards are very fast considering the amount of work that they have to do in grabbing templates from the DB.

[/quote']

 

I still feel its un-nessisry. Defining iif? I ask you

 

I agree with you on the first bit' date=' but you can get ASP scripts working on Apache servers using something like Apache::ASP.

 

Brilliant, thats all we need ASP for Linux :S

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Dave]

I believe iif was removed in 3.5, although I could be wrong.

[RyanJ]

I believe iif was removed in 3.5, although I could be wrong.

 

Na, its still there.

 

V3.5.4

 

File: /upload/includes/functions.php

 

Lines: 51-66

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Plouplou]

phpBB is user-friendly, which counts most in a retired-expat community. People are used to it, can handle it easily. Apart from that, there are upgrades available which include more features by the time. phpBB3 for example seems to have just about all features. phpBB2 can be upgraded to it, when it is finally released. Members can get used to it slowly, no need to use all new features. It will not be completely different software.

 

New forums have the problem of attracting new members, if they use software not common to their target group. Building up your forum first with quality content does not depend upon the features but more upon people being familiar with the software.

 

Spam-robots are certainly a problem. The visual confirmation check is about useless, hopefully improved at phpBB3. But at MyBB it does not only keep Spam-robots away but also people who give up after a few unsuccessful attempts.

 

If you haven't got much time, and want to see what the new phpbb3 can offer, just try it out on this host : create forum

 

Hope this can help!

[Entaro]

In my opinion, phpBB is the best forum software. It's easy, full featured, very customizable, and very popular.

Demo : Bampf! Link Deleticated!

Edited April 16, 2009 by Dak
adverspam

[chitrangda]

I prefer phpBB as it is user-friendly.