I’ll admit it, I can be a bit picky when it comes to joining certain forums. I’ll join ones that run Jcink or SMF, but I won’t join a forum that uses MyBB, as I’m not much of a fan of that platform.

 

That said, I’m more likely to join a forum running Xenforo or even IPB, since I’m a fan of both platforms.

 

What about you? Does the forum’s software matter to you when you join a new community or not really?

as I feel it's very outdated, more than what Jcink is anyway.

When did you last use SMF? 2.0 is definitely out of date, but good thing 2.1 was released a couple of years ago.

Oh, I didn't know that. Interesting... can you tell me what'll be in store for it?

Primarily modernisation of the internals. Much of SMF's internal code hails from 2004 just as Jcink's does (since much of Jcink is really Invision Power Boards 1.3 from 2004).

 

3.0 roadmap: https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=587334.0

I don't find my opinion to be aggressive. It is simply a personal choice. I've been on forums that were "free" hosted, and they lacked features, were hard to navigate, and often had forced ads that detracted from the usage of the site. One time, I clicked a "my account" link on a such forum, and a spam page opened trying to get me to sign up for something. No thanks.

To me, that's a whole different topic.

 

I thought it was about software. The ads and spam were something added.

 

I've never joined a phpBB or SMF forum and got a spam ad, and I've been on forums for over 20 years.

 

Your experience was manipulation of the software, not an out-of-the-box feature.

Yeah, there's several 'we'll host an x forum for you' and those all have ads out of the box unless you're paying because servers aren't free. But it does taint the reputation of the platforms they're running on.

To me, that's a whole different topic.

 

I thought it was about software. The ads and spam were something added.

 

I've never joined a phpBB or SMF forum and got a spam ad, and I've been on forums for over 20 years.

 

Your experience was manipulation of the software, not an out-of-the-box feature.

There were other factors as well. The spam link thing only happened on a forum hosted for "free", like Proboards. I can't recall which one. But not only that, the software they offered was just awful. lol

(talking about myBB) It’s awful on mobile too. It’s the only software that isn’t fully optimized for mobile phones and that’s a bad thing.

 

ProBoards should offer an option for forum owners using their free hosting to transfer their forums to another provider if they choose, especially since they built the forums themselves. That's one thing I don't like about ProBoards.

 

I disagree. myBB can be adapted for mobile relatively easy, and I use several myBB forums that run absolutely fine on mobile. "Optimization" for mobile phones generally requires the admin to do a bit of work, and I don't think that's too much to expect, especially for a free software.

 

Instead of being jealous or hating on different software, we should embrace forums otherwise we'll kill it all off in the end.

 

I'm fine joining any forum using any software.

 

This sums up my feelings pretty well.

 

I don't know what it is about phpBB, but I've never been fond of sites that use the software. Maybe it's the layout, the theme, or the lack of some features, but I've never been a fan of it.

 

Nowadays, in comparison to other softwares, phpBB looks quite outdated. 15 years ago, phpBB was the forum software to beat imo, and it's simplicity (both user, and mod/admin wise) was it's number one selling point.

 

I tend to not see what software a forum uses, only that it's easily navigated through and is active. A lot of times through is a certain "flavor" in that forums seem to take on. A large number of categories that many newer forums tend to go with instead of the oft-suggested to not do that.

 

The not-so-often-used software like Flarum, NodeBB, or even Discourse has been growing in use lately, but not as much as Xenforo or IC. I think many dismiss a forum when they use phpBB or MyBB as something lessor than what is out there or even antiqued.

 

Just as a footnote, I've come across some MyBB (and one phpBB) forums lately that you wouldn't know are using those softwares if you didn't look in the footer for the credits. Again, I go back to the forum admin - if you have a little technical knowledge, and some patience/time, these platforms offer great customization options for free.

When did you last use SMF? 2.0 is definitely out of date, but good thing 2.1 was released a couple of years ago.

I didn't say I used it... I just said that as someone who was on an SMF forum and saw the comparisons.

I do enjoy being told that my work is outdated compared to a platform that's still mostly 20 years old, though.

Nowadays, in comparison to other softwares, phpBB looks quite outdated. 15 years ago, phpBB was the forum software to beat imo, and it's simplicity (both user, and mod/admin wise) was it's number one selling point.

I don't know how customizable phpBB is, but if they got the layout and theme looking representative enough, I think I would find myself more willing to register and participate.

I don't know how customizable phpBB is

It's inevitably self-hosted, so you can go nuts with it.

 

If I didn't tell you this was phpBB, you'd almost certainly never know - https://hogwarts.io/ - and this is just the front page.

 

Heck, my roleplay stuff started out life as SMF. When you're in the self hosting pool, the level of customisation becomes your imagination - subject to dealing with patches from the core software, and sometimes figuring out how to make them play nicely.

I don't really see the big deal as to what platform. My bigger concern is rather it's cluttered with ads. I mean, unless I got a strong interest in the site otherwise, the ads can be a real turn-off.

My bigger concern is rather it's cluttered with ads.

Not a concern if you have an ad-blocker 😏

It's inevitably self-hosted, so you can go nuts with it.

 

If I didn't tell you this was phpBB, you'd almost certainly never know - https://hogwarts.io/ - and this is just the front page.

 

Heck, my roleplay stuff started out life as SMF. When you're in the self hosting pool, the level of customisation becomes your imagination - subject to dealing with patches from the core software, and sometimes figuring out how to make them play nicely.

 

This is an amazing example of what a good administrator can do. I'm still not sure if I quite believe it's phpBB!

 

 

 

Edit: Epic fail, realised after I posted the meme that it does not work. xD

If I didn't tell you this was phpBB, you'd almost certainly never know - https://hogwarts.io/ - and this is just the front page.

It's one of the more unique phpBB themes/layouts I've seen.

Many years ago I went travelling around the US with a friend of mine. We made a travel blog using SMF - and a WordPress theme I ported.

 

The reality is that most of the time people just don’t go far from the default because maintenance discourages them from doing so.

 

Not looking like a typical forum isn’t actually that hard, but you do run the risk of maintenance issues. It is one of the interesting asides of Jcink that because it doesn’t move much functionally that people tend to customise it visually more (but then run into maintenance issues with customisations)

Many years ago I went travelling around the US with a friend of mine. We made a travel blog using SMF - and a WordPress theme I ported.

I think I remember that. IIRC, it was a jeep trip around the desert, right?

I think I remember that. IIRC, it was a jeep trip around the desert, right?

Jeep trip from KY to CA and back, via the Badlands, one of the Great Lakes, Mount Rushmore, Reno, Route 66, the Golden Gate Bridge and Moab. 7200 miles in total.

Jeep trip from KY to CA and back, via the Badlands, one of the Great Lakes, Mount Rushmore, Reno, Route 66, the Golden Gate Bridge and Moab. 7200 miles in total.

Good route!

 

I finally did some traveling myself this year. Got married the day before my birthday (big 40) and then drove several hundred miles to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where we had our honeymoon

 

I really wanted to see a bear in the wild. I saw 16 of them!

 

Sites that have no mobile view drive me nuts. I don't want to pinch and zoom every page and scroll back and forth.

 

I rarely would register an account in this case, unless I had a need.

This is an amazing example of what a good administrator can do. I'm still not sure if I quite believe it's phpBB!

 

 

 

Edit: Epic fail, realised after I posted the meme that it does not work. xD

Yeah, it's all about the effort put in. The free software can be as good or better than premium, assuming what DIY (Do-It-Yourself) work is put in,

Edited December 9, 2024Dec 9 by Jason

The free software can be as good or better than premium, assuming what DIY (Do-It-Yourself) work is put in,

I used to believe that. I'm not so sure any more.

I used to believe that. I'm not so sure any more.

 

Come on! You yourself posted a brilliant example of a phpBB site that nobody would ever know was phpBB: https://administrata.net/threads/do-you-tend-to-join-avoid-sites-that-use-a-certain-forum-software.103/page-4#post-4340

 

Did you have your coffee today? :P

Did you have your coffee today? :P

I don't drink coffee.

 

The problem is that the baseline is that much higher because they 1) have people paid to invest time in building it and 2) have a direct financial incentive to keep improving the product.

 

If XF 2.0 to 2.1 had delivered a new theme, limited add-on compatibility, a new editor, alerts (because it didn't have it before) and a few other sundry features, do you think the customers would have stayed paying for 11 years in the meantime?

 

The out of the box experience of XF and IC vs the out of the box experience on any of the free platforms... is night and day difference. You get some cases where there's a hybrid (Discorse, NodeBB, Flarum) where there is a practical and significant hosting component that pays for some development.

 

Much as I hate to give our dear friend Tracy much of a shoutout, one site he participates in uses SMF and there's been a surprising amount of commentary about how much 'it's not XF'. Some of it you can chalk up to a lack of familiarity but far from all, and more galling to admit, I find myself agreeing.

 

The likes of phpBB, MyBB and SMF are - sorry to say - second class citizens at this point, irrespective of how much work one individual site might put in to 'prove it's not true'.

 

 

And to give you some idea of how much of a stake in this I have made almost 77,000 posts on the official SMF community in my time, released over 100 addons including one used on the official SMF community itself (and two that very nearly ended up becoming official 'Simple Machines' products) as well as tens of thousands of lines of SMF's code. I do not hold this opinion lightly.

Yeah, it's all about the effort put in. The free software can be as good or better than premium, assuming what DIY (Do-It-Yourself) work is put in,

 

Effort matters, but there’s a limit to how much DIY should be required. Take MyBB as an example: it still lacks a built-in alerts system and a proper mobile interface. These are fundamental features that should be included by default, not something the forum owner has to implement themselves.

And that's the thing, you can invest a significant amount of DIY time and arrive at something... vaguely approaching what you get out of XF out of the box.

 

The question becomes whether your time is worth the $195 price to get started or not.

Effort matters, but there’s a limit to how much DIY should be required. Take MyBB as an example: it still lacks a built-in alerts system and a proper mobile interface. These are fundamental features that should be included by default, not something the forum owner has to implement themselves.

 

I don't quite agree on one aspect - the alerts system. Alerts systems were never originally needed for forums - forums were exactly the kind of place alerts weren't needed, as at least when I was younger, forums were supposed to be something dipped in and out of - you discussed only the things that interested you, and you went back to posts you'd made frequently to check if anyone had replied to you - alerts just weren't envisioned as a core feature needed.

 

Granted, it's absolutely possible that MyBB could've moved with the times and implemented systems similar to what XenForo and vBulletin have, but at the same time, I like the fact that MyBB has retained a lot of it's "core values" as much - which is that forums are meant to be relatively simple places. Sometimes I think members appreciate a break from a forum/social media/website or whatever it might be that is constantly demanding their attention by notification.