Recommended best free forum software?

TheBigCheese

TheBigCheese

TheBigCheese

Soldato
Joined
6 Sep 2005
Posts
3,783
Hi everyone

Can you recommend a free forum?

I'm currently using phpbb but it's getting hammered with spam, I'm looking at ways of stopping that, maybe with a Q&A setting on the signup process as suggested in another thread.

I was also wondering about changing forum software, I've spotted mybb and wondered if anyone had any experience of it or how you fond it compared to phpbb?

Is it as easy or easier for users, mods and admins to use?


Thanks!
 
Once you set up a Q&A question or two on your phpBB installation where the question can't be easily Googled - then your spam sign ups should almost completely die off!
 
Vanilla is a really nice, modern looking forum software - definitely worth checking out.
 
TheBigCheese said:
I've spotted mybb and wondered if anyone had any experience of it or how you fond it compared to phpbb?

Is it as easy or easier for users, mods and admins to use?
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It's free, so why not install it and have a play around with it. Installation only takes a few minutes so give a try and you can answer your own questions.

But, SMF is probably the most popular alternative free forum software. I personally find it more user-friendly than phpBB3.

I don't like MyBB, it's pretty ugly out of the box, and there aren't any good themes for it.

XMB - good if you're going down the 'simple' route. Though development has practically ground to a halt.
 
Thanks guys, that's exactly what I'm looking for.

I was reading that mybb can just migrate over your users from phpbb (which I do find rather clunky and awkward), can SMF and XMB do the same thing?

I'll have to pass on Vanilla, I've just looked at it and it's not free software, I can't justify spending any money on anything at the moment.
 
TheBigCheese said:
I was reading that mybb can just migrate over your users from phpbb (which I do find rather clunky and awkward), can SMF and XMB do the same thing?
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I'm sure there's an import script for phpBB3->SMF. Not sure about XMB, you'd have to look on their support forum.

I'll have to pass on Vanilla, I've just looked at it and it's not free software, I can't justify spending any money on anything at the moment.
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If I'm not mistaken, it's free. You only have to pay if you want to buy their hosting plans and extras such as custom themes etc.
 
Thanks for the replies.

From what I can see Vanilla is free for 30 days, or free to try if you have less than 30 members and lose some features...maybe it's changed lately?

Thanks for the other recommendations and hints I'll look into them!

While we're talking about it, I'm a bit of a noob in all honesty, is there anything particular I should be looking for in forum software?

The only things I can really think of are decent smilies and a thanks/reputation button which would be useful...aside from anything else I'm a bit stumped.

phpbb does seem a bit clunky and goes round the houses when trying to perform certain tasks such as banning members but apart from that I'm a bit at a loss as to what I should be looking for.

It's for a small forum which I hope will expand in the future. It's an experiment more than anything, I'm trying to use social media for the first time and link it all together to see if I can get interest and members so I'm learning as I go along.
 
What you're looking for in a piece of forum software is whatever your users find easiest to use with the least number of problems. I would say that the admin tools are second to that, as long as you can use them.

Why don't you do a few experiments and ask your users what they think?
 
Ooh, that's odd...although it asks for your details when I clicked on download it did...I guess it still is open source just doesn't make too much of a song and dance about it.

I'll have to give it a try! :D
 
TheBigCheese said:
The only things I can really think of are decent smilies and a thanks/reputation button which would be useful...aside from anything else I'm a bit stumped.
Click to expand...

SMF comes with a built-in karma hack by default, which is a basic reputation system.

As for smilies you can edit them from the ACP of any board software. So you can pick any smilie set you like... Even the OcUK ones. ;) I don't use Xenforo, but I use the default xenforo smilies on my board.
http://xenforo.com/community/help/smilies
 
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Personally SMF. Really decent community and plenty of modifications and few decent themes to use.

MyBB seems to lack decent mods/themes.
 
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