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Forum Software
I'm in the market for a piece of forum software, or a hosted service if the software is better.
I've noticed a trend towards IPB, not sure why exactly though.
I've also noticed vB has released an extremely early beta of a new version, which although looks nice, is lacking in several areas and has some humorous FAQs:
http://www.vbulletin.com/faq/
(under Common Installation/Upgrade Issues)
The forum software is for OpenBill, which I'll be relaunching in a new/big way in a couple of months probably. I'm expecting quite a bit of traffic as most software support forums do get a lot of attention.
Other contenders so far are XenForo, IPB, phpBB and Vanilla.
What does everyone like to use/see?
Thanked by 1Nexus
Comments
MyBB will always have a place in my heart. That being said, when I was looking for a forum software to fit my specific business needs, I wrote my own.
I don't know why XenForo is so popular, don't really like it though it is by ex-vBulletin developers.
MyBB is good just as well as IPB has improved significantly over the years
I'm a fan of SimpleMachines.
I moved from MyBB to FluxBB earlier this year and I have to say that the performance is amazing.
fluxbb is pretty cool
xenforo is used by craftbukkit, so i know a lot of minecrafters use xenforo for that reason.
Wow they've really stepped up their game for vB5. I like it. I'm a fan of IPB though.
If it's for support, I'd presume Vanilla would work better; threads don't get 'lost', so you'd be able to respond to things a lot easier.
If you're basically looking for a decent support messaging service, you could give desk.com a go?
http://vbtruth.com/vbulletin-staff-behind-the-curtians/435/
Stay far away from this trash.
I'm a IPB fan myself. I use Xenforo on one of my websites but the lack of updates has made it seem like a waste of my money and wish I had just gone with IPB and think I will eventually switch it over.
XenForo
Don't like the interface one bit
How about Uservoice?
That's what I'm using at the moment. The reasonably priced plans are quite restrictive. Also wondering if people might prefer an actual forum.
MyBB is probably my favorite free forum software, but Xenforo is my favorite paid forum software. The development community is huge, and it's got everything you could possibly need!
If you need a forum for support and taking feedback then Vanilla is the best choice, IMO. Check out this Vanilla theme http://themeforest.net/item/converse-premium-support-theme-for-vanilla-forums/771994
I decided to try out the new vB (although all of the other packages mentioned above definitely have their merits - I especially like Vanilla) and so far am very impressed.
It's work in development (though it should be completed before I need to use it properly), but the UI is very clean and everything is AJAX, it takes just a few minutes to customise, it handles different types of content very well and it feels inviting.
Will probably use this + desk.com or uservoice.com's helpdesk for proper support.
If anyone else is in a similar situation, this also looks quite promising, though it is also work in progress: http://www.pligg.com/demo/
vB5 should really have a shtload of improvements towards vB4, because vB4 is a piece of sht imo. True, it is ajax-y, but the code and load is not really amazing me. Sorry.
Will admit it's clunky but what's an extra 0.2 seconds if the UI/UX is great?
@Nexus "thanks" for thanking every one of my posts LOL
I think vBulletin is okay, apart from the price tag. My choice of free forum software would have to be Simple Machines Forum. I don't like MyBB too much.
I have bought vb5 but im going to be using vb4 for now since vb5 is slower.
I'm an SMF guy. If you're after very lightweight and simple, FluxBB.
http://xenforo.com/ is becoming a big contender.
XenForo is awesome.
Xenforo is not all it's cracked up to be, I migrated a large forum to this a year ago. We've recently migrated back to vBulletin.
We lost more than half of our user base when we switched to Xenforo, since switching back to vBulletin 4 we've managed to claw that user base back.
It also seems that development has all but ground to a halt, I wouldn't recommend anyone use Xenforo.
There was a XenForo "hype" which has has been rundown recently, I also have a unused vBullet license and vB4 is fine
@StormVZ Sell that vbully license on DP as fast as you can ( or somewhere ).
You guys know vbulletin is sueing xenforo right now?
Lawsuit Thread
Full lawsuit in a .pdf: (Charges and copyright infringement) here.
While just skimming through it, I had to stop reading because of all the whining and "copyright" infringement claims by vbulletin. I hope you guys think twice before purchasing vbulletin.. Vbulletin claims xenforo is using the same "structure" as coding. Oh, I am sorry! I cannot have a foreach inside a while loop! Blah, I mean give me a break, it's like vbulletin is run by fracking 18year olds out of HS. Go look at the source code for each software if you really want the truth, this shit pisses me off with a passion. It's the same logic as me suing LET because they have a "Thanks" mod installed. (And I originally created it before it was launched on the vanilla plugin board).
Hope you understand. Oh vBulletin claims xenforo lost them 1,000,000 in revenue? (PG 19, LINE 73) See the whining just keeps going on and on it's truly pathetic. But then again, I am not a lawyer and just a random guy with opinions, so hell with it. You can do whatever the F*** you wanna do!
Thanks for /rant!
Edit: Now IB ( Internet Brands ) wants to get Matt Mecham ( creator of IPB ) into the trial/etc. Lawsuit Update. Ha, how is he even relevant I have no idea.
Bunch of f*cking monkeys running vbulletin.
I run a 25,000 private, premium member forum for a client that uses vBulletin. It runs relatively fine on my 1gb Xen VPS setup (send me a message if you need vBulletin fine tuning) and after vB 4.2 or so, I've been looking more at XenForo. vBulletin is slowly turning into a bloated beast. The security record with 4.2 was pretty bad and this social networking in a box approach with vB 5 has little or no incentive for me.
Is it me or does VB5 look terrible? I think the design took a step backwards. If they are trying to copy Xenforo, I think they are doing it wrong.
The thought of paying for a forum script, in the face of what else is out there, just baffles me. Vbulletin, xenforo and IPB just don't exist to me.
All my forum clients are considering three things:
1. vBulletin 3
2. Keep using vBulletin 4 until they basically stop supporting it
3. Find something else
Lately #3 is considered usually the first things out of the client's mouth. I've got such a gut feeling of this social networking in a box approach by vBulletin that it's pretty much ignoring what customers want. If they did the all the bells and whistles in a license and a basic forum license, that's perfect but if this bloat is the only option to customers and a lot of people don't like it well a lot of other commercially developed forum software like Xenforo or IPB are going to have more customers.
@Roph I just like to think I am helping the Xenforo development team by purchasing a license