I used to be a phpbb advocate but since moving to vBulletin on one of my sites I am now a convert . I would suggest vBulletin to anyone planning on building a serious community that wont be a flash in the pan. Looking at 3.5 it's only going to get better for us admins.

Are you implying that those of us who cannot afford vBulletin are "flashes in the pan"? I don't get the logic of recommending vBulletin on these lines. Who says a serious community requires vBulletin? There are thousands of serious communities that run on phpBB including boards run by commercial organizations.

Say that vBulletin has great features: I agree.
Say that vBulletin is potentially more secure: I agree.
Say that vBulletin is much more powerful: I agree.

But to imply that those of us who use phpBB are "flashes in the pan" is an insult to the community of phpBB lovers.

not sure about him but "Flashes in the pan" I dont believe he meant to everyone using phpbb, The way I put it is: Vbulletin is much more powerful than any other community software, you can tell that by this site. And phpbb is very good for little clan sitesfor a game. That is why a lot of phpbb mods include game server, clan rosters..ect..

I don't believe that the content or quality of a site is determined by the board software.

I think everything boils down to the admin interface and features. That's the difference. No ordinary user goes around looking for the extra features of vBulletin. As an admin, it all boils down to what kind of features you want your board to have... I don't think (in most non-technical circles) people are worried about whether you use phpBB or vBulletin.

I would use vBulletin if I could afford it, but the fact is, it wouldn't make one bit of a difference among my user-base. My community is determined not by the board software that runs it, but by the quality of content.

The other issue is technical. I am not going into the technical issues of using phpBB over vBulletin. That is a different question altogether and I am not a defender of phpBB in any way. In fact, if I could find an alternative to phpBB without the high price of vBulletin, I would choose that. phpBB has some issues: both major and minor, which I hope will be addressed in the next release phpBB 3.0 (olympus).

The point I wanted to make is, I would be very sad if somebody told me that the content of their board is entirely dependent on the underlying forum software they use. That would be the last reason why I would want to build a community.

In short, I think you can build a serious, mature community using phpBB as much as any other forum.

I use and love vBulletin 3.0.7 and soon to be vBulletin 3.5! I am also considering buying another license when I get a job for a new site I am creating... (btw if you are an experienced php programmer and looking for volunteer work email/msn im me at jpt62089@gmail.com).... I also love IPB. it has very good resource centers (IZE, IIT, etc) but that is about it... 2.1 is looking quite impressive but once vB3.5 is finished it will blow IPB outta the wata!

IF I had been able to get the mods to work in phpbb, I would have stayed with it. But I'm using vbulletin for mine and have 3.5 running on a test server right now and seeing how it works. I also have admin access to IPB and have seen PLENTY of boards running it. Let me just say I am very impressed and once my LEASED license with vbulletin is up, I MAY very well be switching. Liz

Currently I am still learning which is better for me but...

I have 2 forums running with phpBB and 1 forum running with vBulletin.

Both have pros and cons. Overall I am liking vBulletin but some of my sites just dont seem to justify the cost...YET.

Peace,

DJ Bill

I disagree. People are accostomed to how to use a vBulletin or PHPbb forum because the two are so commonly used. Other forums can be harder to learn and cause frustration with newer members.

I just bought a forum that was PHPbb and converted it to VB. At first, alot of the members would say thinks like "the old forum had this, or had that" I had to educate them a little as to where these features could be found.

Now they all talk about how much they love the new software (vb) and how much easier it is to use.

they do care.

I'm a Beehive fan.

I know some don't like the frames. I have a 56K modem connection, and I dont find the speed objectionable.

What I get for allowing the frames is a side by side layout instead of top/down. That lets me see folders/discussions on the left, and the actual messages on the right. That setup makes navigation faster. No more scroll to the top to change threads.

I also like the flexibility it gives the user. Admin can allow users to determine their own 'bad word' list, and users can choose to not view or accept messages from anyone. Its got a very powerful feature set.

I also happen to like the crew that's working on it. They helped me install it, and checked a problem for me- and its free software.

People who use PHPBB style software are expressing in large measure a preference for a format- that is, they are liking what they are used to. I have much less experience, so I choose without that preconceived idea of 'what forums should be like'. I think that's what makes me like Beehive.

Tis a personal choice, for sure. Maybe after a year of messing with it, I'll go with the more mainstream boards. VB looks good, so does SMF.

Anyway, look at Beehive.

WayneC

Forumer :p
It is a good host
You can either get phpbb or IPB both versions have unlimited storage and Bandwith.

IPD is the exact same thing as Invision Free except for It says Forumers instead

Best of all it is a great server with alot of mods and it is all free