What forum software and why?

[Aikimaniac]

Hey folks,

im in need to help friend of mine to choose forums for his purpose, forum has to have like up to 5000 active visitors per day so some heavy traffic solution is mostly welcome. Choices are:

Simply Machines 2
PhpBB 3
MyBB
FluxBB
FUDForum
Drupal

thanks in advance for any input with explanation why or own experiences comments.

Aiki

[xban1x]

IPB. Enough said.

[jurchiks]

Pls, IPB is loaded with stuff you don't need, it's sluggish as fuck.
There's an open-source NodeJS version: https://nodebb.org/
Supposedly very fast.
Second option for me would be FluxBB because it seems simple enough and I don't like complexity. Simple == fast in this case too.

[Amrod]

Hello

I once compared PhpBB and SMF a while ago. I compared all the Features especially in the customise section. At the end I decided myself for SMF but I dont remember why exactly. The Installation didnt even work at the end ^^

Anyway, i just compared those two and SMF was the winner - in my opinion. I dont know the other boards

Kind regards

[u3games]

Hello

I once compared PhpBB and SMF a while ago. I compared all the Features especially in the customise section. At the end I decided myself for SMF but I dont remember why exactly. The Installation didnt even work at the end ^^

Anyway, i just compared those two and SMF was the winner - in my opinion. I dont know the other boards

Kind regards

+1

SMF, fast, efficient, more simple and easy to customize.

[jurchiks]

But it still looks like a past century software, same as phpbb.
Yes, I care about looks, but you probably already knew that.

[Amrod]

But it still looks like a past century software, same as phpbb.

But if you ask me, I think FluxBB is exactly that Kind of forum. I dont mind that Kind of design. Just wanted to say that.

[jurchiks]

FluxBB is minimalistic, phpBB and SMF are not, but they sure look like it.

[Hyrelius]

Forum is often integrated into a whole web site. Minimalistic forums often don't cut it anymore - you have to have a high level of customization possibilities while at the same time have time making it as simple as possible.

From my experience it's not too hard to build a website with an "integrated" forum as well as other custom pages using SMF. I did try phpBB, wortlab and a couple of others, but most forum systems are not really prepared to be integrated into something. If integration into a website (in order to make everything look like some sort of corporate design) isn't important, you might checkout phpBB - especially because it has quite a few extensions and a big community (at least from what I've experienced).

Can't really say anything regarding FluxBB as I haven't tried it, because my needs were covered by either SMF or phpBB.

[jurchiks]

Well, IMHO phpBB is not a good option, its ACP is quite convoluted.

[Aikimaniac]

Will try first with SMF to see how it will look like... still open to suggestions and free software is preferred

[xban1x]

IPB is not sluggish. It's easiest to customize. Best ACP ever. Easy to add mods. Wide range of customization.

[UnAfraid]

I like IPB too but sadly isnt free.

[jurchiks]

IPB is sluggish when compared to more light-weight solutions.
Have you used all of the mentioned forums to know that IPB is the easiest of them all to customise and has the best ACP?

[Gladicek]

Will try first with SMF to see how it will look like... still open to suggestions and free software is preferred

I was using SMF 2.X.X and it is best if you want free software. If you want to pay for it then vBulletin/IPB.