Replying to Preferred Forum System

I have used both in setting up forums for other people in the past and I'm still unsure as to which one to use for my own site which I will set up soon.
phpBB looks better and has better mods than SMF. SMF looks not as nice although it can be configured and is a little more complicated to install.
I think phpBB is more user friendly than SMF. As for security i think SMF is superior.
Both have their positives and negatives.
Difficult choice.

I'll go into further detail later, but right now SMF, because of the packages system, but there are other reasons.

Well i was once a Invision Free man, but then i switched to PHPBB3 and it was great but as I went along and used it, some features weren't the best they could be.

I then tried some other ones and found SMF (Simple Machines Forum) to be the best, loved how simple it was. Also if you get it right it can be really good to look at.

But now I have my own website and my website partner bought vBulletin and it was easily the best, very easy to edit skins with and to control. Heaps and heaps of good extensions.

But as far as a free forum goes i would definitely go SMF.

Replying to Laurence

My personal favorite free forum script is phpBB, but you'll need to have mySQL on your server to run it, and if you're not familiar with the database structure of your server, you'll want to have a MySQL administration console... It makes it a lot easier to manage your databases (free as well, but your webhost may charge for that service).

-reply by Typlu

I think I will stick with phpBB, I preferred phpBB2 over phpBB3 but for the sake of security and compatibility, I'll use phpBB3.
The problem now is that I've lost most of my users.

MyBB for the win.

I think it's the most powerful forum system that's free.

It's sort of a combination of vBulletin and IPB.

http://www.mybboard.net/

I like PunBB. fast and lightweight

I really like Simple Machines. . . It really is simple enough to install, has enough features preinstalled for you to run a basic community, and has a handy automatic mod installer if you're not too confident editing the source code to add your own mods (I know a couple of people who have found that exceptionally useful when they were trying to build up their own community. . . unfortunately it didn't work out, but that's another story ). . . and best of all, it's totally free.

IPB is great and all but many of its features are frankly unnecessary, and its targetted by hackers far too much for my liking (although in fairness to Invision Power Services, 2.2.x and upwards are significantly more secure than 2.1.x and below)

Personally, I think that MyBB is the best forum system.

It has many features, mods, themes, and its FREE!!! Its got most of the other systems got! And it hasnt got a security issue like phpbb!!!

Really nice, free reliable forum system!

I am using this system, and would recommend everyone to use this!!!

Thanks

I myself prefer vBulletin. I have not used it myself but plan on using it. I've seen it on a lot of sites and i beleive it to be a very easy and simple forum system to use. Im not an expert like many of you most likely are, i dont know if any of you have any experience with vBulletin but i could use some opinion on it before i go off buying it just to find out that i dont like it.