25 replies to this topic

[FirefoxRocks]

I am trying to decide which forum software I should install for my site. I need something free (obviously) and I need a good choice. I think phpBB works great but I am also interested in trying IceBB. Simple Machines Forum is time-consuming to configure and I don't like Invision Power Board (and that isn't free).

I have tried testing out the forums at OpenSourceCMS but there were way too many choices and the forums were just completely overwhelming to try them all out. Getting into Portals, Blogs and Image Galleries and you'll wonder if you will be able to try them all

Give me your opinion on what you use for a forum. If you don't host a forum, which one do you prefer to register at?

Please don't randomly vote Here is a Wikipedia page to inform your decision and you can try them out at OpenSourceCMS. I am also interested in looking towards other software than the ones listed above in the poll, please suggest!

[WeaponX]

I would have to go with Simple Machines Forum hands down. I have been using it for years now and absolutely love it. Too time consuming to configure? I don't know where you got that from. It couldn't be easier especially if you are using cPanel. cPanel has Simple Machines ready to be installed in Fantastico.

I would experiment with the ones you have and see which one suits you best. Nothing better than trying it out first hand.

[FirefoxRocks]

I didn't mean that it was hard to INSTALL, I meant there were too many options to configure for Simple Machines Forum.

I've now been introduced to OvBB also, but I don't like the theme of it although the admin configuration panel is well set-up. I still prefer the famous phpBB system because of the variety of MODs and themes available for it.

Then again, IceBB has a very extensible feature list and it is very similar to phpBB, so I am looking into that also.

I am looking for more opinions! Please vote and feel free to discuss!

[yordan]

I like PHPBB2, it's easy to install and easy to administrate. Of course, also have a look at PHPBB3, more security but also more things to configure.
I prefer the look and feel of PHPBB2. The IPB I find it less agreeable. And I hate most of the templates in SMF forums.
Of course, this is only my way of thinking.
May I suggest you to try your astahost account, in your cpanel there is an automatic install for phpbb2, look how fast it installs and how easy to use it is, and if you don't like it use your astahost's cpanel to simply remove it from your website.
Hope this helped
Yordan

[pyost]

I advise you to use Simple Machines Forum as it is one of the most secure free forums. People usually dismiss it because it's complicated (but isn't complicated also detailed, which is good?) and ugly (but you can make look the same as phpBB/IPB/vBulletin!) - those arguments aren't good at all. So what if phpBB has more mods? I am sure there is an equivalent for alsmost every one at the numerous SMF resource web sites; and if there isn't, you can always make on yourself, or have it made.

Now, to explain my choice a bit more. phpBB isn't even worth trying because of the bad security, unless it is phpBB Plus, which seems to be working fine. IceBB is still in beta, and that probably leaves it with even more security holes than phpBB (if that is even possible). On the other hand, it is very similar to Invision Power Board (which was the creator's intention), and since I find it to be one of the best forum's available, IceBB might not be such a bad choice.

As for the "Other" part, there's isn't much to say - when someone says "free forum", I tend to think about three pieces of software only: phpBB, SMF and YABB. People say YABB is rather good, but I haven't tried it myself, so can't say anything good (or bad) about it.

[WeaponX]

Simple Machines Forum has many configurations you can change, as with many other forums out there. But you don't even have to touch any of them if you like the way it's set up already. For most users who just want a forum setup, installing SMF using Fantistico will be enough. Any other configurations are minor if anything. If you don't like how it looks, you can always change the theme as mentioned earlier, which is also not a difficult task

YABBSE is actually a pretty good software. I started with YABBSE a few years back, but heard they upgraded it to Simple Machines Forum. I switched after that only to find out that there were still developers who were working on YABBSE. So basically they are still growing, but I'm already hooked on SMF, so no turning back

[ethergeek]

I've always liked phpbb...I started using it a long time ago (yes, I chose it over IPB even when IPB was free) and am still using it today. The user community for it is *huge* which means lots of support from the community, the codebase is (relatively) clean, so it's easy to write plugins for it, and the template system saves a lot of time when coding new plugins and editing skins.

[sparkx]

I use Mybb. It in my opinion is the best. I have used Icebb, phpbb, Invision free, SMF, Php-nuke, php evolution, Simple Machines Forum and many others. Sure mybb is reletivly new but it is great and it is free with promosing mods to come. I have even started making mods In which I will add to the database. It is secure unlike phpbb. If not Mybb I would go with Simple Machines as it is the next best thing. It really depends however if you plan to mod the forum yourself, keep it the same or get pre-modded things. You could try and make your own forum with software. I have heard there are tutorials to making a simple one with Fireworks and other programs like that.
Hope this helps;
Sparkx

[SilverFox]

I don't like phpbb because its too simple and basic for the admin. I like what InvisionFree Forums used but it was really easy to hack.

I've started using SMF and I like certain features of it, I just wish it had the permissions abilites that Ivisionfree had or as easily configured. yabBB I don't like. Vbulletin is good but costs money. Shitnz is secure but its user interface and admin cP is horrible.

I'd say I am learning to like SMF, it isn't hard to install. Ivisionfree is my favorite because I know it so very well but its not secure for what I host forums for.

[FirefoxRocks]

Thanks for the suggestions. Keep 'em coming!
So now I have to choose between:

1. phpBB
2. Simple Machines Forum (not likely I will chose this one)
3. IceBB
4. MyBB (NOT - see below)
5. OvBB

I'm saying no for MyBB because of this "latest news":

Latest News
The MyBB Group & Microsoft Corporation Partnership
Posted on April 1 2007 @ 2:41 am (GMT) by Chris Boulton

SYDNEY, Australia, April 1, 2007 - Today the MyBB Group are proud to announce a strategic partnership between the MyBB Group and the Redmond based Microsoft Corporation.

The MyBB Group are proud to have formed an alliance with Microsoft as this can guarantee the future availability of MyBB with quick and further optimized releases backed from a company with strong roots in the area of software development.

With this partnership MyBB will be transformed in to an ASP.NET web application powered by the MSSQL database server. ASP.NET is a world class web development language used behind some of the webs biggest sites and coupled with MSSQL it is an enterprise-class software development platform. (This will replace the PHP and MySQL editions of MyBB)

The new requirements to run MyBB will be a Microsoft Windows Server operating system with Internet Information Services.

There isn't ASP.NET support nor MSSQL with Microsoft Windows with Astahost. Also take a look at the screenshot! (http://www.mybboard....s/admin-mmc.png). It is integrated directly into the server of Windows Vista (I think) and makes it no way for remote configuration of the forum! Bad idea.

You also need to buy MyBB to get "additional" features. The Lite version (free) includes almost nothing substantial to be a forum.

OvBB, I'm not too sure about. It looks...weird. It doesn't look like it has much support and a good community of users to discuss and talk about the open-source software.

Final choices are either IceBB or phpBB. I don't think Simple Machines Forum would be a good choice for me.

They are all easy to install. I don't like using Fantastico to install anything because it messed up a MySQL database the first time I tried installing Drupal. Actually uploading and installing the files is much easier. All 3 of these are equally easy to install. SMF has more options to configure. phpBB is most user-friendly and very good appearance. IceBB is also very user-friendly and has excellent appearance.

[WeaponX]

Why don't you like Simple Machines Forum? Just curious because if you test it out more, I'm sure you will find that it's pretty easy to configure the settings to your liking.

If you still would like to go with the other forums instead, it's probably a good choice to wait for phpBB 3 stable release to come out.

[turbopowerdmaxsteel]

I have tried my hands on a few forum systems, namely - phpBB, VB, IPB & SMF. The new IPB rules the list, while phpBB is the best of the free ones.

Being Open Source and backed by a huge community, the possibilities with phpBB are endless. While the Gold version of phpBB2 lacks quite a few necessary features, most notably - Subforums and Attachments, you could be rest assured that there is a MOD available for every such feature. The upcoming version 3 of phpBB - Olympus will include most of the lacking features. Although, it has been stated that not all of the features will be included. After all, they are not trying to mimic other systems.

Olympus focuses on improved modularity. While the MODing of phpBB2 is pretty powerful, it does involve significantly high amount of complexity. Traditionally, MODs were installed manually rendering the process extremely time consuming. However, with the introduction of EasyMOD, the inconveniance was greatly reduced. Huge MODs such as Subforum and Attachments leads to growing chance of collision between existing MODs. Olympus aims at resolving this issue by implementing a better modular approach. Coding styles have been altered and it is being said that none of the phpBB2 MODs will work with Olympus. This will hinder the initial spread of Olympus. As the developers start to chip in and start MODing it, Olympus will surely improve on the reputation, some amount of which was lost when the Santy worm which exploited old phpBB installations came to the surface. The worm exploited the security hole by overwriting PHP and HTML pages. Olympus is also aimed at minimizing such vulnerablities.

Other features include, the debuting AJAX @ phpBB. However, the extent of AJAX usage will be limited and it is hinted that AJAX support will not be used for quick replies, perhaps due to security concerns. Adding Custom BBCode was quite difficult as the users had to rely on MODing. With Olympus such custom BBCodes can be added through the admin panel itself, much like what IPB allows. Users can now send Private messages to multiple recipients. Jabber support will allow notification via Instant Messaging. From what I saw of phpBB3 Beta 5, the installation has become much more user-friendly. The control panel seems better organized and the number of settings have increased.

For a wider list of introductory features in phpBB3, check out http://www.freakitud...-new-in-phpbb3/

All in all, if you are looking for a free discussion board for your site, there's nothing better than phpBB.

[LeafH]

I like phpBB, it's very easy to install for beginners.
Because too many resource and lessons for phpbb you can read on the internet.
Also, there are many free beautiful theme that you can find in the websites. it is not difficult to design by yourself,either.
From install - set up to change beautiful theme, it won't take you long to have your first Forum System.

[Jhin]

My Favourite is IPB. I know that there are really expensive, but I think is the best. It has a lot of mods a really useful Admin ACP, and a lot of features to play with.

The most interesant mods I've found for IPB 2.2.x (The newest IPB version) are

* Arcade
* Ibwiki
* Casino
* Ibprobattle (adds new tons of features that lets the users attack others users)
* Custom Pages

You can find all this mods in Invisionize.com

Regards, Jhin

[Dalv87]

I don't use forums a lot, but I see phpBB a lot so I'm a little biased since I'm more used to it I guess. If no one's said it yet and you don't need anything complex, maybe think about Automattic's BBPress ( http://bbpress.org/ ). I don't know much about it since I'm not a forum owner, but they use it at the wordpress support forums and it seems to be a good choice if you don't need anything beyond what it offers, since others might be kind of bloated. A lot of it would depend on what you need the forum for, what features you need, whether you want it integrated with the rest of your site in some way, if it your whole site, and so on.

[Unregistered 011]

Although it's not very popular, I would chose the Simple Machines Forum, there are some many things, that are included, that you would have to just add on for other forums. But I would say that phpbb is easier to install, but the simple machine forum is so worth the trouble of installing.

[Soto]

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.

[diyar]

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

[Jewbacca]

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)

[wanggang]

I like PunBB. fast and lightweight