What forum system do you like for your sites?

[canadiancreed]

Hey all

I'm doing up a site for a league, and for forums, I want to know what everyone here thinks is the best is the reason(s) why.

[Ben Music]

I like vBulletin alot, but you do have to pay for it, where as the php stuff is free and still is pretty cool.

[canadiancreed]

hmmm that made my decision easier for sure

[Myghty]

Nothing says pick me like the word "FREE"!!!

[sporr]

We use the Invision Power Board (IBP), but it's no longer free.

[canadiancreed]

hmmmm PHPBB is looking more and more like the one i'm going with as time goes by

[Treches]

Ikonboard is free.

[sporr]

Originally Posted by Treches

Ikonboard is free.

We use to use the old CGI version of Ikonboard. Do they have a PHP version out?

[LivnLegend]

Ours in the USBA says "powered by XMB" whoever that is. It has worked great for 3 years.

[Ktulu]

As a user I much prefer vBulletin or Invision, but as an site owner, phpbb is the way to go unless you want to spend money.

[kq76]

If you install some of the many phpbb mods available there's not much, if anything, that you can't do with phpbb that you can with the pay alternatives. There's some things you'll be able to do that you can't do even here. And once you install an easy mod it's really not that difficult to install even the most difficult ones. It's also very customizeable even without any third party mods.

[James M. Rousseau]

I'm trying to download the PHP BB 2.0.11 but the server is not letting me. Anyone want to send me the file via AIM or email?

[Ktulu]

If you install some of the many phpbb mods available there's not much, if anything, that you can't do with phpbb that you can with the pay alternatives. There's some things you'll be able to do that you can't do even here. And once you install an easy mod it's really not that difficult to install even the most difficult ones. It's also very customizeable even without any third party mods.

Yes but this can get messy, some mods will conflict with others and when you need to upgrade(such as the essential 2.0.11 patch) it can be a real pain in the ass.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Ktulu

Yes but this can get messy, some mods will conflict with others and when you need to upgrade(such as the essential 2.0.11 patch) it can be a real pain in the ass.

I installed most of our mods after 2.0.11 so I haven't had that problem yet, but I have read others having it. If you installed them once though (most of initial mod installation is reading and if you've already read it then you probably only need to skim it the next time) and you've kept the zips of the mods you have installed then I don't think it would be too difficult to reinstall them after an upgrade. Many are files that never existed before and you just upload. The rest is just finding sections of a file and adding or replacing different text. If you're a sloppy person (not to anyone in particular), then you'll probably screw things up pretty easily and so you might want to forget about adding any mods. If you're not, then it should be easy. The biggest problem I've had was with one person not having the post times showing up and after not being able to find a fix for it one day it fixed itself. We have 7 or so mods and I'd guess that it would take me around an hour to upgrade and reinstall them all. Except for the attachments and the (extra) notifications mods I have shied away from the more complicated mods as it sounds as though the most conflicts are with them. What I figure would be the most work by far would be updating each template (skin) and so I've just modded the default.

Please excuse the tangent.

[Treches]

Originally Posted by sporr

We use to use the old CGI version of Ikonboard. Do they have a PHP version out?

Last I heard they released a beta version (iBPHP, the name), but haven't paid attention for some time now.

[canadiancreed]

Hmmm PHP-Nuke now is no longer free? Craptastic