I like both to tell ya the truth, however Dani is right, it IS much cleaner and more enhancments then phpBB. Again shes also right as well on teh Price tag. It is pretty expesive for a piece of software. IPB is clean too, but very similar to vB though.

I guess it all depends on what it's worth to you. I use phpbb Integramod which is a really great modded version of phpbb, but I presently am not able to afford V bulletin right now. Phpbb is still the forum that's free. But if you got the extra money and using a discussion forum like this is important to you, then by all means! Use the vBulletin.

Thanks, but I care about my sites and community and in order to make money, you haveto invest soemtimes. You dont always expect money and freeibes on everything looks good. But your right too.

I agree 100%. Sometimes you do have to invest. When you don't have any $$ to invest, like me, you go with the next best thing.

Hi

Just because you pay for something, does not mean it is better! Now I am not saying that to compare vB to phpBB, because the both are not very well coded. In regards to phpBB, it is a dangerous script. From version 1 to the yet to be released version 2.2, it still has many problems, worse than the simple one that was recently found and look what that did!

This has been discussed at many forums, by PHP Team Members and other highly trusted developers, if you search this question on Google, you will find out why it is not recommended to trust anything that got phpBB on it!

As for vB, the logic in parts is very good, but in some parts, it's like they for got how to code! Then most of the functions need to be updated, sure I understand they want to support many versions of PHP, but it would be better to have different versions of your script, each supporting a target language version! This would fix a few security concerns that I see! There other problems too! Over use of eval();, there are far better ways to handle templates than that!

Here is a quote the inventor of PHP!


There other things to, but that would take me forever to explain, and I don't want to go there just this very second...


J!

So demo, you're simply saying that PHP is the cause of all the trouble and so all forum software should be made in ASP or JSP? Or maybe go back to the good old days of Perl-based boards which used a flat text-file DB model?

P.S. I have updated to the latest phpBB and have no problems with it. Also I have a fairly good knowledge of PHP and have made some more security enhancements of my own within the code.

I'm pretty happy with my board which is phpbb except that nobody is visiting it.

I started out using phpBB, was my only choice really. I didnt have any money and I wanted something that looked ok. First glance all was well, installation was fairly simple and away I went. Then I looked further into the package and noticed a lack of a lot of features, moderators basically had no power over anything was the first mian problem I had. So I found hacks and spent hours adding them. I must have rebuilt the majority of the code in the end.

Basically I had to add so much that the code was nothing like the original version I had. Then along came that damn php worm and took out my forum. I did have a complete backup of the files (more by luck than being efficient). I basically decided that if I wanted to make the switch now would have been the best time, so I purchased vBulleting. It was over Christmas so was a quiet time and I could easily close the board.

Installation was much nicer than phpBB, I liked the steps it took me through and I always seemed to know what was going on. Once installed I looked in the admin panel and it was a little daunting at first, so I checked out all the online documentation. As soon as I knew what I was doing I was like a kid in a sweet shop. This package is so packed with features and tools. I checked the vBulleting forums and I was so impressed to see that if I had any problems with this forum all I had to do was ask a developer! These guys would help within minutes usually. This kind of support I had never had before.

I still miss a couple features that phpBB actually gave me though, but heres a thought. Instead of installing a hack now I can request its added to the next version of vBulletin. If it is classed as beneficial to the whole group it will be added. So instead of hacking a forum to bits, I can help improve a package with my ideas. Also the only "hack" I have had to add so far has been the arcade, so I am VERY happy with my purchase.

Where vBulletin seems to really excel over phpBB is upgrading. I was running phpBB with some mods to make it more like VB and upgrading was a nightmare. I had to reapply the mods everytime I wanted to upgrade. With vBulletin, you copy files and run upgrade.php and click next a bunch of times. Done! Great time saver.

Why is vBulletin so expensive? I am a poor guy in India and $160 is Rs. 6880 to me. That's more than what Win XP Home costs!

Do I really need to spend that much on a forum solution, especially when I do not expect anything in monetary returns from my forum and my website?