Forum software

[stuarty]

Guys/Gals - looking for a recommendation on forum software - asp or php preferrably free.

 

[Mike Lewis]

I once set up a forum with phpBB3. At the time, I didn't know PHP but I still managed to get the forum up and running without much difficulty. Now that I do know PHP, I'd probably be able to customise it better, although there's a lot you can do just by choosing different templates and skins.

will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think phpBB3 is the underlying software for SBF.

Mike

 

[stuarty]

Cheers Mike,

Forgot to add...it needs to run on a microsoft server under IIS. MySql and PHP already installed.

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think phpBB3 is the underlying software for SBF.

hmy:

It's not phpbb Mike it's vBulletin. This is a paid for software that has many additional hacks and upgrades to it

Stuart - What sort of project is it for? VBulletin costs around $100 I think and for me is far better than anything else out there. Obviously if it's not core it might not be worth spending money on.

I did use Fireboard which is a Joomla forum script but needless to say that was scrapped. I'm sure Stu will be along soon with suggestion of what will work giving the hosting platform

 

[Mike Lewis]

Yes, phpBB should run under Windows, given that PHP and MySQL is installed. I don't know vBulletin, but I'm sure it would be worth a look. I'll keep it in mind myself if I ever have to do another forum. Either way, let us know what you decide.

Mike

 

[stuarty]

Stuart - What sort of project is it for? VBulletin costs around $100 I think and for me is far better than anything else out there. Obviously if it's not core it might not be worth spending money on.

It's just for a few projects a friend wants to set up and experiment with. He had a look at vBulletin but didn't want to fork out $100 to find it didn't fit his needs. I think there's one called SMF that's free but I'm not familiar with any of these. If his idea takes off he might consider paying.

Its not for a core app. We only ever use community server for high end/load situations. (At $5-10k a licence it was slightly out his reach strangely enough) Clients don't care about cost at that level - thankfully

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

Now I've heard of SMF (Simple Machines or something like that).

Surely another consideration should be the cost of having to move posts should you decide to go to something paid for. I made the wrong choice when I first started SBF and lost a few thousand posts because getting someone to extract all the data and populate VBulletin was just so expensive.

You can sometimes pick up vBulletin licenses cheaper if someone wants to get rid of one and the support they give you is second to none.

 

[Third Sector Lab]

Another vote for vBulletin here, we use it to power Third Sector Forums

 

[stugster]

Stu, if you're really squeezing the budget and really want it free, phpBB is a fantastic solution. Other than that, I'd be recommending vBulletin for the project - but only if you can justify the cost.

When it comes to forum software, I don't actually know any that run on ASP to be honest, most tend to run on PHP.

 

[Canary Dwarf]

We use vBulletin and phpBB for our clients depending on budgets, vBulletin requires more training in my experience, but as was said, support is top notch from vb and the community.

VB licences can be rented for around $50 a year, which is a good option if you don't want to commit. I also use Snitz and Web Wiz where there is a preference for ASP/Access/ They're more basic, but adequate for small instaallations.

I'm trialling Vanilla for a new forum this month after a high recommendation. I'll let you know how i get on.

 

[peteark]

I only use SMF because its free, I would hazard a guess VB is better

 

[Jack Kane]

Just to even up the balance a wee bit

I've used phpBB for over 5 years now and I'm happy with it. There was a steep learning curve for me at first as I'm not techy trained, but as long as you keep it up to date with the security updates, and be careful how you install any modifications to it, then it will run just nice.

I must admit, I do like the functionality of vB in many ways and I've never had a look 'inside' a vB admin panel, so I may be being a tad biased and not seeing the whole picture :001_cool: