What forum software have you used in your career as a forum admin?

[Cedric]

As experienced administrators, we've all encountered various forum platforms throughout our careers. Each software comes with its unique set of features, advantages, and challenges, influencing the dynamics of our communities and user experiences.

So, let's get the ball rolling by sharing our personal experiences with different forum software.

Your first love for software: Recall the forum software that sparked your passion for community building. What was it, and what made it special? Nostalgia can be a powerful motivator in shaping our future choices.

Stepping into the Arena: When you took on your first administrative role, what software did you use? Did you choose it intentionally or inherited it? Share your initial thoughts and how it met (or didn't meet) your expectations.

Platform Hopping: Have you transitioned from one forum software to another? What prompted the switch? Was it due to feature limitations, security concerns, or community growth? How did the migration process go, and what lessons did you learn?

Hidden Gems: Have you ever stumbled upon lesser-known forum software that surprised you with its capabilities? Let's uncover those hidden gems and learn from each other's discoveries.

Battle of the Titans: Some forum software have established themselves as major players in the industry. If you've used the popular ones like vBulletin, XenForo, phpBB, or Discourse, share your insights on their strengths and weaknesses.

The Open Source Frontier: Open-source forum software offers more flexibility and control. Have you embraced this realm with platforms like Vanilla, MyBB, or Simple Machines Forum? What drove your decision, and how has the experience been?

Custom-Built Solutions: Some administrators prefer to develop their forum software from scratch or commission custom solutions. If you've taken this route, share the rationale behind it and the pros and cons you've experienced.

Cloud-Based Convenience: With the rise of cloud-based solutions like Discourse's hosting or Invision Community and XenForo Cloud, how has this impacted your decision-making process? Did it alleviate administrative burdens or introduce new challenges?

Remember, this discussion isn't about pitting one software against another but rather an opportunity to exchange valuable knowledge, share stories, and learn from our collective journeys.

 

[SDL]

Your first love for software: Recall the forum software that sparked your passion for community building. What was it, and what made it special? Nostalgia can be a powerful motivator in shaping our future choices.

I think it has to be MyBB. When I was using it, I found it to be on par with vBulletin for the most part when that was the most popular paid software back in the day. Some major forums used MyBB and the development was top notch, along with the large amount of support from third party developers. It was so easy to use for both admins and members, and was candy on the eyes. I preferred it as a member to phpBB and the other free software which was one of the main reasons for using it.

Stepping into the Arena: When you took on your first administrative role, what software did you use? Did you choose it intentionally or inherited it? Share your initial thoughts and how it met (or didn't meet) your expectations.

The first forum software I discovered was SMF and that was my very first forum I created. I don’t remember how I came across it, I think I did a Google search for free hosting. It was decent at the time, as a noob it was easy to figure out and the free hosting at the time was a positive (although I’m not sure if that was third party?) It’s come a long way since when I used it when I checked it out a couple of weeks ago.

Platform Hopping: Have you transitioned from one forum software to another? What prompted the switch? Was it due to feature limitations, security concerns, or community growth? How did the migration process go, and what lessons did you learn?

I stuck with MyBB for nearly a decade and the only proper switch I’ve done is changing to XenForo last week and that’s because it’s probably the most popular software nowadays and I love all of the features and the ease of use. As easy as MyBB was, XenForo has managed to make it even easier for admins and members. Plus I love the designs and layouts. I’ve never completed a migration though.

Hidden Gems: Have you ever stumbled upon lesser-known forum software that surprised you with its capabilities? Let's uncover those hidden gems and learn from each other's discoveries.

I can’t say I have, I’ve pretty much stuck with the known software for the third party support.

Battle of the Titans: Some forum software have established themselves as major players in the industry. If you've used the popular ones like vBulletin, XenForo, phpBB, or Discourse, share your insights on their strengths and weaknesses.

vBulletin I’ve tried and it was good however it started to become dated compared to XenForo. I think security wise, XenForo is superior.

The Open Source Frontier: Open-source forum software offers more flexibility and control. Have you embraced this realm with platforms like Vanilla, MyBB, or Simple Machines Forum? What drove your decision, and how has the experience been?

As already mentioned, I used MyBB for a decade and the open source allowed for huge customisations and third party development which was brilliant. It really made my forums unique which is harder to do with the likes of XenForo without getting your wallet out. The number of free MyBB plugins are superior to paid forum software as a result.

Cloud-Based Convenience: With the rise of cloud-based solutions like Discourse's hosting or Invision Community and XenForo Cloud, how has this impacted your decision-making process? Did it alleviate administrative burdens or introduce new challenges?

I’ve tried the cloud solutions for IPB and vBulletin and it does make it so much easier to manage a community as you don’t need to focus on the technical side and can put 100% of your time and effort into the community side. The biggest issue is cost, it’s very expensive and with XenForo and IPB being the price it is for their cloud solutions, you’re better off with self hosting as you’ll have the flexibility to upgrade and add security at a fraction of the cost. You can always order a managed VPS if you need that extra technical support.

 

[vbgamer45]

The first forum I really enjoyed using was Invision Power Board, the posting experience and admin area seemed way ahead of its time.


I have installed and used the following

Phorum,phpBB,IPB,MyBB,SMF,XMB,vBulletin,Xenforo,VanillaBB,FluxBB,Flarum,Elkarte (All PHP/MySQL based)


Fun fact I still have a version of Phorum 3.1 released in 2000 still running on PHP 8 in 2023 that I have kept updating to support new php versions.

I have active installs of Phorum,phpBB,MyBB,SMF, Xenforo, Elkarte


Early on I used IPB till it went paid then jumped to phpBB/SMF.

Didn't like SMF at first but grew on me. Mainly it was easy to customize. And the package manager allowed me to easily make mods for it. Which I still haven't seen another forum system do well.

Now I use it based on the license BSD, and the security.


Cloud Based systems prior to my own ones: ezboard and invisionfree. Was a member of a few ezboard based sites. But they all closed/absorbed by larger companies. Prefer to be self hosted. (data control/cost)



I stick to open source forums generally but myself don't have large communities that I run. I just like working on forum software.

If I was doing a large forum site I would mostly like use IPB or Xenforo mainly due me liking the user front end experience.

 

[kensonplays]

Which I still haven't seen another forum system do well.

I'm playing around with an IPS test build (though the pricing is too high for me right now), and they have a Marketplace built into the ACP. Wonder how that compares to SMF since I haven't really used it since 2.0.

 

[Paul]

Platform Hopping: Have you transitioned from one forum software to another? What prompted the switch? Was it due to feature limitations, security concerns, or community growth? How did the migration process go, and what lessons did you learn?

I might come back to some of the other questions but for now, my forum began as an msn group, then they were closing so started on Conforums, then because they had a lot of ads (pop up ones), went to Proboards but still kept Conforums running into 2004, ended up it was 2 very active forums, so much so we had entirely different staff on both, then later in 2004 we opened up a forum on Sudden Launch and we had 3 active forums going, in the end Sudden Launch closed and Conforums got quiet so we stuck with Proboards. A few years later though, we opened up another forum on Invision Free and also one on freepowerboards and we again had 3 quite active forums. The latter 2 slowly died and harder to reel members in, a few years ago again tried more to add to the 'Funjoint Network' opened up a forum on createaforum but at the end of the day Proboards is the one that's been there for 20 years.

 

[Tracy]

Errrr... do we want to go back into my BBS era (yes, some of us actually predate forums on the internet still)?
FidoBBS
QuickBBS (FrontDoor for FidoNet)
RemoteAccess (FrontDoor for FidoNet)
MaximusBBS (multi-line Binkley for FidoNet)
Wildcat (honestly dont' remember which FidoNet interface as I didn't run it long)
then I "progressed" into the internet with phpBB, myBB and then at one time or another I played with almost every "popular" free script to get exposure to them... then I delved into the "good" paid scripts of IPS, Woltlab and Xenforo... had no desire to waste the money on vBulletin.

Honestly.. it's rather fun to watch the "whining" over the "death" of forums after living through (and surviving) the pre-cursors of it. Seems that many that "whine" about the death of forums have not had that "benefit". Actually.. forums have a better chance of extended life than BBS's ever did... mainly because of the core distribution aspect of them compared to a BBS.

 

[Empire]

IPB mostly Even as staff embers in the past I used IPB chance why I run IPB

But, that being said. I have used SMF, phpBB, MyBB, WordPress

 

[an0nym0us]

I still use vbulletin and of course xenforo its high level..

 

[Ken]

Proboards always and forever.

 

[Shortie]

I remember the first time I started a forum, I started out with phpBB, I remember back then it was difficult to add the mods and you would need to do a lot of template editing and one slight mistake could break everything. I got fed up with that happening and when I found out about MyBB I moved to that.

From MyBB, I moved to vBulletin which I loved but when they moved to vBulletin 4, I didn't like the changes they made but by then, Xenforo was released and I look into moving to Xenforo.

After I moved to Xenforo I stayed and have stayed with Xenforo since. For any forums that I create as a hobby though I tend to use Jcink as I love how much they offer for free on their platform.

 

[kensonplays]

If I were to ever create a second forum, I'd go with SMF most likely, as its what I'm the most familiar with besides XF. XF for my primary site, Mesozoic Haven, and SMF for any extras since multiple licenses of XF can get costly fast.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I've used quite a few different software throughout the years. Pretty much most of them were just for testing purposes, to get a feel for how the software works. I've used FluxBB, PunBB, FUD, YaBB, Advance Electron Forums, Luna (which was rebranded and I can't think of what it was rebranded to... I don't even think it's online anymore.), XMB, MyBB, SMF, phpBB, IPB, Xenforo, vBulletin, and Woltlab. As for free forum hosting I've used Proboards, Jcink, Forumotion, Zetaboards/InvisionFree, Prophpbb, and all the SMF hosts too. Out of all the software I've used, my least favorite is FluxBB but they're no longer around I think they finally merged with Flarum.

 

[Nomad]

I have used SMF, MyBB, phpBB, and a couple of Wordpress forum plugins to create forums. I have never premium forum software like Xenforo. I like building my community with a small investment so that I am able to run my community for a long time.

 

[kensonplays]

I have used SMF, MyBB, phpBB, and a couple of Wordpress forum plugins to create forums. I have never premium forum software like Xenforo. I like building my community with a small investment so that I am able to run my community for a long time.

Understandable, if you were to go for a paid option in the future, though, XenForo is a great choice. Its cheaper than Invision Community and vBulletin both.

 

[Nomad]

Understandable, if you were to go for a paid option in the future, though, XenForo is a great choice. Its cheaper than Invision Community and vBulletin both.

I have used multiple premium forum software in my capacity as a staff on various forums and based on my experience, XF seems to be a great choice.

 

[zoldos]

phpBB, vBulletin, IPB, MyBB, Vanilla Forums, Flarum, SMF, and Xenforo (in no particular order).

Currently running Xenforo 2.2 and love it!

 

[cdub]

Infopop hosted service (which changed their name every year it seemed to groupee eve etc) from 2001 until 2013ish when I switched to XF.

 

[TwitchisMental]

Oh geez I have tinkered with quite a few..

SMF, phpBB, FluxBB, MyBB, XF, IPB, Latova, UBB, Phorum, and Vanilla off of the top of my head.

I also used a few of the hosted options aswell like Proboards, Zetaboards, and InvisionFree.

 

[Joeychgo]

Enough that I couldn't list. I have bought numerous forums over the years that were converted from free to vB or XF.

But mainly everything was converted to vBulletin and Xenforo. Now its XF exclusively.

I even worked on some old Bulletin Board systems back in the day. For those of you that don't know, those were the ones you dialed into directly via modem. (no internet) So, the most users you could have online at a time was controlled by how many phone lines and how many modems you had. We weren't called Admins then, we were called Sysops. (system operators)

 

[Uncrowned]

Your first love for software: Invision Power Services. InvisionFree to be exact as my discovery of this setup basically got me into the forum life and was also the host of my first forums.

Stepping into the Arena: This would be InvisionFree once again and it started my love for Invision Community today.

Platform Hopping: I have always tried to make phpBB work. The open source, massive community, and endless abilities always pushed me toward it. However, it was more of a learning experience for me as the endless mods and trying to keep things working as they lose support in large communities started to push me away from heavily modded suites.

Hidden Gems: MyBB when it first came out. I mean today it seems to have fallen into a state of zero updates and isn't even far from the original release in many ways, but the fact it still stands up against IPS and XF is certainly commendable to how nice it was one day one.

Battle of the Titans: I feel like it is less of a battle than ever. Comparing IPS to XF is almost silly at this point as their goals and target users are far too different. VB has all but murdered itself and phpBB4 seems more like a myth than a plan. Wotlabs is the most interesting in my opinion as they are walking the line on who to try and take on but are also sitting in a nice little spot to keep up with XF's forum, but still compete with IPS's suite.

The Open-Source Frontier: As I said, phpBB was always my go-to for larger projects and would still be at the topic of my list for a dev team wanting a base to make a project on.

Custom-Built Solutions: Never found these great. A custom bridge always made way more sense to me.

Cloud-Based Convenience: I love IPS's cloud hosting and use it on my sites, but it does show the problems with being at the mercy of the dev team. XF, VB, and Wotlabs all seem to be focusing on cloud solutions over self-hosted and this has me a bit worried about the long-term survival of self-hosted hobby forums, but I'd say with still decades from that.