The younger crowd I've seen sticks to phpBB. Anyone who can afford it, or is doing anything serious, goes with vBulletin. IPB is out in the water right now during their transition from free to paid.

I really like VB, but can't afford it :(

phpbb is nice but is not too easy to use with my CMS so I have settled for the CMS's product called newbb which I believe is their version of phpbb, but no where near as good, and not a touch on VB.

As for IPB, I don't think I have ever used a site (that I can remember) that actually uses IPB...
Not sure if only rubbish site choose IPB?? (Only joking not looking for a flame war..)

I come across sites all the time, I only ever take notice of what the site is running if I like the site enough to return in the future, I guess none of the IPB sites have taken my fancy so to speak.

Steveneven

I started using IPB when it was free and have continued to use it, bought a license for it when it went paid and havent looked back. I also use VB on another forum. I rate VB higher but will continue to use IPB on my own forum because of the ease I feel with it. I pretty much know IPB code from top to bottom and can customize it in anyway I want.

The younger crowd I've seen sticks to phpBB. Anyone who can afford it, or is doing anything serious, goes with vBulletin. IPB is out in the water right now during their transition from free to paid.

The younger crowd? :cry: So... What am I, an oddity?

:cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:I am doing a little research on which forums are usually used by the average Joe.
There are a ton of other packs out there.. Like Phorum, Snitz, WCN, Jive, etc.

There are plenty more under DMOZ's Computers/Software/Internet/Servers/Message_Boards/. Get like 20 of them then search for the copyright, or name of the board on google, look at the count, and voila. You have arough estimate.

I run three vBulletin communities. Befor I had phpbb, which IMO is good stuff for the price. But Vbulletin is just great. It is soooo powerful. I really like the ability to create subforums, something you can't do to phpbb.

Eric

As for IPB, I don't think I have ever used a site (that I can remember) that actually uses IPB... Not sure if only rubbish site choose IPB?? (Only joking not looking for a flame war..)

Well this is just an update, I recently installed and tested IPB on a test site I was working on the other day - wow - very impressive, I have not seen vBullitin's admin features etc, but IPB looks very powerful.

Unfortunately for the test site, the people that made the decisions where not happy with a couple of small features, so they opted for another product that was been demonstrated by a 3rd party - I think they went for phpBB.

For me, IPB has just shot up in my opinion, it is very powerful and once you get used to the IPB way of doing things, it is a very nice forum for the admin (granted we had 6 users and maybe 30 posts - perhaps its a little different with 000's of users and posts?)

SE

I use IPB but Dani is making me switch to vB ;)

I thought about converting to VB but as I said I know IPB inside out and Steven proved my point, once you start working on IPB and get to know it its a very powerfull piece of software and can be customized anyway you want depending on your skills with php.

was do people know/think of ubbthreads? It hasn't been mentioned.

I have it and think it's great!!

was do people know/think of ubbthreads? It hasn't been mentioned.

I have it and think it's great!!

:( Welcome to 2000

ubbthreads is a bit, well .... passee. IMO, it's so simplistic and lacks style and design. On the other hand, there are some instances when simplistic is all you need or want.

You may be right (because you know your stuff) but I can't think of anything I see in VBulliten that I don't have or want. It's all customizable if you know how to do it.
The one thing I can vouch for having used it a few times in this first month of my community is the customer service. It's absolutely first class, I have been amazed at the quick and accurate handling of my support tickets.

I am doing a little research on which forums are usually used by the average Joe. :o

I use invisionfree buddy.

I hope that your research goes well.

can i change my vote? previously i said phpbb but i am currently using vbulletin. and pretty happy so far. It's starting to come around!

I've used Snitz (ASP), phpBB, IPB and vBulleting on different sites. I currently prefer vBulletin, mainly because it is very full-featured and there is a very extensive support network with great mods.

I've heard that some people start with phpBB (free) and then graduate to vBulletin when their site (and revenue) grows to support it. vBulletin has import tools that make the process fairly straightforward. I migrated a 20,000 member database from Snitz forums to vBulletin and didn't lose a single post, member, or poll.

We use vBulletin for << url snipped >> and we love it. The template system makes it very easy to modify and it comes with tons of features. The mods are easy to install and manage. If you want something free go with phpBB and get some advanced admin panel mods for it to increase functionability.

I would definately recommend vBulletin to anyone who can afford a new or second hand license.

I use vBulletin now but before january and i used IPB. i switched cause dani made me ;) well not really made me but kept telling me i should switch, maybe that is making me i dont know :)

Started with phpBB and graduated to vB, indeed!

Well. I'm poor. But I am hoping that there is enough advertising revenue on my current phpBB forum to fund a vBulletin license by the next year. I find vBulletin to be fantastic, but I cannot afford it :(

Well, as they say I'll be trying phpBB Olympus when it comes along as well. :)