Hello folks

So basically I was thinking of starting a forum. I want to choose either of these two as a platform:

Home of SMF: Free PHP and MySQL forum software
phpBB • Creating Communities Worldwide

I want to be able to have adsense, kontera, and auctionads on them. Also i want to choose the one that can be customised more, especially in templates and graphics.

So what do you guys think is better?

I choose vbulletin for customizations. Its not free but then...you get what you pay for.

Yeah v bulletin seems to be the most popular, but these 2 can be installed directly from my webhost, so i kinda wanna use them.

I've been a phpBB fan for years now so, in my opinion, phpBB is the best.

SMF has a few interesting options, though, I suggest you read carefully the features on both of the forum engines and make a decision according to what you need.

You can also try punBB Forum - php based script . If you have a decent budget, I suggest you buy vBulletin or IPB and get a custom template/skin.

I ran a forum using SMF and found the support was not good. I upgraded prematurely and found that hapf the add-ons that used to be available were not updated. I then waited months to be able to get the functionality i wanted.

Aside from that though, once it all came together U had enough control over the forum to be happy.

Best wishes,

Martin

PhpBB is your best! They have more users = more plugins = better product!

Here's another alternative: Vanilla - Free, Open-Source Forum Software , it's a really simple script.

Has anyone heard much about the security of PHPBB3?

vBulletin is the most robust and scalable of all the small-to-medium sized options. There are actually enterprise level forum applications that run on a Java platform if you can believe it, but that's way beyond your needs, heh. As long as you don't get too much traffic (by which I mean thousands of users constantly posting, searching, etc) you should be fine with phpBB or SMF.

PHPBB is always getting hacked, make sure their latest version is secure. SMF has easier mod installation along with more features. PHPBB is simpler and a bit cleaner.

When it comes to customizations. I think you can customize most of them rather well if you know html and php.

Other than that, I would also vote for vbulletin if you don't mind spending money. Don't forget the saying that you have to spend money to make money.

I use vb just because that's what I started with and just stuck with it. The install is really only 5 to 10 mins so don't be put off that your host doesn't auto install it.

Originally Posted by Lee

Has anyone heard much about the security of PHPBB3?

All good so far, reports of spam bots accessing phpbb3 are limited, any I seen were unconfirmed. The customizable captcha settings is a nice feature,,, a 'secuirty question' idea can also be utilized with the custom profile field options.

So far so good but still early,,, kiddies will probably start probing a little more once it is final release and installed the internet over.

phpBB is the favorite among spammers. So choose carefully.
I would go with SMF simply because you'll get less spam.

Originally Posted by Frito Pie

I choose vbulletin for customizations. Its not free but then...you get what you pay for.

I have the same feelings.

Yeah...i think Vbulletin is the best of them all...i agree its a bit costly but as someone said rightly you've got to spend some money to earn money....so spend wisely to earn quickly.....:lol:

I agree with Vbulletin too

I'm very curious as to why nobody mentioned InvisionPowerBoard?

v bulletin is about the best I think ?