Nobody said that phpBB cannot handle the volume...but like Adam said, Gaia is hardly a phpBB forum. It has been very heavily modified and optimized so the script is no longer anything like phpBB out of the box.

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...some super-sweet signature

Like Ryan said. Use PhpBB's default code on GAIA and it'd bring their server to it's knees.

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Ford Mustang Forums - F-Series Trucks

How can we actually tell it was phpBB at one time. It looks nothing like it now.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_Online

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Ford Mustang Forums - F-Series Trucks

Guh. You win.

But seriously.

phpBB is very easy to use, its a very decent piece of software. But vBulletin is well worth its money.

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There is a lot of phpBB code left, and the changes are well documented over at phpBB.com. The major changes are the use of a stripped down version of categories hiearchy, and the code changes to help handle more traffic. It's like adding a mod to the forum, but I guess anyone who has cash and shop mod are also running a hacked up phpBB forum...

No flames intended, but seriously people need to stop down talking phpBB as if it isn't stable. There are plenty other large forums running phpBB such as http://www.realgm.com/boards and http://www.jlaforums.com. VB is awesome, and I wanted it too since the first forum I ever posted on was running it, but now knowing the capabilites of phpBB I think I'll stay with it.

I'm sorry but there isn't a lot of the code left. The majority of it has been rewritten to fit their needs. They use 30-40 servers which phpBB can't even handle in stock form. They might have 5% of the changes documented over at phpBB.com. I have read what you are referring to. They started with phpBB because it was the best free bulletin board at the time of their creation. They then modified the code to fit their needs. I don't mean just a mod here or a mod there I mean ripped into the core of the code and changed the majority of the sql and php to support their needs.

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Ford Mustang Forums - F-Series Trucks

Server?

Surely you mean nearly 100 of them

http://www.big-boards.com/highlight/60/

Actually given big boards hasn't been updated for months, it's probably well over 100 now.

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Liverpool FC Forum with 3 million+ posts. Powered by SMF

I already mentioned that. So I forgot an s Last time I looked into it they were on 30-40 servers which was well over a year ago.

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Ford Mustang Forums - F-Series Trucks

I think it's wrong to sit here and argue about how much phpbb code is left, we will never know that unless the owner of gaia actually documented each and every change, and made it presentable to the public (we all know that would never happen). I have read that their CH (sub-forums) is very stripped down. Unless the owner of the gaia will admit how much of the code has been altered, I feel out of respect to give phpBB due credit. Also, the other forums mentioned powered by phpBB with over 10 million posts clearly sets an example that phpBB can handle the volume.

I bet if gaia started with vB then modified the script to their needs, people would praise vB as if it were a God.