The Classic Debate

younghistorians · 10-13-2003, 04:14 PM

The classic debate has begun:

Which forum software is the best?

-YH

GEWbert · 10-13-2003, 04:19 PM

VB, far and away. Can't beat it, just too good. only negative thing is the paying thing

Invision/Ikonboard are close togehter, thou i slightly favor invsion more for its base upon mySQL

then finally comes phpBB

Leader of Men · 10-13-2003, 04:23 PM

phpBB, hands down

Pretend · 10-13-2003, 04:26 PM

Never heard of Ikonboard.

I like VB, PhpBB, Invision, and YaBB is pretty good.

Brian · 10-13-2003, 04:31 PM

phpBB, since I work for them.

.. and once phpBB 2.2, we'll be king of the world! Now all I need is titanic.

Pretend · 10-13-2003, 04:34 PM

GEWbert · 10-13-2003, 04:48 PM

yes, maybe when phpbb2.2 comes out, my opinions may change

Pretend · 10-13-2003, 04:55 PM

Possibly you old fart.

You should be a cheap little ass like me.

GEWbert · 10-13-2003, 07:20 PM

old fart? i'm not an old fart dang it!

**South** · 10-13-2003, 07:39 PM

**John Scott** · 10-13-2003, 08:34 PM

Which forum script has the most available themes/ skins?

Suspicious · 10-13-2003, 08:48 PM

I've played around with all of those, and I'll have to say ummm...

vB looks more professional
ubb is even more professional, have to pay though
Invision looks more manufactured
YaBB you can hack to pieces (nearly everything is configurable easily)
Ikonboard is...Ikonboard (I used to use it a loooong time ago, not sure how it is now. I hear good thing though)
phpBB is modded to heck, probably the most versatile

I use phpbb because I'm most familiar with it, but I'm still playing around with the other ones.

Oh yea, DEATH TO EZBOARD!!

JuggoPop · 10-14-2003, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnScott

Which forum script has the most available themes/ skins?

you can always get them custom skinned...

Suspicious · 10-14-2003, 12:56 AM

The one with the most available themes/skins is most likely phpBB due to their insanely large fanbase.

GEWbert · 10-14-2003, 04:52 AM

probally, thou invsion has a fair number too

**fishfreek** · 10-14-2003, 06:37 AM

When I went to start up my forums I looked at VB and was turned away by the cost. For a startup website with no money other than what was comming out of my own pocket I was not about to lay out the fudns for a VB licesnse.

I searched all over for free web forums and looked at many and their feature listings. I setteld on PHPBB and that was in May 02. I have been happy with this script since day 1. I find it easy to install mods for and I have done some custom intergration of other scripts with little problems.

Seems like VB is comerialized alot. I have never had the pleasure of admining a VB board or an Invision or Ikon board and at this point I dont fell compelled to try them out as im happy with phpbb.

I cant wait for 2.2 to come out as it will have many features I have installed on my forums as standard. This obviously will make skinning the sites easier as each skin wont have to have 40+ mods installed.

The biggest thing I worry with the 2.2 release is that mods that are out for 2.0.X now that wont be standard features in 2.2 will be re released to work with 2.2.

I cant tell you how many times I have heard people say phpbb is to server intensive or X forum is slower or is not built for many users, etc.

Constantly I have asked for someone to do some kind of benchmark testing of the various forums on the same box under a simulated load but no one ever seems to be able to provide any info on this great debate aside from personal opinion.

edbarton · 10-14-2003, 08:29 AM

I started with PHPBB but now I am afraid I have gone to Invision

It just looks so cool

GEWbert · 10-14-2003, 09:41 AM

oh, i forgot one other thing. Invsionboard is way more streamlined than phpBB is right now. i don't know how 2.2 is going look, but for right now, its true

drummer4life05 · 10-14-2003, 11:58 AM

phpBB is the easiest I know of to skin and MOD.
And it's also 100% FREE...
I think, in the long run, if you have the money to spend, get vB.
But I'm sure my opinion on that will change after phpBB 2.2 comes out. It just seems right now that vB is more stable than phpBB 2.0.x. We'll see about phpBB 2.2. :-)

ATLien · 10-14-2003, 01:55 PM

I have always been fond of PHPBB just because I know the code. I can do alot with PHPBB's so I will always use PHPBB unless I write my own.