I dont want to break any spam rules but IBFree rocks had me up and going with a professional looking forum right away. I was not expecting anything that good.
.......Taliesin

But the funny part is, IPB doesn't look professional...

Yea it does
http://www.ibforfree.com/members/?mforum=isecurity
Taliesin

oh yeah...sure does.
[/sarcasm]

Not trying to be mean, but IPB looks like the cheapest forum out there. It looks like, "oh, I set up this forum in 5 minutes because I'm super cool and can fill out a form."
Once again, no offence.

LOL, And what would you say are professional Bravenet?
LOL. IBP is professional more options than forums that you can pay up to 200 hundred dollars for "because I'm super cool and can fill out a form." LOL You dont know what you are talking about. No Offence.
thatcyberdude
webmaster since 1990

Originally posted by thatcyberdude
LOL, And what would you say are professional Bravenet?
LOL. IBP is professional more options than forums that you can pay up to 200 hundred dollars for "because I'm super cool and can fill out a form." LOL You dont know what you are talking about. No Offence.
thatcyberdude
webmaster since 1990

*cough* ahem *cough*
I have never used Bravenet, you want to know why? Becuase I took one look at it and realized it sucked. IBP does NOT look professional. Now, I do admit, it CAN look semi-professional if skinned properly (custom at that) and has a decent user base. But when you attend an IPB forum (standard skin except for the banner, horribly done at that) that has 20 members all saying "ha ha, u r kewl, i amz teh h4x0r," it doesn't exactly look professional. And the sad part of it, 99.99% of IPB forums are like that. And IPB brought it on itself. They made it TOO easy to install. Now, any script kiddie can go out and find it, install it in under five minutes. These hosts (such as IBFree) make it worse. They make it so easy that they don't even have to upload a thing. Oh wait...they had to exert some effort...the kid had to click "Connect" in his AOL browser, and then...get this....type in a URL....*gasp*. Like I said, IPB CAN look good if done right, but most of the time, it's not. As for BBS, I am in favor of the following:

Free - Perl Based: Ikonboard
Free - PHP Based: NavBoard

Paid - Perl Based: Ultimate Bulliten Board (UBB)
Paid - PHP Based: vBulliten

Now, those that cost (espeially UBB), cost alot. You want to know why they cost? Because they are better. They run faster, have more admin features, and are more customizable. Please tell me, if the IPB company had created something better than those that cost, why wouldn't they charge for it? It's better, so why not make people pay? If it's better, people are willing to pay more. Yes, I know IPB and Ikonboard both have paid versions, but how many people buy those? And it's not like you get more features, all you get is a copyright-free version, as well as some installation and support. No features are added. But you want to know WHY it's free, because it's not better. IPB is just a CHEAP ripoff of Ikonboard coded into PHP. That's it. Period. I have used all these boards above, as well as MANY more free ones, so don't tell me I don't know what I'm doing. It insults me alot.

[typos suck]

First: You stated that they do not look professional you are wrong they do I have been in this business for a long time and I know good software when I see it. and we are were not talking about features ." It would seem to me that I have this argument before both when Frontpage and Dreamweaver first came out, It seems to me that your beef is that you don’t like template based software.
Second: It is obvious that you have never seen the administrative
control panel of the IBP Forum. (you should check it out before
you open your mouth like I did)
Three: Spending a lot of money on a piece of software does not make it any better than the next. (the best software is one that I can modifymyself Open Source)
Forth: Do you think that someone will finance you in your webhosting scam and I quote “I don't have the funds to either buy a reseller account or to buy a server. I am looking for a partner in this business. This person will be responsible
for all fees incurred” I you find this sucker let me know.
Fifth: Judging from your posts in programming and scripts you are the script kiddie as you put it. Sorry only call it as I see it.
And finally if I I have insulted you by implying that you don’t know what you are doing well, You might know a thing or two I don’t know you personally but I do know Your still a little green behind the ears.

First: I do not have a beef with template-based software. All BBS are template-based.

Second: Wanna bet? I have used IPB. I tried using it. I installed it, customized it, and then decided I didn't like it.

Third: I will give you that point. Open source is a wonderful thing. Main example: FileZilla, my FTP client. It's free and opensource, I like it better than anything else I've ever tried (paid included). However, my point was that in this case of BBS, in which you most cetainly get what you pay for.

Forth: Too bad it's not a scam. If you don't believe me, fine. I know I am just an honest guy wanting to try something new. Not to mention that quote was taken out of context. I also said something about the person who fronted the money would get all money mailed to them until the profits exceeded the expenditures. It was a business investment. They could've failed, but what would I have gained out of it? Nothing. I wouldn't have made money unless the company as a WHOLE made money. See my point?

Fifth: Yes. I know I use scripts. I know that I don't know everything when it comes to programming. And I know that I am in the bottom 10% of forum-goers here. But you want to know the difference between myself and a script kiddie? I learn. I don't just download a program and install it, never wondering anything about it. Before I use a script, I go over the coding, trying to learn something of the way it works. I don't know much, but at least I am trying...better than many website builders.

Sixth, and finally: I admit I don't knpw everything. However, someone not knowing something is no grounds to insult what they do know. The one thing on the internet I claim to have any profiecency in is BBS. That's it. It's my little bit of knowledge...

*hoards knowledge in bag*
BACK OFF! IT'S MINE! GO AWAY!

First Everyone step back and take a breath.

Second Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how ridiculous.

Third Please be civil. Refrain from insults of any kind.

Forth This thread remaining open depends upon First, Second, and Third.

Thanks for your cooperation and discussion.

Dave

Loved your use of irony, Dave!

Personally, I am not a fan of IPB, but I must agree that it looks rather unprofessional. Perhaps it's just me on my 1024x768 res, but I just don't like the feel of the message boards. Unlike Wahoo, even IPB forums with customized colors don't do it for me. It needs a new layout.

...not to mention that it bears an uncanny resemblence to Ikonboard.

Personally, I prefer phpBB.

I split this thread from that spam thread, just to tidy up the place a bit. I have now locked that thread.

Conker

Thanks for cleaning it up. Agree on the irony point. Thanks for the support conker. Dave, I'll try and be less flame-ey. And I'm waiting for his response....

IBfree.com has merged with freeIB.com now. All forums should also work with this url: 999.org

free forum example: http://999.org/?mforum=3rdlane

cool huh

IPB has good coders behind it - but the IPB template has always been horrible to use.

As for recommended forum software - I'd look to free ones such as YaBB SE (the easiest to use) to something like phpbb, which is probably the "best" general free forum.

vBulletin has the most bells and whistles, but at this exact moment in time, I am not enamoured with the support I am supposedly getting with a paid product.

I have used Ikonboard and I currently use IPB on my site. Both are excellent scripts that I do recommend to people when asked.

I find this thread a bit confusing. I have been skinning with IPB for a while now, and it is very easy to alter the entire look of the site. From what I have seen it is not the forum script you are using, but your ability to use it's skinning functions that make the site professional or not.

Not that I can make a site professional, but I have seriously altered the look with a bit of effort. If I was better with graphics and colors I could make it look like any other software.

Looks aside, paying for something does have it's benefits. A paid subscription to IPB gets you access to there premium support (I never used it, so it may not be worth it). The paid software does tend to have more features and use less resources, something that is very important on a shared host.

I still love my IPB. I have yet to hit a limit to what I can do with the skin system.