What is the best FREE BB software?

[RickyG]

I would like to run a BB site only and also make money from it. What software would you recomend?
RickyG

 

[jstep]

invision 1.3 for free

 

[matrics]

phpBB has better plugins IMO and seems easier to administrate

 

[jroy]

phpbb

 

[Hazard]

phpbb definately, although if u can get a license, get VB.

 

[RickyG]

I have used PHPBB before and use it with PHP or CPG nukes. I never got big into customising it. Can you run "ads" on it, such as Google?

VB= what is used here?


thank you for the replies so far!
RickyG

 

[Hazard]

Yes, vBulletin. A great piece of engineering if i do say so myself :hehe:

 

[cogeek]

Vbulletin of course for $ and ipb for free

 

[tony84]

id say phpbb, its easier to administrate theres a HUGE community creating skins, and add ons for it, invision im not a big fan of personally

 

[MTsoul]

IPB is no longer free, and even if it was, I'd suggest you not use it.

phpBB is definitely the way to go - more customizable, secure, better support, etc.

 

[Sharpy]

Just set up a Chicago Cubs fan forum phpBB site yesterday. Very easy. Put cj ads, adsense ads and an adsense search bar. Need to understand a little about it before you attempt it. .tpl files and all.

:tri: Blatant Plug Any cubs' fans feel free to join. Don't expect it to do anything 'till spring training, but by then it will be optimized. Check out the Site map %%- 180+ pages of content for every search term to do with the cubs. hehe

 

[Vindexus]

I too will be adding forums to my next site, I'm gonna use phpBB. The support over there is really great, you get replies in minutes. Easy to customize too. Go over there and try out the demo.

 

[Jokez Guy]

I had Phpbb before, for a freebie forum the support is pretty good!

 

[Qwert]

phpBB with mods.

 

[webdome]

phpBB is definitely the way to go - more customizable, secure, better support, etc.

Secure, you must be kidding. phpBB never was secure. The Number of MySQL exploits, plus it is very buggy and slow. For change, take a look at FUDForum numbers of features that you could not find on paid BB, plus speed and secure. Customizations is easy if you have moderate knowledge of php.

FUDforum is a highly customizable forum package, with a large feature set. The easy to use administration control panel allows the administrator to easily configure and control the many features available. The forum also includes an interactive help package, which helps to familiarize users with the full potential of FUDforum.
Here are some of the core features offered by FUDforum:
i18n support, with a number of languages distributed with the forum.
Full template support with a FAST template compiler.
Powerful groups management system, which allows fine grained control over forum's resources.
Private Messaging system, with post tracking & buddy lists
Built in spell checker (using the pspell library)
Ability to use FUDcode, HTML or Plain Text inside posts, configurable by the admin
Administrator definable ranks for the users bases on number of posts as well as assign an unlimited number of custom tags to individual users
3 types of user avatars
Ignore list, allows forum members to ignore posts made by other users.
Threaded View (by default standard flat view is used)
Customizable Find and Replace system, which fully supports both perl regexp (preg) and even str_replace for extremely fast simple replaces
NNTP & Mailing List integration, allowing FUDforum to be used to archive newsgroups & mailing lists, as well as allow forum members to post messages to newsgroups and mailing lists via the forum.
FUDforum also supports all the standard features you may come to expect from a modern forum.
Posting/Replying and editing of topics and messages
Sticky/Announcement messages which stay on top of the forum until they reach their expire date
Custom Avatars upload with administrator approval and automatic scaling (if ImageMagick's mogrify utility is installed)
Emoticon (smilies) Support, with an easy to use admin control panel, which allows the admin to add/remove and edit smilies
Post notification system, which can send notifications via Email & ICQ
Unlimited number of forum moderators
Hidden, Private, Moderated and Password protected forums
Moderation queue, in moderated forums all unapproved messages can be viewed by the moderator and approved or deleted on the spot.
Email confirmation of registered users (can't post until the email address is confirmed)
Specialized HTML like FUDcode that allows styling of messages, the advantage of FUDcode over HTML is that FUDcode will never break layout.
Banning of users by their username and/or IP or IP Mask, Email address filter or Login name filter (full regexp support)
Multiple file uploads per post (configurable by the administrator for each forum)
File extension control, allowing/disallowing certain file extensions
Fully customizable header & footer which can support PHP code
Language filter (full regexp), which allows the admin to replace certain offensive words
Full support for Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
Automatic lost password retrieval
Search Engine
MD5 passwords (128 Bit encryption)
Thread locking by Administrators & Moderators
Easy to use installation PHP or Shell script
Unread Posts Tracking, you can automatically see which posts you have not yet read
Extensive message filtering, by date, read/unread, forum, thread, reply status
Message reporting, allows visitors to report inappropriate messages to the Administrator
Robust MySQL or PostgreSQL back-end, with a virtually unlimited number of messages (up to 2^32 messages)
Cookie based tracking system backed by Sessions in the event the user cannot use cookies.
Polls if allowed, users can create on or more polls on their messages
Forum & Thread subscription system with an easy to use control panel. Allows users to subscribe & unsubscribe from forums & threads.
I-SPY system, if enabled it allows forum members to see what the other users on the forum are doing.

 

[Patrisha G]

Most people choose phpbb because, its easy to intergrate, it has a variety of options, i.e mods. Easy installation, and good admin layout. As for php not being secure and slow, many people have developed mods to correct those things, and if you download straight from phpbb.com you have a lot of security mods already installed. There are such things as mods to speed up your site, and save bandwitch per page.

 

[webdome]

Most people choose phpbb because, its easy to intergrate, it has a variety of options, i.e mods. Easy installation, and good admin layout. As for php not being secure and slow, many people have developed mods to correct those things, and if you download straight from phpbb.com you have a lot of security mods already installed. There are such things as mods to speed up your site, and save bandwitch per page.

Most people choose phpBB b/c it's free, b/c it is the oldest GPL php board, and availability of pre-made skins. Integration, installation, admin panel and etc. not the easiest, nor the best. And no matter what mode you are using, the problem is in the nuclei of phpBB.

 

[Jokez Guy]

Is this FUDForum is it new? or what?

 

[webdome]

Is this FUDForum is it new? or what?

Probably it is. I fond it few months ago; since than, I love it. Security, speed, ability to connect with newsgroup sever!

 

[Jokez Guy]

Hmm i think i should try it out :D

 

[Unknown]

Well I love phpBB. I've been using it for over 2 years and I just love being able to mess around with everything to tweak it to your needs. I also love the amount of mods there are. At least 10000 mods out there (i think). Support is easy to find, and I know how to use it I've done some freelance jobs on phpBB such as editing templates, tweaking, adding mods etc.

 

[Nunim]

Use Invision 1.3 its much faster than PHPBB and easy to use. Check out Invisionize.com for tons of skins and mods. But if I were you I would cought up the 85 bucks and buy vB.

 

[Brian]

if you go the vB route, and will use it for a while, just get the owned (160 + 30 a year for updates if you want them) as wit hteh leased (80) you'd have to pay every year to keep using the software

 

[freak]

My vote is for phpBB

 

[1rrr1]

ib 1.3