Favourite forum board?

[Anjay]

Hey folks,

Which is your favourite forum board, and why?


Personally I'd have to say mine are: phpBB, vBulletin and wBB.
I much prefer phpBB over IPB. The reason being, I think there are plenty of useless features in IPB. phpBB is fast, easy to use and looks much much better in my opinion. What's more, it does what I want it to do.
I like wBB and vBulletin. wBB is the German equivalent to vBulletin. wBB has clients such as BMW even. I like both - and would much rather choose either over paying for IPB.

As you can tell, IPB is my least favourite forum board.


So, what about you?

 

[BlackStorm]

Hey Anjay
I voted for vBulletin.
The reason is the admin panel is very easy to use, the forum is great without the need to add any hacks, but there are numerous hacks available and the other members on vb.org are very helpful if you do need a hack.

My second choice is the one that changes every few months...
It was phpbb for years, then invision came out and it seemed a bit like vBulletin, but now I think invision seems bloated, the admin panel isn't the easiest to navigate around and it isn't the easiest to hack (For me anyway).

Right now, I am thinking phpbb, but since I haven't used it in so long I don't know what the latest versions are like.

I know their next major release is going the same way as invision and vb, but I like to keep things as simple as possible.

I don't know anything at all about wBB though...is that a CGI forum?

 

[Anjay]

Hi there John.

The reason is the admin panel is very easy to use, the forum is great without the need to add any hacks, but there are numerous hacks available and the other members on vb.org are very helpful if you do need a hack.

Yes, the admin panel is very easy to use on vBulletin. Very nice and neat; everything was laid out very well.

but now I think invision seems bloated, the admin panel isn't the easiest to navigate around and it isn't the easiest to hack (For me anyway).

Yeah, I also feel it is very bloated, and not the easiest forum to use. Others say phpBB is difficult, for me I find it a walk in the park with IPB... well, that for me wouldn't be the easiest ever. It's also very messy I find.

Right now, I am thinking phpbb, but since I haven't used it in so long I don't know what the latest versions are like.

The current version of phpBB is very easy to use. It's basically like 2.0.0, however just security updates and so on. No major features.

I know their next major release is going the same way as invision and vb, but I like to keep things as simple as possible.

The thing about phpBB 2.2 though is it won't have as many useless features of IPB. http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB22/
You can see it there. It's still basically the same, except with a few extra features such as sub-forums, and also a few other things rewritten to make it faster and easier to use. Still much more simpler though than vB and IPB.

I don't know anything at all about wBB though...is that a CGI forum?

http://www.woltlab.de/ or http://www.woltlab.com/
A while ago they had a court case with vBulletin as they looked so alike people thought WoltLab copied the coding and all; they just made it look the same though. They have now, however, made it look less alike vBulletin yet still very professional.
It's PHP with a mySQL backend. I'd say it's on the same level as vBulletin, except it's not well known anywhere except in Germany. A bit like a lot of German products really - wBB is very popular in Germany, and lots of large German companies use WoltLab products such as BMW, however it's not known elsewhere. I'm not sure if wBB is more expensive or less than vBulletin; however it's just as good I feel.

 

[BlackStorm]

That forum looks very good, reminds me of UBB.
I wouldn't like to go with a forum that doesn't have many users that don't speak english, would make it harder for hacks and support if it is mainly big in germany.

I remember I was checking out that forum about a year ago, but for some reason I thought it was CGI.
Is there another similar forum that is CGI instead of PHP?

Their prices seem a lot cheaper than vBulletin.

Has there been much progress on the latest version of phpbb?
I was following it for afew months but there wasn't much happening and bugs weren't getting fixed, I was going to wait until that was out instead of changing a site to vBulletin, but it was taking a lot longer than I thought.

 

[GordyMac]

Yeah I am a phpBB man myself, used to be into the Invision board, but not lately, seem to like the phpBB more, better options and easier to use IMO.

Also of course, vBulletin, powerful, fast, easy to use.. my favorite forum.

Isn't there a newer forum, similiar to vBulletin? I think you may have made a post about it before John although I am not sure.

 

[Anjay]

I wouldn't like to go with a forum that doesn't have many users that don't speak english, would make it harder for hacks and support if it is mainly big in germany.

I didn't say it doesn't have many users who don't speak English.
They've actually a forum specially for English speakers, and another specially for German speakers.
http://www.woltlab.de/en/forum/ - English
http://www.woltlab.de/de/forum/ - German
The English one isn't as active, nor does it have as many members, however there are quite a few, and all the creators do speak both English and German and also reply to the questions at the English forum.

http://www.woltlab.de/products/burning_board/demo/acp/
The only thing is the admin panel isn't as good in my opinion; I don't know the new vB admin panel, however the one for vB2 was a lot nicer. But that's just me I guess.

Hacks wise, WoltLab do offer some official ones, and also there is a pretty large one with an English speaking community: http://www.wbbmods.com/

I remember I was checking out that forum about a year ago, but for some reason I thought it was CGI. Is there another similar forum that is CGI instead of PHP?

Heh, no idea why. Only ones I know of are Ikonboard and UBB which are CGI. I'll try and see what I can dig up in regards to CGI forums like wBB.

Their prices seem a lot cheaper than vBulletin.

Yes, I just checked myself and they are much cheaper. Firstly they don't have a leased license system, only an owned one. Secondly, it's about $62 for wBB and $160 for vBulletin (wBB Professional license and vB Owned license); but then again vBulletin does have that name, and everyone knows it. wBB is only very popular in Germany, and has a smallish English speaking following.

Has there been much progress on the latest version of phpbb?

Well, all phpBB 2.0.x are practically the same, except the newer versions are simply bug fixes and security updates. There has been a lot of progress on phpBB 2.2, and they're in the very final milestone; which is very nice I think. When phpBB 2.2 comes out, I'll see whether I'll use it or go to a paid forum board such as wBB or vBulletin (Will more likely be wBB though). There are a lot of new features in the new phpBB I think, but I think they have the perfect balance and it doesn't seem bloated at all.
http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB22 - You can track all progress there.

I was following it for afew months but there wasn't much happening and bugs weren't getting fixed, I was going to wait until that was out instead of changing a site to vBulletin, but it was taking a lot longer than I thought.

All the bugs and so on will be fixed when it's released. Also another reason for it taking so long with phpBB 2.2 is the fact they are rewriting a lot of the code to make it a lot faster and cleaner. They also don't want people using the CVS of phpBB 2.2 because there are plenty of bugs which need to be fixed however don't worry, when it's released all the known bugs will be fixed.



Hmm... the more and more I read about wBB, and look into it, the more I like it. I used to use it when it was freely available; however then went elsewhere, etc. as it does happen. There are only a few things I don't like about wBB, such as the admin panel and also the user panel. However, featurewise I'm pretty sure it has all the features vB2 had, but I've no idea what new features vB3 has.

 

[imported_Stephen]

I think a lot of the members at phpbb that do help others give a lot more dedication than the actual support at the other forums, they are doing it without any real benefit for them, apart from the knowledge that they are helping a lot of other people.

IPB, vBulletin and probably wBB all pay their support members, a lot of the time you will get someone that doesn't want to spend time on your problem, but rather get your support ticket closed, just like in many other industries, you will always get some people like that.

but I've no idea what new features vB3 has

You might be able to find out now Anjay

I can see that some of the useless features on vb3 have been disabled on the skin already though, many things are added which aren't needed.

I thin kfor free I would go with phpbb now and for premium, vBulletin. I still think vBulletin is too over rated and I don't think it should cost so much when there are other options that are near the same level for free.

 

[gooooogle]

When it comes to forums I love phpBB due to the simple fact that it's open-source. I love open-source.

 

[imported_Stephen]

I'm surprised it is even between vBulletin and phpbb so far..
I think a lot of people would go with phpbb because it is free/open source though.
Id say more with be for vB if it was also open source.

 

[Anjay]

You might be able to find out now Anjay

Yes, indeed.

I still think vBulletin is too over rated and I don't think it should cost so much when there are other options that are near the same level for free.

Try out wBB, like vB but cheaper.

Id say more with be for vB if it was also open source.

Definitely. wBB is just like vB, used to be free and used to be very, very popular. Now they've turned commercial, are cheaper than vB and have a lot of large important clients (BMW, etc.), but have lost popularity due to them no longer being free.

I'm surprised it is even between vBulletin and phpBB so far..

Why? I'd say that phpBB is by far the most known free forum board, and also most used.
And for vB, well there is only one other known decent commercial forum board, but it isn't known well enough. When people think of businesses, they think immediately "vBulletin". Why? Because it's well known, and has the image of being THE forum for businesses. I personally though wouldn't use vB, however use wBB.
I actually know of a few other commercial BBS', however none are as good as wBB or vB, and none are as well known.

 

[geesh]

Ever since i bought my first copy of vB earlier this year, I don't even like to play with other bb's. vB is the king of bulletin boards IMHO.