vb is definitely worth the money to upgrade from phpbb i just did it not even a week ago and I love vb! its amazing!

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Will Stumpf - TalkNikon
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I've heard someone offers a fully modified phpbb already. I just can't think of the name.

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I went to Vegas, and all I got was this Blister. - true story!

There are plenty premodded phpBBs including MetaBB and phpBB Plus

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The biggest stumbling block for me at least is the fact that I have a board that gets healthy traffic from google and if I switch from phpbb to vb, the spidered url’s will be of no use.

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India Travel Forum | Why most forums fail within 1 year! | Free Travel Directory

The reason that phpBB has more mods than vB is because phpBB has not seen a major upgrade in 5 years (?) whereas vB has been through 3 or 4 major upgrades in that same time period. It's easy to modify a forum if it has not undergone any major changes in 5 years...just imagine all of the mods that can be created during that timeframe. With vB, on the other hand, the developers are constantly working on new, major releases, which makes it understandably difficult to release large modifications so quickly.

In order to bring phpBB to the functionality that vB has out of the box, you're going to have to install a lot of mods, many of which will require code changes...The majority of vB mods do *not* require code changes.

dojo, phpBB might be easier to upgrade for you, but that's because you've been working with it for so long...If you knew what you knew about phpBB with vB, you'd realize that upgrading is 10x easier with vB.

If you have the funds, I highly recommend upgrading to vB. You don't have to have vB to be successful, but it will help.

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...some super-sweet signature

vBulletin is a lot better than phpBB but I don't really think that it would be worth the money... Unless you were going to develop a site that would get really heavy traffic, allowing you to get more ad revenue, I wouldn't even bother!

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While I prefer vBulletin, phpBB3 is shaping up to be a nice piece of (free) forum software. I've always found vB to be much more secure + stable, and feature-wise, it's quite a bit ahead of phpBB. However, I've been closely following the development of phpBB3 (currently in the BETA stages; an RC is expected very soon), and I've seen some nice improvements being made to the software, such as the new proSilver theme, which looks very professional (IMO).

It also depends on if you want to spend any money on a piece of software. If you have the funds, then yes, I highly recommend vBulletin. However, if you are in a position where you can't spend any money, a free alternative such as phpBB would be just fine. Remember: you are what makes a forum successful; not the forum software. Look at MyBB, for example. Feature-wise, it is very close to vBulletin, but there's one difference: MyBB is free. When looking for forum software, always keep an open mind, and don't feel rushed. I assure you, if you are having a hard time choosing the right software, it is not the end of the world, and you are most definitely not the only one who's having that problem.

I've probably said this already, but don't make a decision solely based on what we say here. There is a small amount of homework involved in the, "forum software picking" process, and trust me, if you do it correctly, you'll most definitely pass.

Good luck!

Chris

I've used both phpBB and vB and personally, I would much rather pay the small amount of money each year for vB then stick with phpBB. If you are running a site with 2 or 3 other people, then it is a relatively small amount each year for something I see as being far superior.

That said, phpBB is an excellent piece of forum software if you are after something free.

My $0.02

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Stay far away from fully modded phpbb. There are way too many hacks, and it's very insecure. Plus you have to pay for support.


Well, the largest forum on the net by far is powered by phpBB. So for everyone claiming phpBB is unstable and can't handle the volume why don't you go checkout www.gaiaonline.com. I think the 7,010,008 members and 1,008,975,045 posts says it all, and they average over 30,000 members on the forum at any given time

Gaia is so hacked up there is very little phpBB base code left, most people are not sure why they even keep the link in the footer.

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