I'm a vB fanboy and proud. I have used (from an administration perspective) phpbb before but never any of the others. I am starting a new community very soon, more information on that at a later date, but with Christmas right around the corner I am in no position to buy myself another vBulletin licence. I already have two, one for here http://devioustyrant.com and one for here http://azhforum.com. I would not like to deny either of them the quality afforded by vBulletin by snatching away the licence so I need an alternative.

Ideally I would like to 'upgrade' to vBulletin in the future, so that functionality would be superb.

Any ideas. Please don't just post 'SMF' or 'MyBB' or whatever. I'd like reasons for the recommendation and also examples if you would like.

Thanks.

AzH

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SMF, I believe, has the best future of any free software out there. SMF, in my opinion, also has the most features of any free software out there.

MyBB, looks the most like vBulletin, if that is what you are going for...I would put it at a distant second to SMF with phpBB at a close third. phpBB 3 is right around the corner, and that could change things...but until it is released, SMF is the superior free software right now. The biggest downside that I see with SMF is a lack of third party skins and mods...but that will change with time.

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Like Ryan said, MyBB looks like vbulletin. How it's features are and stuff, I'm not sure.

In terms of features, well IPB would be next, but assuming you don't want to buy software, probably SMF like Ryan said. I personally don't like the design of it when I've been at forums that use it, but it definitely offers the most features.

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I almost clicked on SMF and did an install before I started this thread, but the look of it, and the feel of it (do you know what I mean??) just didn't sit right with me. If feels too tacky. Maybe I'm being stupid, but with vBUlletin it feels solid, the quality seems tangible. With SMF I felt like I was dealing with something lightweight and throwaway. But you guys think it is good?? Interesting. Thanks for the responses thus far please keep them coming.

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You can always download a different theme

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You can edit SMF to look however you want. If you know how to code, then moving and changing things I've heard is pretty easy.

I cannot code to save my life, so I'm stuck with modifying exsisting skins, but SMF is pretty flexible. So don't let the look of it put you off if you like the features.

I'm pretty happy with it myself, it's has a lot of features for a free forum. I've never worked behind the scenes at a Vbulletin forum so I cannot compare them though.

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I think that MyBB is the closest to vBulletin, in terms of features and look, but then again, SMF has some features that MyBB doesn't offer. One thing that's always annoyed me about SMF is that it does not offer an announcements feature. I'm not sure if that feature really matters to you, but I just thought that I would bring it up.

Chris

Personally, I suggest MyBB. Nice and easy-to-use feel - you won't be searching through the layout for what you're looking for.

That's not to say it isn't feature-filled, though, with multi-quote, quick edit, inline post/thread moderation, custom moderator tools, an amazing theme and template system, and really, just so much more... It's hard to describe how amazing I think MyBB is, and for it to be free is the icing on the cake!

The Admin CP is a little bit cluttered, but that'll all change in MyBB 1.4 - it's getting a brand new ACP

If you want to try out MyBB without installing a thing, you can check out the MyBB Demo at OpenSourceCMS.

I'm just curious... what are your reasoning behind SMF as #1 for free with MyBB as a distant second? Just interested... because I tried SMF 1.1 locally (testing the MyBB Converter system) and found it far from impressive...

(no hatred to the avid SMF users here... )

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SMF doesn't have Announcements, but it can be easily installed. I don't find a need for them since it has a newsfader instead.

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MyBB, from what I have heard, is less secure than SMF...it's not quite as bad as phpBB, but I think that's due to the popularity of phpBB. Another thing that sets me back from MyBB is exactly how much it looks like vB...both the front end and the back end. It's clear that the MyBB developers are trying to mimic what Jelsoft is doing...You can't blame them, but at the same time, you've got to know where to stop.

Last I checked, the MyBB modding community was even smaller than SMF's, which is saying a lot...because the SMF modding community is quite small itself.

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