The Forum Debate

[Koroku]

Wayyyyyy back when, like a year ago, I made a thread like this at PC. We all had very different opinions.

So let's take a moment to bring back the debate and figure out the best forum software!

Last time, I think I said SMF or myBB. I hate them both now. The SMF admin panel is craptacular, especially that stupid General Config page. Soooooo many options ! And myBB... it's just so buggy, it's not even funny.

My current favorite is actually IceBB. The admin panel may be funky, but it's still pretty cool. And the immense amount of work it requires makes it perfect to keep n00b webmaster's from using it <3


Soooo... where're you standing now? ^^;

 

[MondoTR]

I like vB the best but I've only been admin on proboards, invisionfree, and myBB forums and out of those I like the last two more.

 

[Koroku]

vB is pretty nice, but it's so expensive. But it's better than IPB 2.0 and that's for sure :X

 

[MondoTR]

It'd be awesome if vB was free cause that one seems to be the best, at least from what I've seen.

 

[Koroku]

The admincp is godlike.

 

[MondoTR]

I've only been smod and mod on vB so I wouldn't know. Heh.

 

[Eevee]

I don't really like any current popular forum implementations. right now I'm in the middle of writing my own.

 

[Morkula]

For me, vBulletin is, hands down, the best forum script on the market right now. As for free options, I personally like SMF, then myBB second. I think that myBB will be better than SMF when it hits Gold, but the development is so slow and right now it's really buggy. =/

And Greg, I agree with your "General Config" opinion about SMF. They need to be separated better. x.x

Another software I'm watching is phpBB. 3.0 is looking really good so far. ^^
And I wouldn't pay a cent for IPB. -_-

 

[smog]

I don't really like any current popular forum implementations. right now I'm in the middle of writing my own.

Yeah, most free implementations suck big time, so I'm thinking about making my own too. I'd aim for the mainstream, though.

 

[Eevee]

until perl6 comes out and catches on I doubt many people would be bothered enough to use mine; mod_perl is a bit of a pain to use, especially without a good bit of control over your server.

 

[Zhen Lin]

You're writing Perl6 already?

 

[DarkCircuit]

vB by far =D I really didn't have much experience with it until now. I've admin'ed at two in the past. Well...one currently XD

But anyways, I haven't found a free forum that I actually like right now >>; IceBB keeps downloading weird for me, so WinZip can't open it x.x;;

 

[Koroku]

That's odd. You sure it's a ZIP file? I can't remember...

myBB is okay with features... but the bugs aren't fun...

 

[Chrono Cr@cker]

I agree with Greg. IceBB is a excellent forum script and the best free one out there. But one forum that beats IceBB hands down is VB. You've got to admit it. They've got class, style, features, looks and a too-good-to-be-true AdminCP. Anyway, here are my personal ratings of some forum scripts.

::CC's Rating::
vBulletin:: 9/10
IceBB:: 7.5/10
PHPBB:: 7/10
IPB:: 7/10
SMF:: 6.5/10
Burning Board:: 5/5/10
MyBB::5/10
YaBB::5/10

Tell me if I've missed out something.

~ CC

 

[DarkCircuit]

myBB > phpBB

And yes, it's .zip or .tar .....

 

[Eevee]

You're writing Perl6 already?

er, no, just perl5 (although I believe there is a "fan"-made perl6 interpreter out there). I just mean that mod_perl is a bit of a huge hack, and I happen to be using it out of necessity, and it will probably be far easier to use in perl6.