Choice Of Forum Software For Website - Any Recommendations ?

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22 Dec 2009
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Location
Upper Skurt
Hi,

If anyone has experience of hosting a forum on a website I would appreciate some advice on the selection of forum software. I am aware of I.P. Board, vBulletin and SMF (Simple Machines Forum) as options and wondered what the pros and cons are between these three. In addition, if anybody has other recommendations I am happy to take that on board.

If I am correct, SMF is free software whereas I.P.Board and vBulletin have to be purchased. I am OK with paying for the forum software but if the free one is nearly as good then I would opt for that.

Any advice most appreciated.


Rgds
Binty
 
I've used phpBB for years. The current v3 is feature packed, easy to install, has no exploits, very good built in antispam protection and it's free. The admin panel is a little over complicated but it's not too bad.
 
Another recommendation for phpBB here. A very good piece of software with a good community behind it and plenty of modifications at your disposal. :)
 
Thx for the quick replies and the tip about phpBB.

Additionally, would anyone have any advice about things to consider now that will make things easier in the future. For example, I lease the web hosting and get the bulletin board up and running now, then, 6 months down the line I find that I should have considered other factors and I end up having to make upgrades and migration of forum data etc. What I am asking is what factors should I consider now to make things more future proof?


Rgds
Binty
 
Depends how many members and how much traffic you'll have.

Cheap shared cpanel hosting will be good for 5-10,000 members and 25-50gb a month in bandwidth. Above that you'll be looking at more expense for a dedicated server or VPS.

In the first year, if you can average 1 member a day you're doing pretty good. Getting a board going is very hard.
 
I've been working with forums and have had my own forum for around 7 months. I personally use MyBB, it's free, it has a massive community behind it which means a lot of help, development of plugins, themes and such.

I believe it's a good choice.
 
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