Just as a few other posts on this thread has been stated, the more you invest in or on any community including yours which should be the priority of mind, then you will gain more from your guests and members. No expectations, they expectate from you, the Builder. Like Donald Trumpt.

Do you think he expects the people to build their own Homes, Buildings and so on? Wrong, they expect him for his tallents to help build things bigger and better for them, thus, this is why he has billions that he is sitting on. Dont take this the wrong way, but that was just an example. if you didnt get that, then read it again.

So in english, this means, that if you want your guests and or members to continuously visit your site, page or forums, then you have to do whats best for them then yourself. If we are talking community here.
If you are talking self(yourself), then you do what you want to your own expectations.

Just remember when others visit your site, they expect a load of cool things to see there and that catches thier eye, making them wanting to go back for more..Im not talking porn either, although some people find that usefull, but lets get real here.No wait....lets just be real here with FACTS ladies and gentalworts.

what ever ur if can stand the time it's great.........
somethings we will consider as great just like windows....
but after some time world will ask u wat's dat .if dy havn'y made a mark.
so the difference is between the ability to stand high or not
the only answer is time will proove it
the real judge is time ...................

You know what isent really all that bad either for vBulletin Prices? $85 will get you a license for 1 year. Then its another $85 per year. So that to me is the cheapest and best options I have yet to seen anywhere else. Now tell me, who can compete with that as far as commercial goes?

Or it's $160 for a one time payment.

Personally, I believe it's not the software, but the amount of effort from part of the administrators to make that certain forum look and feel different from the bunch. Whenever I visit a forum community using the default theme and logo of the software they are using, for example, I get disappointed. Even though there are more important aspects in forum management, such as content, security, usability, etc. Presentation may also make a difference. Not having time is not an excuse, because managing a forum requires time on its own.

Maybe using a certain forum software won't make your forums more popular, but it can make a difference on how effective they are in doing what they have to do. Using a forum software that's can easily get hacked does make a difference. It is your job to make the right choice.

Now, unless the user knows anything about forum software, I don't think it will matter to them whether you are using PHPBB or VBulletin, for example.