Best bulletin board system?

G

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I need some help deciding on a bulletin board system for a web site I'll soon be working on. I've used IkonBoard and phpBB2 in the past and have been pleased with both but I want to hear everyone's opinions on all those nifty forum systems out there.

So. Which is best? IkonBoard? phpBB2? Something else? I'm looking for a full-featured FREE BBS with at least three category levels (IkonBoard falls short, but we trick it into doing what we want for these forums).
 
umm i have used Ironboard and it seems nice.....

There are like RPG forums and stuff out there at sights like d2.net or Kingsofchaos.com and other places ummm what will the Forums be used for?
 
it also depends on what services the server will offer

I mean, will it be php, or cgi (perl or c) or asp or asp.net or even cold fusion
 
I would focus a search on the cheaper technologies like php and cgi as hosting for them is usually a lot less compared to asp/asp.net/cold fusion hosts.  With the asp/asp.net you have to becareful that the forum software doesn't require MS SQL server as that can bring up the cost considerably but would be the most powerful solution.

I recently installed phpBB2 and I have to say it was a breeze.  I have even started skinning it to work inside the design of my personal site without to much trouble.  From what I have seen, it has an extensive administrative panel and it uses mysql as the backend which helps its performance over cgi based scripts like Ikonboard.  Having forum software that has database backend makes it easier to incorporate elements of the forums into the pages for the site.  For instance, having a section on the homepage with the newest or hottest threads would be easy to accomplish and help drive users to participate in the forums. As long as phpBB2 has been around, I bet there are a lot of hacks for it and other content management solutions like phpNuke that would extend the usefulness of the forums.

Or, if you have a couple months, I could write you one. We can call it "TekBoard" with a "pwned" filter built in to keep the nubs from jacking up their post counts.
 
Yeah, you could search the username, and if it's "Zealot" then don't allow posts of less than 6 characters....



poor Z would never get to post...
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Kidan @ Mar. 19 2003,9:47)]it also depends on what services the server will offer

I mean, will it be php, or cgi (perl or c) or asp or asp.net or even cold fusion
Click to expand...
The web host I'm currently considering is phpwebhosting.com. Please view the above link for details of their service plan.

For those who wish to skip the lengthy details, I believe they support CGI and PHP. Having worked with their hosting plans before, I know they will support PHP-Nuke and PostNuke.
 
Hi Tek,

Have you tried Invision  Power Board? It's by the same creator of iKonboard...Matt Mecham I believe, after he left Jarvis. It's also PHP based. There is a free version and a purchased version. Even if ya did purchase it, it is $99 for a one time, full license. Here is the featureset.

And I know you said free...but I just couldn't resist a plug for my all time favorite board technology;  vBulletin!
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(current version is 2.3.0) It's PHP based with a MYSQL backend...very cool and very flexible.  And it's great for a larger site too.  It's some similarities of  iB but IMO, vB just has that extra 'wow'. It's a little more for a full license ($160 ).

Bottom line, it's forgiving, lots of configurable options for the admin and user alike, and where the rubber really meets the road, the user GUI is agreeable, user-friendly, and very flexible.  One of my favorite features is its superb thread tracking capabilities.

If you want the complete skinny on it, go here

Cheers!
 
I agree, from what I've seen user-end, phpBB2 is the best. very customizable, and relatively painless to join and jump right into the posting on.
 
From what I've seen/heard Invision Board is currently the best free board out there (I've tried many boards, XMBforum, phpBB2, & Snitz). Second best would be phpBB2.
wow.gif
 
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