Hi all, this is my first post here.

We're trying to decide whether we should use BoonEx Dolphin or Joomla to build an upcoming social network website. The main issue is that although my partner in this is a very experienced website developer, he won't have a lot of time to help out. Therefore, the bulk of the work involved in creating and administering the site will fall on my shoulders. I do have a lot of experience with business software and some scripting (batch files, macros, basic html), but I am a total noob when it comes to PHP and website development. Given enough time I can figure out just about any software I've had to use, but in this case we want to be up and running soonest, so my learning curve needs to be as easy as possible.

I like the fact that Joomla is totally open source and has a large, active community, but the two examples I've found of people using it for social networking sites are a little intimidating. I was left with the impression that the webmasters are experts at Joomla, PHP and website development in general.

BoonEx Dolphin presents itself as being a "social network in a can", so to speak, and the branding issue isn't a concern since it's pretty cheap to have it removed. However, I've heard some complaints as to its reliability and support, although I've so far read nothing definitive enough to steer me away from it.

Bottom line: At this point I'm intimidated by Joomla and impressed by how BoonEx presents itself on its website. However, I'm experienced enough to know that you can't just go by a company's advertising.

So, does anyone here have some experience with either or both Dolphin or Joomla? Can anyone give me some hard info - beyond vagaries like "their support sucks, dood!" - on the the good, bad and ugly of these two packages?

My apologies for such a long-winded post, and thank you in advance for any insight, suggestions and help you can provide.

Cheers

Nevermind, we're going with Joomla.

(mods: feel free to delete this thread )

I have this same question too. Why did you decide to go with Joomla in the end?

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The main reason is because Joomla has a great reputation and a large and robust online community, so I feel good about being able to get help when I need it.

The other reason - all due respect to any Dolphin fans - is I've read MANY negative comments concerning Dolphin's software and the company's support structure. I'm NOT going to list here what I've read, so don't bother asking. Anyone that wants to verify my statement merely needs to peruse the first few results of a google search. Unfortunately for Dolphin, the negative stuff comes up pretty quickly.

But Joomla didn't just win "by default". From what I can tell, they've more than earned their good reputation.