The general answer would be no, I feel, and my answer would be no. phpBB, vB, iPB... all viable solutions. The difference will always be the administrator and leadership that is provided to the community. Attention to detail, management skills, community enviroment, etc. are all much more important than the forum software you use, as long as you use a decent solution, like one of the ones mentioned above.

Yah . Nobody really cares what platform the forums are on just as long as they are on!

Myself, I tend to shy away from IPB powered forums as I personally have had bad experiences with the President of IP, and I don't care to support their product in any way shape or form. But it all really boils down to the community aspect of the community; to this day I still see communities going strong on those old Message Boards that were:

Topic
- Reply
- - Re: Reply

:P

As for me, I really don't give a crap on what software is used. What's really important is the contents of the forum, and secondly, how is it administered. Because the main reason you read posts is because you want to learn something. right???

Oalee you have never used vBulletin compared to other products?

I only have 2 IPB forums on my entire list. and tahts because i staff for a game on one and im a supporting member of the second.

But i dont touch IBP UBB or phpBB communitys with a stick otherwise.

The adminstration and user end of each are yucky imo.

The forums system has abit to do with it, for the long run on the admin side you want somthing that can change adatap and is easily upgradable for secutiry reasons.

starting with phpbb or ipb will require a ton of basic hacks just to start making it work like vB2 OTB and a hell of a lot more to make it work like vB3 OTB. My members love vB3 and its features. theyve totaly left one or two otherboards for mine. Im sure that if i had somthing besides vB they might not have moved.

Security and Ease of Adminstration are two of the most important things both which vBulletin does well.

Dani did this just to annoy me. :P

While I agree that phpBB 2.0.x offers few features that most other boards offer, it's important to keep in perspective that it's quite old - several years or more in fact. phpBB 2.2 , the newest version they plan to release, offers many more features, in fact practically all those that most people require of a forum (including some new ones that neither vB or IPB offer ;)). But the developers been very careful not to "overburden" the software - they like to think of it strictly of forum software, and therefore decline to add features such as calendars and so forth - this means that phpBB 2.1 (development version of 2.2, as per Linux Version Numbering Scheme) runs very quickly compared to say, vB, which has every feature under the sun thrown in ;).
Though one thing I might add is that subSilver, the phpBB default style looks far more "professional" than vB's. But that's just a matter of opinion.

Have you seen vBulletins new Default style? ( www.vbulletin.com/forum ??)

vBulletin 3 runs faster and better than IPB1.3 and phpbb. Even with most of the features turned on, but in vB3 everything that can be turned on can also be turned off ;)

You dont even need to have the DHTML ;)

It shows when people who like to slam other software dont know what their talking about (not you Roberdin) But in general, when i browse the IBP forums from time to time, they all like to say vBulletin is more bloated, however most have never used it them selfs ;) they have no clue what their talking about.

Ah we all know you meant me really :p

Remember that php is a run-time interpretted language so everything, including the stuff within if() blocks is parsed during page execution, and that vB can afford to have very powerful servers - they hardly want to look slow on their own site ;)

However, I must admit that the new vBulliten theme looks much better than before, though having vB in half the icons is slightly annoying - I want to know that a forum contains new topics, subforums, or is locked, not that it is powered by vB. :P

gud gud

I think it makes a difference. I go to some Ikonboards and they really don't look that good. It's the LAYOUT of the software/service that is the best.

Last week I was running on YaBBSE and it was slow, has some bugs and it really didn't appeal to others. I am now using SMF (Simple Machines forums) and they are AWESOME! They have a good layout, you can make custom templates with HTML and PHP so it has WAY more features.

But on the downside to SMF is you have to install it, it's still in beta and you have to upload stuff.

Meh, oh well. My vote goes to SMF.

In other words, if a community had the same content, would a visitor think of the forum as more serious / reputable / better simply because of the software used? Just throwing this idea up in the air people. Interested in hearing responses.

You perhaps have a point.

I seem to be partial to phpBB. I'm not exactly sure why though. Likely because it's familiar and tends to generally have a more clean aesthetic than other types of forums.

ooh, i just installed vbulletin. i think it's way nicer than anything (i would think so)

My two personal favorite bulletin boards are vBB [ www.vbulletin.com] and Woltlab Burning Board [ www.woltlab.de] . Both are feature rich, and have a good support/hacking community. The downside to both is that they're pay only bulletin boards, with Woltlab being the cheaper of the two.

I'm thinking of setting up two more sites alongside my current forum. Even though I don't like phpBB that much, thats what I'll be using as finances are tight and I can always screw everything up at a later date by converting to vbulletin when the finances allow. :D

Do you think that the forum software that's used makes a difference for a community? Suppose, for example, forum software all has the same options available. And we're talking about the same community of people. For a forum visitor, does seeing powered by vBulletin strike a softer note than seeing powered by phpBB? Not because of features - but simply because vB is commercial software? In other words, if a community had the same content, would a visitor think of the forum as more serious / reputable / better simply because of the software used? Just throwing this idea up in the air people. Interested in hearing responses.

Even though it makes a difference to me, I don't think it does to *most* users. Most users probably don't know that phpbb is free and vBulletin is not.

Me personally - if I want to find a forum on a topic I will first try and find a vBulletin powered forum. If I can't find one (which is rare) I'll take whatever option seems most appealing from there. To me, all other forum software is an equal #2 behind vBulletin :lol:

I know I'm biased though, and don't think most users really care as long as the forum is not slow. That will kill off a member base faster than anything else. Poeple don't pay $50/month for broadband so they can post on a slow forum. I don't think I have ever found a slow vBulletin forum.

Do you think that the forum software that's used makes a difference for a community? Suppose, for example, forum software all has the same options available. And we're talking about the same community of people. For a forum visitor, does seeing powered by vBulletin strike a softer note than seeing powered by phpBB? Not because of features - but simply because vB is commercial software? In other words, if a community had the same content, would a visitor think of the forum as more serious / reputable / better simply because of the software used? Just throwing this idea up in the air people. Interested in hearing responses.

Good question Dani,

For people (guests visiting a forum) that are looking for a long term community, or possibly serious answers, I feel that seeing vBulletin does make a difference.

Why? Simply put, vBulletin isn't free, and those that end up buying a license, or even leasing one are at least show one thing... That they are willing to invest $$ in their community and are less likely to just give up or throw it away.

I know there are other factors and probably no real surveys to back this up, but those that are serious about making something that is going to go the distance are going to spend the money for the best products and have probably also made the long term plans.

Most of the communities that I am active in, or at least have registered for are vBulletin. This doesn't mean that phpBB, SMF or the others are bad. Heck, I have run them myself, though never on a community I am looking at for the long haul.

Just my 2 cents. Not dogging any other software but I do feel vBulletin is the best there is to be had...

David