Hi guys,

 

I'm in the process of setting up a forum (nothing to compete with this Ben ) and I was looking for forum software.

 

I've used vB from an admin point of view, but nothing from a coding/set up POV. Only on an established forum.

 

This forum runs on Invision and from a user's POV, there are things I like/dislike about it compared to the vB forums I use. But I know nothing about the back end of Invision.

 

However, from those who are more familiar with the backend stuff like setting it up and doing the bits behind the scenes, do you have any preferance for software?

 

Cheers

Hi,

 

A few more pointers if it helps on features that are more/less important to me

 

1) custom smilies, for explaining the subject itself

2) SEO (although this is probably #1 in importance) because...

3) "Article" ability. I know I can just use standard posts, but I can see a scope for articles to kick off a discussion, so SEO urls where I can submit them would be great.

4) moderation - I expect it'll get spammed, so what's the most secure forum?

5) Private forums - the ease of implementation of these, although this isn't stunningly important.

 

Cheers

Well, i think phpBB is still one of the best. Especially phpBB 2. I've used vB and XMB and even one forum system based on the text files But still I'd give my vote to phpbb

PHPBB has always been my favorite, though I haven't used it since I've been working in SEO so I don't actually know if its any good in that respect

Well, i think phpBB is still one of the best. Especially phpBB 2. I've used vB and XMB and even one forum system based on the text files But still I'd give my vote to phpbb

phpBB 3 is out now, which I must say looks very nice.

phpbb3 is far superior to phpbb2, both in terms of layout, structure and spam protection... it is my favourite forum system.

phpBB 3 is out now, which I must say looks very nice.

I've used only the user interface not admin interface so i don't know what to say about admin side. But user interface was a little complicated i think. Didn't find some functions. But well, I'm not quite a person to pick on it, because i didn't have much time to get familiar with it.

Anyway, it's pretty a sure that I'm going to update my board from phpBB 2 to phpBB 3. I hope that mysql tables are the same, because I've updated my board quite a lot with custom made modifications.

Hi,

 

A few more pointers if it helps on features that are more/less important to me

 

1) custom smilies, for explaining the subject itself

2) SEO (although this is probably #1 in importance) because...

3) "Article" ability. I know I can just use standard posts, but I can see a scope for articles to kick off a discussion, so SEO urls where I can submit them would be great.

4) moderation - I expect it'll get spammed, so what's the most secure forum?

5) Private forums - the ease of implementation of these, although this isn't stunningly important.

 

Cheers

 

Hey Dusty,

 

Very good question, phpBB3 is fantastic as it's feature rich and free, trouble is it is Open-Source, so you will find it tends to be easier to find exploits, so you may be patching more regular than a commercial product.

 

This forum as i'm sure your aware is IPB (Invision Power Board) - and the latest version has a fantastic administration back-end, I much prefer to it VB. VB is releasing it's new version of software this week, and there's some excellent features some of which are already incorporated in IPB, such as the user profiles area (which is one of my fav's).

 

Now what I love more about VB than IPB is that it has a absolutely fantastic add-on product called VBSEO, which really does help with SEO and also creates a sitemap for your forum, I couldn't recommend it enough. The SEO products that are available for IPB either slow the forum down or are very buggy. So if your looking to improve your ranking within the SERP (Search engine results page), then VB is the way to go, especially with the new features.

 

It really depends on what you want, best bet is to obtain a demo from the products websites, have a play and see what fits you best, personally I love IPB, but that's just my preference.

 

One of the Car Forums I frequent uses PHPBB2 and was recently hacked (and not for the first time )

 

A google search of the hacker's name revealed that he had hacked 1000's of PHPBB2 forums at the same time.

 

Apparently the Car Forum was 12 issues behind the latest PHPBB2 version, so security patches are frequently added. PHPBB3 is supposed to be more secure?

This site might help you

http://www.opensourcecms.com/

 

they have a forum section and you can log into all the different free forums as the admin so you can see what the backend is like.

I recomend Vanilla. its overly styleable. and secure and not to mention light on its feet. i will actually be doing some vanilla skins soon.

Hi there just thought i would put my two pennies worth in.

 

I would personally say phpbb3 is the top forum software out at the moment, yes phpbb2 will be hacked it is unsecure in this day and age and phpbb3 has vastly improved.

 

Yes opensource as it has been said above may be open to exploite but in this day and age you can not avoid spam etc no mater what you do.

 

I work with phpbb3 on a daily basis as i host free phpbb3 forums and i would highly recommend it to anyone.

 

Thanks guys,

 

I've installed phpBB on a test site and I like it, might have legs there. Only thing I worry about is that I know squat about it. At least with vB I'm already well versed in it.

 

So as soon as 3.7 goes gold, I'm getting vB for this project, while I test out phpBB on a test basis and learn the ropes there.

For what its worth, when I first took over a forum and converted it to phpbb I knew nothing about the script, I just knew that I preferred it from a user point of view. Within 2 days I'd completely customised the forum look/feel, mod'ed it, etc. I hope that inspires you with confidence

Thanks for all your help. I've been playing with phpBB and it certainly looks good, I am just wary as I've been looking after a vB forum for so long now (18K users, 750,000 posts) that it's familiar, so I plumped for it.

 

I've now got it live and next step is a custom style!

 

 

D

PHPBB3 is the best free forum script you will get

 

vBulletin is abviously excellent but pricey

 

MyBB and SMF are also good but arent much customizable and lack some essential features

 

Just try it out on this host : create forum

Im currently using phpBB2, im pretty new to php and databases but im finding it very easy to install and customise.

One of the Car Forums I frequent uses PHPBB2 and was recently hacked (and not for the first time )

 

A google search of the hacker's name revealed that he had hacked 1000's of PHPBB2 forums at the same time.

 

Apparently the Car Forum was 12 issues behind the latest PHPBB2 version, so security patches are frequently added. PHPBB3 is supposed to be more secure?

 

Yes. PHPBB3 is more secure. I would highly recommend updating.

 

I run a forum with PHPBB3, and the admin panel is easy to use.

Dizi, do you know where I can try out an IP.Board without having to pay?