Web Bulletin Board Software

[maniac]

This is for a personal project, not related to work.

 

Basically the question is which web based forum software would people recommend using at the moment? Are products like PHPbb good enough for most forums, or is it worth paying for a product like VBulletin? What are the advantages and dis-advantages of each option? Is there other forum software worth considering; wikipedia has a whole load of them listed, a lot of which I hadn't heard of before!

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

Mike.

[john]

I personally like VB, its a great tool and not badly priced TBH, and plenty of free add-ons and plug-ins written by the community so its a good product.

[EeEk]

I use Simple Machines Forum

 

Its free. Has loads of support sites and a fantastic arcade mod made by me my site

 

If I had money to burn and had to by one it probably would be Invision Power Board.

[Lithium]

phpBB is the board I've always been most at home with.

I never came across the urge to convert to an IPB or vB based board and have always been unhappy using them, I find them ugly and sluggish... (there is no real alternative to edugeek), but that's just me...

 

I've no had qualms with phpBB and there are some real handy dandy mods out there for the board

[localzuk]

Another vote for phpBB here. Easy to mod for too.

[Geoff]

phpBB for small projects/personal stuff/etc

vb for when a site needs it. high traffic/features/etc.

[Diello]

Agreed - phpBB for small forums.

 

If you want someone more meaty, go for Invision Power Board, beautiful peace of software. vBulletin is good as well. vB has the better end-user experience, IPB the better performance. (Based on my own experiences, not a set benchmark!).

[mattmoo]

Vbulletin vote

 

Loads of features and by far the best IMO

[Friez]

phpBB has my vote!

[FN-GM]

I use Simple Machines Forum

 

Its free. Has loads of support sites and a fantastic arcade mod made by me my site

 

If I had money to burn and had to by one it probably would be Invision Power Board.

 

I also use this but host it myself.

[Marci]

If it's a forum open to public, with high volumes, and high attraction to spammers n' script kiddies, then I'd ONLY use vBulletin or InvisionBoard - I've used phpBB and it was far too insecure and easy to exploit in comparison to the commercial offerings. Things may have changed, but I'm still of the opinion that when it comes to forums, pay-for is better than free solutions.

[DarkLight]

vBulletin if the project you are working on is commercial, has financial backing or the desire is to show potential clients or visitors that your project is "professional."

 

If the project is personal, no financial backing and the appearance doesn't matter, phpBB will do fine.

[TheFopp]

I'll put a vote in for YaBB. I've used it on several sites without problem.