35 replies to this topic

[trnt94]

I would HIGHLY recomend not using ipb, it is old and outdated, howerver the most popular forum software out there today is smf http://www.simplemachines.org witch I would recomend you try it before you switch to ipb, please pm me for more details on smf.

[Ad Bot]

[Davey G]

trnt94 said:

I would HIGHLY recomend not using ipb, it is old and outdated, howerver the most popular forum software out there today is smf http://www.simplemachines.org witch I would recomend you try it before you switch to ipb, please pm me for more details on smf.

Altho SMF if a good peice of software to use... i have to disagree with you. (Matty B can relate to what im saying)

iv had many problems in the past with SMF in the end i just gave up trying.

Before we made the decision to switch, we looked at IPB on every angle to be 100% sure that we are making the right move

[trnt94]

I think you should read this, and have you tried mybb, it is very nice.

After trying almost every forum out there I decided that I would give a review to each forum. After each forum each member gave a little feedback. Sometimes we were able to recover the posts sometimes we we were not. I came across mybb, phpbb2 to phpbb3, smf, yabb, ipb 1.3, and ipb2. I have came to the conclusion that smf is the best free forum software around if not the best forum including all the paid ones. I rated each forum and gave my thoughts for each one:

---

Phpbb2    C-
This is a very popular forum software for very basic forums that do not need a lot of features. I would say this is rather boring with a hard to use admin control panel and a very lousy user control panel. This is not what my forum needed. It was very basic and could barely do anything. Themes and mods were uneasy to install and forums broke often without able to back anything up. Yes it is fast but once again its uncomparable to other forum softwares. A lot of spam bots can get into these forums too

Phpbb3    A-
Phpbb group have had a major improvement in there software. Although this is still a beta many new themes and mods will open up but they would also be hard to install. This has a very nice user control panel as long as a nice admin control panel. It is fully loaded with features and does not require much mods. When you do need a mod there is probaly a chance you can mess up your board. With overall speed and user functions I rated this an A- trying to avoid mods and stuff. This software still needs some tweaking up though,

Ipb2          B+
As we slowly saw invision power boards improving after each release this is one of there best forums yet. With an easy to use control panel and many user options nothing stands in its way except paying $150 a year! This is not the fastest script I ever saw either and it loaded up with stuff people do not need. Invision destroys the thought of forum. The default theme is very bad but has many user options to bump it up to a B-.

Mybb Forums      B+
A very nice free and powerful script loaded up with a lot of things from the users mind first. With a very nice advanced user control panel and karma system built in people could not think it was free but it is. The only thing that lacked was its style and very small community. The styles it what ruined it for this script. Although mybb has good potential for the future.

So we save the best for last...

Smf Forums     A+
Well this was my last forum that I tested out I have to agree this one is the best and its free! I have never seen so many posting options with everything all the other boards have. This software has a very large community with fast support and one click installs. The styles are just amazing and fast and the board if fully loaded with everything including karma, stats, easy search, profile, and Easy to use control panels for both admin and user. Smf is 100% customizable by a user and most people like it including people from this forum. This is positively the best forum software out there. I always knew smf was there and was not the best script. But than I tried them and they were awesome. Smf should of been my first choice

[EviL]

trnt94 said:

Mybb Forums      B+
The only thing that lacked was its style and very small community. The styles it what ruined it for this script.

ARE YOU KIDDING MEE?!?!?!

Taken from: HotScripts.com

Hot Scripts Review said:

MyBB is a fast, scalable and customizable discussion solution powered by PHP and a MySQL backend. MyBB contains many of the standard features found in discussion systems including many advanced features for power users. Some of the powerful features include a fully localised application - translate MyBB in to as many languages as you like, completely customisable template and theme based interface, a plugin architecture allowing you to easily add additional functionality to your forum without modifying the code, an advanced permissions system with support for multiple user groups and inheritance, Ajax based in-line editing and auto-completion as well as much much more. Best of all, it's completely free.

Small community?????? almost 12,000 registered members in their support forum. I always get a quick answer there. And all are volounteer people willing to help others.

Styles? you mean visual styles??.... MyBB is FULLY customizable. You can fin TONS & TONS of cool MyBB themes. There are even a site that makes your theme according to your specifications for free.

Customizable? Of course!! Plenty of Plugins you can download (or make yourself), and them won't change the code. And you can uninstall them at anytime.

and, right... I forgot... IT'S FREE!!

I'm sorry, but I think you couldn't find the greatest features that MyBB has to offer.

Come on, check out my site: www.clanuis.co.nr
Fully customized according to my needs.

I don't know too much about other forums, but if you rated them as you rated MyBB, I have many doubts about your reviews.

[Noobeedoo]

I could smell a steamy debate boiling up ahead ...

hehehehe
==========================

[Davey G]

Noobee_doo said:

I could smell a steamy debate boiling up ahead ...

hehehehe
==========================

Im not going to provoke things by posting nonsense that will make people frustrated and go haywire, but if things get out of hand i wont hold back on locking this thread so please keep it respectable & low-level guys.. there are children that visit this forum

[Noobeedoo]

David G said:

Im not going to provoke things by posting nonsense that will make people frustrated and go haywire, but if things get out of hand i wont hold back on locking this thread so please keep it respectable & low-level guys.. there are children that visit this forum

No harm intended with my previous post.. It was just an honest observation. I apologize for any unintended implications.

[trnt94]

EviL said:

ARE YOU KIDDING MEE?!?!?!

Taken from: HotScripts.com


Small community?????? almost 12,000 registered members in their support forum. I always get a quick answer there. And all are volounteer people willing to help others.

Styles? you mean visual styles??.... MyBB is FULLY customizable. You can fin TONS & TONS of cool MyBB themes. There are even a site that makes your theme according to your specifications for free.

Customizable? Of course!! Plenty of Plugins you can download (or make yourself), and them won't change the code. And you can uninstall them at anytime.

and, right... I forgot... IT'S FREE!!

I'm sorry, but I think you couldn't find the greatest features that MyBB has to offer.

Come on, check out my site: www.clanuis.co.nr
Fully customized according to my needs.

I don't know too much about other forums, but if you rated them as you rated MyBB, I have many doubts about your reviews.

Keep in mind I dint write that, it was a freind of mine.

[EviL]

trnt94 said:

Keep in mind I dint write that, it was a freind of mine.

Sure, no problem my friend. I just wanted to show my honest point of view.

[Learn-Poetry]

Hey, I dont know about programming client areas, but if you need a designer to hire i'm right here!

[Shikhir A]

To close this 'debate' of some sort, we 99.9% sure are getting IPB as there is a 2.4x version now and it is very good. We do not use free boards on a large forum like Vlexo's, as that is unprofessional. The two choices are vBulletin and Invision Power Board, which was picked by the Vlexo.com administration.


Thank you for your understanding!

[Garrett R]

Shikhir A said:

To close this 'debate' of some sort, we 99.9% sure are getting IPB as there is a 2.4x version now and it is very good. We do not use free boards on a large forum like Vlexo's, as that is unprofessional. The two choices are vBulletin and Invision Power Board, which was picked by the Vlexo.com administration.


Thank you for your understanding!

There's 2.3.4, not 2.4.x.

[Shikhir A]

Yeah *Same Thing*

[amw_drizz]

So in reguards to the new "free" plans are you gonna be able to grandfather in previous free clients keep the same quotas and new clients get the new quotas.  Then if the grandfathered client leaves and comes back gets the new quotas?

And if not how much of a change should we expect.  You guys offer a great service for the price you guys want (ads)  I would be very disappointed if I logged in one day and noticed over a 35% drop in quotas for Bandwidth, Disk Space, Mysql Databases, FTP accounts, mail accounts, sub domains, and other quotable items.

but the changes sound good.  Me personally prefer IPB for forum software very scalable and easy to manage and use.  When I tried Vb it was too complicated in the Admin Panel, and the Mod CP just looked crazy.  I mean you need a PhD in order to use Vb to its fullest capabilities.

[Garrett R]

amw_drizz said:

So in reguards to the new "free" plans are you gonna be able to grandfather in previous free clients keep the same quotas and new clients get the new quotas.  Then if the grandfathered client leaves and comes back gets the new quotas?

And if not how much of a change should we expect.  You guys offer a great service for the price you guys want (ads)  I would be very disappointed if I logged in one day and noticed over a 35% drop in quotas for Bandwidth, Disk Space, Mysql Databases, FTP accounts, mail accounts, sub domains, and other quotable items.

but the changes sound good.  Me personally prefer IPB for forum software very scalable and easy to manage and use.  When I tried Vb it was too complicated in the Admin Panel, and the Mod CP just looked crazy.  I mean you need a PhD in order to use Vb to its fullest capabilities.

Haha, I like that PhD comment.

Anyways, yeah, basically, you have the idea - we're not changing current customers' plans.

[Xmen33]

What about phpbb3
this is new and good
to go to this forum
www.Phpbb.Com