Alright, I've been looking into Free Forum Platforms, people have recommended Simple Machine Forum to me as the best free forum. However, in the opinion of your own, what do you guys think is the safest (least exploitable) Forum type. In the past I have used PHBB but my site didn't have near enough traffic to become a Target (to get hacked into), but assuming my next site actually will get some traffic what would be the safest option?

Well I would recommend either SMF, which I see others have already recommended to you, but the options panel can be quite overwhelming when trying to set it up. It isn't too complicated if you are up to the challenge. Personally, I would use phpBB3, because of it's ease of use, appearance and popularity, as well as its wide range of community members which can provide support and addons to the forum.

You can see more forums here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of...tware_%28PHP%29
You can test out forums and other content management systems here: http://opensourcecms.com/

My site runs phpBB version 2 but that is mostly because 2 was the current release when I set it up and I don’t feel like going through the hassle of updating it to version 3. Over the years I have had problems with SPAM but no recognizable hacking. To combat the SPAM I implemented CAPTCHAs at signup and only members can post. I also added a few other scripts that do not allow the Guest account to post and a modified signup page. On the hacking side I make sure to keep the release updated.

I don’t think it matters which package you pick from a security stand point as long as you keep it updated. All of the popular packages are written in PHP and operate basically the same. phpBB, SMF, and others have high value targets running the respective packages and are under attack all the time. When a vulnerability is found a patch is issued and the world is a happy place again. Just remember patches are usually not feature upgrades but security fixes so apply them as soon as you know about them.

Try AEF Forum software from http://anelectron.com.

And the most recent version of phpbb2 is version .23, I believe, so you are one patch behind.
The phpbb3 Upgrade will convert a .22 to phpbb3, not requiring the upgrade to version .23, AFAIK.

I was in the same boat as you. Rather than do the upgrades, etc, i simply converted to AEF 1.06.