General Discussions

**Talktechno** · 04-04-2006, 04:48 PM

what do you guys think??

sorry if the topic has been done before im a newbie kinda

**Sebastyne** · 04-04-2006, 04:56 PM

I'm a newbie too, so let's talk together. I've recently fallen in love with Simple Machines Forum, integrated with TinyPortal it's even better.

**Talktechno** · 04-04-2006, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastyne

I'm a newbie too, so let's talk together. I've recently fallen in love with Simple Machines Forum, integrated with TinyPortal it's even better.

same here actually, the skins are also great

im using it on my site, check out the skin on the forum

**Sebastyne** · 04-04-2006, 05:04 PM

Cool! Here's mine: SMF + TinyPortal

**Sarangan** · 04-04-2006, 05:05 PM

The best and powerfull forum software is vbulletin.. All major web forums use this software..

**Talktechno** · 04-04-2006, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastyne

Cool! Here's mine: SMF + TinyPortal

that skin actually reminds me abit of vBulletin

**Talktechno** · 04-04-2006, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarangan

The best and powerfull forum software is vbulletin.. All major web forums use this software..

what advantages does vB have over the other forum softwares, i have noticed that most major boards use vB

**domeconnection** · 04-05-2006, 11:21 AM

vbulletin without a doubt.

**Christopher** · 04-05-2006, 04:01 PM

For free, I think SMF is the best choice.

There are really only two general-purpose commercial scripts IMO: vBulletin and IPB. I prefer vBulletin because of the advanced user permissions, template system, and the newer hooks system. And I like the Jelsoft company as a whole much better. The IPS company itself is enough for me to stay away from them for now, I do not like their management or policies.

**VToria** · 04-05-2006, 07:44 PM

Vbulletin is the best by far, if you can afford to pay for it then there's no reason not to use it!

**ashish** · 04-06-2006, 03:02 AM

i wud have to say the vBulletin is the best forum osftware, i also visit a few forums that have PHPbb and they are not very user friendly... plus i guess its just easier to funk up and skin vBulletin forums...

**etech-martin** · 04-06-2006, 08:28 AM

Go for vBulletin if you can afford it. No doubt it is the best forum software out there. If you are looking for a free one then go for SMF.

**Village Idiot** · 04-06-2006, 01:49 PM

VB is the best out there, but if you dont have the money for that, go phpBB

**TheNegotiator** · 04-06-2006, 02:01 PM

vBulletin by a long shot. Sure, it still has flaws but it's userfriendliness for both members and those on the back end is great. It also has the best overall appearence front and back end.

**bollun** · 04-07-2006, 03:17 AM

phpbb

**hiren_hirani** · 04-07-2006, 08:47 AM

phpbb forum scrpts are the best

**feros** · 04-07-2006, 10:40 AM

There is too much hype in vBulletin. Yes it's nice ... but is it $160 (or more?) nicer than phpBB2 or other forum software out there? No. With the right designer/programmer you can do anything with phpBB2 that you can do with vB3.whatever.

**Christopher** · 04-07-2006, 11:15 AM

By the time you hire your programmer to add all of the features to phpBB that are missing, you have paid for vB 5x over (there is absolutely no way we could ever run WT on phpBB stock, and it would take me hours upon hours to add the features we need). Not to mention the time it takes, and that you'll have to continually hire him to keep the software current, and if you run into any problems you don't have a support system to go.

There is a reason people buy these kinds of commercial scripts. They want a product, they want it now, they want it to be continually developed, they want support in case something goes wrong, and they want it cheap. $160 to run vBulletin indefinately with unlimited support is dirt cheap, and only $30 to keep current is even better. Especially when you take into account that serious designers buy applications like Photoshop ($650) and Dreamweaver ($400), or popular sites that spend $200 a month on dedicated hosting servers.

**The Ape** · 04-07-2006, 11:48 AM

I would say Phpbb (free stuff.) However, the "support" forum is limited. It seems like every time i ask for help a moderator sends me somewhere else or tells me i should ask someone else. I like Phpbb because it's simple to understand even if you don't know much about php. And, there are some really talented mod experts that can do some crazy stuff for a forum. But, I agree with Chroder, just when you think you have a forum ready to go, the developers say there will be a new version coming soon. This means that you have to reinstall your Phpbb and any mods that you applied. This gets to be a pain in the "bleep" and if i had the money i would buy VB.

**feros** · 04-10-2006, 09:02 PM

Chroder you don't have to hire a programmer to do anything in phpBB ... there are plenty of quality mods for phpBB as there are for vBulletin. I personally know absolutely no PHP and have barely mastered HTML/CSS yet I'm a forum/CMS skinner. I've designed and implemented phpBB websites that look exactly like vBulletin and aftering investing an additional day or two tops installing hacks and mods one can hardly tell the difference aside from the copyright at the bottom.

Honestly I think the main reason people invest such ridiculous amounts of money into vB and IPB is because there are so many successful websites running it. A lot of them don't realize that there are also a ton of extremely popular websites that use phpBB (ozzu and vgamin off the top of my head?).

I guess my point is yes out of the box you get more with vB ... but you don't get $160 more.

/my opinion