Best Forum Software - Developers

Alright, so I've been using MyBB for several years now and I am getting a little bit sick of it. So, I've been looking into paying for some decent forum software and am currently leaning towards Xenforo (Over vBulletin and IPB). Do any of you guys have any insight to this? I'm looking for one which is capable of looking sexy, almost by default. I'm also looking for one that is heavily modular as I am likely to create my own plugins etc... Also, is it worth me buying a used license; or should pay the extra money and get it brand new?

Xenforo is extremely modular and I find it incredibly easy to write plugins for it! The built in template edit fuction is a really great addition as well!

I highly highly recommend using XenForo. Been using it pretty much since it came out and it has only gotten progressively better. From the admincp to just all the functionality is quite great. The available addons and forum skins are quite nice as well, with great support from the community and the addon creators!

I've quite enjoyed using IPB, but I've heard great things about XenForo.

What is the problem with MyBB though? I've always liked it over any other free forum software and if you get someone to make you a proper theme, it can look as good as you want it to be. I'm not saying that paid forum software isn't better, as I can't really compare considering I never had it, but I personally never ran into problems with MyBB. Writing my own forum in NodeJS though (yes, I know NodeBB exists, but w.e.)

Currently using Discourse for a project, they just released v1.0, its pretty spiffy. I also setup a XenForo installation for a company the other week never used it before but from what little time I spent with it i was quite impressed

I previously used vBulletin (for around 6 years) and switched to XenForo last year - I do not regret this change whatsoever. Xenforo is the best forum software of this time in my opinion.

I used Vanilla for a while on a few projects, its API is very straightforward and clean imo. [url]http://vanillaforums.org/[/url] As far as looking sexy goes, it powers the main forums for Star Citizen which look amazing.

Hmmm, I think I'm going to go with Xenforo; it seems pretty popular! Is it worth me going for a used license (They're like <60% the cost)?

Nobody suggesting PHPBB? That's what my forum runs off of. Free, easy to install, easy to manage, super-customizable, tons and tons of themes out there. Can't go wrong, really.

[QUOTE=Coyoteze;45838026]Nobody suggesting PHPBB? That's what my forum runs off of. Free, easy to install, easy to manage, super-customizable, tons and tons of themes out there. Can't go wrong, really.[/QUOTE] Maybe because it's the worst piece of shit ever written?

[QUOTE=Coyoteze;45838026]Nobody suggesting PHPBB? That's what my forum runs off of. Free, easy to install, easy to manage, super-customizable, tons and tons of themes out there. Can't go wrong, really.[/QUOTE] PHPBB is a horrible piece of crap and a general pain in the ass to work with. I'd personally recommend SMF (maybe), MyBB or XenForo.

[QUOTE=Cyberuben;45828236]What is the problem with MyBB though? I've always liked it over any other free forum software and if you get someone to make you a proper theme, it can look as good as you want it to be. I'm not saying that paid forum software isn't better, as I can't really compare considering I never had it, but I personally never ran into problems with MyBB. Writing my own forum in NodeJS though (yes, I know NodeBB exists, but w.e.)[/QUOTE] MyBB is easy to exploit. Xenforo is the way to go really.

[QUOTE=Steeze;45842478]MyBB is easy to exploit.[/QUOTE] is it is it really

[QUOTE=AndrewPH;45842813]is it is it really[/QUOTE] yes it is

[QUOTE=TrinityX;45838734]Maybe because it's the worst piece of shit ever written?[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45839300]PHPBB is a horrible piece of crap and a general pain in the ass to work with. I'd personally recommend SMF (maybe), MyBB or XenForo.[/QUOTE] ... aaaaand why is it bad? Both of you are just saying "it's bad" without actually reasoning why. [editline]30th August 2014[/editline] I mean really, from personal experience it's pretty great once you wrap your head around it. Knowing HTML/PHP helps a ton with personal customization and any problems that come up so if that's your issue then maybe you shouldn't run a website to begin with v:v:v

[QUOTE=Coyoteze;45844507]... aaaaand why is it bad? Both of you are just saying "it's bad" without actually reasoning why. [editline]30th August 2014[/editline] I mean really, from personal experience it's pretty great once you wrap your head around it. Knowing HTML/PHP helps a ton with personal customization and any problems that come up so if that's your issue then maybe you shouldn't run a website to begin with v:v:v[/QUOTE] If you have to know HTML/PHP to be able to use a forum software, it's utter shit. Don't assume anyone here doesn't know HTML/PHP, there's a reason for people being in the Web Development section. Oh btw, PHP is bad.

[QUOTE=TrinityX;45844570]If you have to know HTML/PHP to be able to use a forum software, it's utter shit. Don't assume anyone here doesn't know HTML/PHP, there's a reason for people being in the Web Development section. Oh btw, PHP is bad.[/QUOTE] You might as well say "if you have to know HTML/PHP to run a [I]website[/I], it's utter shit" and we should all start using site creators like FreeWebs. The whole point of running a website and/or by extension a forum is that you have some type of idea what the hell you're dealing with so that if anything goes wrong you DON'T have to go to a support forum asking why, you figure that shit out yourself. There's a reason forums and websites have site administrators who fiddle with the site code to improve it, remove or add features from it, and so on. Oh btw, you still haven't motivated why it's bad.

[QUOTE=Coyoteze;45844507]... aaaaand why is it bad? Both of you are just saying "it's bad" without actually reasoning why. [/QUOTE] It's bad because it lacks options (no "delete soft" for example), it's a pain in the ass to install plugins, and from a user point of view the admin control panel is absolutely awful.

[QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45844621](no "delete soft" for example)[/QUOTE] Explain how you mean? [QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45844621]it's a pain in the ass to install plugins[/QUOTE] No it's not? It's a bit of work because you need to modify some files, but who gives a shit. Put on a song and start editing. Most of the time you can just drag-and-drop through your FTP-program anyway. [QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45844621]and from a user point of view the admin control panel is absolutely awful.[/QUOTE] Not really. I think it's well tidied up and every option I'd ever need is there. What exactly is so awful about it?

[QUOTE=Coyoteze;45844650][QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45844621](no "delete soft" for example)[/QUOTE]Explain how you mean? [/QUOTE] "Unapproving" or "delete soft" posts - posts that can be hidden from public view and restored at a later date / viewed by moderators if necessary. [img]http://ss.infd.us/linux/2014-08-30@16-06-06.png[/img] [QUOTE=Coyoteze;45844650] [QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45844621]it's a pain in the ass to install plugins[/QUOTE] No it's not? It's a bit of work because you need to modify some files, but who gives a shit. Put on a song and start editing. Most of the time you can just drag-and-drop through your FTP-program anyway. [/QUOTE] Not everyone wants to sit there and edit files to install a plugin. Not everyone's got the patience or knowledge to do that, they want something that works and is simple. XenForo, MyBB and SMF have it right, so why can't PHPBB do it? [QUOTE=Coyoteze;45844650] [QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45844621]and from a user point of view the admin control panel is absolutely awful.[/QUOTE] Not really. I think it's well tidied up and every option I'd ever need is there. What exactly is so awful about it?[/QUOTE] It's illogical that you'd go to the page of a group to add a member do it, rather than go to that user's profile and add them to the group (through a drop down).

Plus, phpBB's way of doing plugins is rather nasty when there's an update that conflicts with your plugins, or plugins conflicting with each other.

[QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45844950]"Unapproving" or "delete soft" posts - posts that can be hidden from public view and restored at a later date / viewed by moderators if necessary.[/QUOTE] [url]https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/soft_delete/[/url] Problem solved. Not that it's a super-demanded feature. I've never found any use for it since the ACP logs every mod action anyway and as such is easily reversible. [QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45844950]Not everyone wants to sit there and edit files to install a plugin. Not everyone's got the patience or knowledge to do that, they want something that works and is simple. XenForo, MyBB and SMF have it right, so why can't PHPBB do it? It's illogical that you'd go to the page of a group to add a member do it, rather than go to that user's profile and add them to the group (through a drop down).[/QUOTE] So far your points haven't been about PHPBB itself, just the way you interact with it. That's not at fault with PHPBB itself, it's your [I]opinion[/I]. Also [t]http://i.imgur.com/YKFEEtz.png[/t] It takes a grand total of 5-6 clicks to add someone to a usergroup, and maybe 10 seconds of your time. At most. [QUOTE=DrTaxi;45844983]Plus, phpBB's way of doing plugins is rather nasty when there's an update that conflicts with your plugins, or plugins conflicting with each other.[/QUOTE] So just don't update then until your plugins do as well - or better yet, don't update at all? And don't tell me that updating is an extreme necessity, because last time I checked Facepunch itself is running off a heavily outdated and super-modified vBulletin. As for plugins conflucting with eachother, not a fault with PHPBB. That applies to anything ever that can be modified. Games, software, hardware - anything.

What does facepunch have to do with anything? You can blame PHPBB because to add anything as a "plugin" you have to manually hardcode. It's an awful way to add for a plugin. While vB, the thing that facepunch uses, you can just upload plugin. (except facepunch is just heavily modified. Which a person that knows how the forum works did. Not someone who just want a forum running with available plugins) Like Mors Quaedam said, no one wants to follow a long tutorial to install a plugin. Installing a plugin should just be as easy as uploading a zip file and the forum software will do everything for you.

[QUOTE=jung3o;45845192]What does facepunch have to do with anything?[/QUOTE] He was talking about how plugins can conflict or break with updates, I used Facepunch as an example of a forum that rarely if ever updates its software and plugins. [QUOTE=jung3o;45845192]You can blame PHPBB because to add anything as a "plugin" you have to manually hardcode. It's an awful way to add for a plugin. While vB, the thing that facepunch uses, you can just upload plugin.[/QUOTE] It's a bit of a longer route but I personally prefer opening the files and doing the modifications myself. Feels like I have more control over what works and what doesn't in that case. Might just be me. I still think that's not at fault with PHPBB but rather at what the users opinion is. [QUOTE=jung3o;45845192](except facepunch is just heavily modified. Which a person that knows how the forum works did. Not someone who just want a forum running with available plugins)[/QUOTE] I'm the previous one of those two, so running a forum where hardcoding is necessary isn't a problem to me. It's just my opinion v:v:v

I'd also like to point out, Facepunch has been pulled through a major release of vBulletin, as well as patched for security flaws.

[QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45845268]I'd also like to point out, Facepunch has been pulled through a major release of vBulletin, as well as patched for security flaws.[/QUOTE] Facepunch is still on vBulletin 4 as far as I know. vBulletin is also a paid software. $250 for a license.Something would be wrong if it [I]didn't[/I] get patched for security flaws. You get what you pay for, and in the case of free forum software you get the kind of quality you'd expect of something free. It does what it's supposed to, and it does it good. That's been my entire point all this time. PHPBB is good for the price of free, definetely one of the best free forum softwares (and in my opinion [I]the[/I] best). If you want something better[I] of course[/I] you're gonna have to pay.

[QUOTE=Coyoteze;45845373]Facepunch is still on vBulletin 4 as far as I know. vBulletin is also a paid software. $250 for a license.Something would be wrong if it [I]didn't[/I] get patched for security flaws. You get what you pay for, and in the case of free forum software you get the kind of quality you'd expect of something free. It does what it's supposed to, and it does it good. That's been my entire point all this time. PHPBB is good for the price of free, definetely one of the best free forum softwares (and in my opinion [I]the[/I] best). If you want something better[I] of course[/I] you're gonna have to pay.[/QUOTE] Facepunch [I]is[/I] still vBulletin 4 but it previously ran on vBulletin 3. PHPBB is the [I]worst[/I] free forum software and I'm sure you're part of the minority who like it. Sure it does the job, but others do the job better.

[url=http://www.discourse.org/]Discourse[/url]!

[QUOTE=Mors Quaedam;45845446]Facepunch [I]is[/I] still vBulletin 4 but it previously ran on vBulletin 3. PHPBB is the [I]worst[/I] free forum software and I'm sure you're part of the minority who like it. Sure it does the job, but others do the job better.[/QUOTE] The only reasons you've told me so far as to why PHPBB is so bad are all personal opinions, like the method of installing plugins or the ACP interaction. I want concrete, technical proof and explanations as to why it's worse compared to other alternatives. Large things, not small insignificant ones. Until then I'm sticking to PHPBB because it does exactly what I want it to and it excels at doing so. That and moving forum software is a pain in the ass. :v: