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?

Hmm, yes. More than I care to admit. For me it's more a matter of free vs paid software. And I think you can distinguish the serious community leaders from the less serious. When you go paid software, you tend to care more about the community. You're willing to spend money, you (should) have a clear vision and goal. So naturally those people are taken more serious.

 

The forum community atmosphere has hanged so much that you can't make crucial mistakes like this. Sure, you can still upgrade from free to paid, but you've already lost majority of your visitors. So, personally, I'll join a community when I see some serious investment such as a license.

I steer clear away from ProBoards forums, especially when years ago ProBoards themselved had nagged you to turn off your ad-blocker. Maybe not as much now but wouldn't take the chance.

 

I'm also not a fan of SMF forums either, as I feel it's very outdated, more than what Jcink is anyway.

I steer clear away from ProBoards forums, especially when years ago ProBoards themselved had nagged you to turn off your ad-blocker. Maybe not as much now but wouldn't take the chance.

 

I'm also not a fan of SMF forums either, as I feel it's very outdated, more than what Jcink is anyway.

I have never been a fan of ProBoards, ever. Jcink is nice considering out history with InvisionFree.

 

You may or may not know, but SMF 3.0 is currently in heavy development, and we should be quite impressed with it (according to a good source).

You may or may not know, but SMF 3.0 is currently in heavy development, and we should be quite impressed with it (according to a good source).

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

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

It’s being completely rewritten, making it more easier that ever to create additional plugins by the community. I don’t want to “leak” too much as it may bring the source in danger. 😅 But I’ll ask if there’s anything else I can say.

I definitely prefer Xenforo over all others. Only a handful of the forums I'm on don't run it. :D

 

ProBoards? Oh God. lol

I'm not a fan of MyBB, to be honest. Something about it just feels .. tryhard. I am sure the script is amazing and the people behind it are talented, it's just not my cup of tea.

 

I'm okay with every other forum script.

I'm not a fan of MyBB, to be honest. Something about it just feels .. tryhard. I am sure the script is amazing and the people behind it are talented, it's just not my cup of tea.

 

I'm okay with every other forum script.

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.

I definitely prefer Xenforo over all others. Only a handful of the forums I'm on don't run it. :D

 

ProBoards? Oh God. lol

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'm not a fan of MyBB, to be honest. Something about it just feels .. tryhard. I am sure the script is amazing and the people behind it are talented, it's just not my cup of tea.

 

I'm okay with every other forum script.

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.

It's quite hilarious that some theme developers are able to make a mobile responsive theme, but the software developers don't bother to make the core software mobile responsive.

For me it's more a matter of free vs paid software.

Always thought you were a snob.

 

I started out with vBulletin so the transition to xenForo seemed natural for me. As a result I have never been overly fond of Invision based boards. They just feel clunky. I know people who use Invision love it, but for me they just don't feel as intuitive as a xenForo forum does.

 

It's entirely a matter of personal preference.

No.

 

Listen, that sort of aggression is what has caused a lot of forum industry and genre to die like it is.

 

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.

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.

No.

 

Listen, that sort of aggression is what has caused a lot of forum industry and genre to die like it is.

 

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 is true, perhaps it's just a subjective thing on my end.

 

I do like to join forums if they are using forum scripts which are not the norm though, something like Flarum, Vanilla, etc. Not the usual XF or Invision forums.

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.

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.

If I remember correctly, I had a ProBoards WAY back. I then started self-hosting. SOO much better.

Discourse

As I'm developing my directory, I'm seeing a lot more new forums that are Discourse.

 

I'm also a member of a very large Discourse forum, so it's comfortable for me to use. It feels more like social media and traditional forums thrown in a blender.

 

I'm kind of hoping XenForo is taking notes from it, and other successful mediums, for XF 3.

As I'm developing my directory, I'm seeing a lot more new forums that are Discourse.

 

I'm also a member of a very large Discourse forum, so it's comfortable for me to use. It feels more like social media and traditional forums thrown in a blender.

 

I'm kind of hoping XenForo is taking notes from it, and other successful mediums, for XF 3.

I can't get used to Discourse. It's too weird as a traditional forum, but I must admit, it's content first designed.

I do not care about free software or paid software, I care more about the content and engagement in the community. But I like to avoid free hosted community that runs on subdomain.

I don't avoid any sites, but some forum softwares bother me more than others.

 

For example, I'm not a big fan of phpBB. It simply doesn't feel as fluid and modern as most other forum softwares ou there, especially the paid ones.

I can't get used to Discourse. It's too weird as a traditional forum, but I must admit, it's content first designed.

Infinite scroll in a thread with 20000 replies gets you hooked on it for hours.

 

It takes a while to catch up and then even more time to go back and get some questions addressed that you think were missed in the post.

I'm only bothered by the software a site uses if it makes people have to jump through hoops to do things. I'm bored of having to fight with decade-plus old forum software conventions.

 

That said I'm still not a huge fan of Discourse - though I won't go out of my way to avoid it - it doesn't seem to have radically moved since 2014 or so when it was foisted upon me on a site I was a member of, but I really hope it's upped its game in terms of reliability on dodgy networks, because it was terrible for the first couple of years at coping with spotty mobile connections.

 

The fact that Jeff Atwood and I butted heads several times in conversation has never entirely sat right with me, but history does appear to have demonstrated that the things I argued with him about, I was right about at the time.

Nope. If I like the content and the activity, nothing in the world would stop me unless the design is so crappy I can't navigate through forum. Only that.

I'll join a site regardless of what forum software they use. I care more about content, activity, and if their theme allows me to navigate the site easily.

Though I prefer the traditional forum layout that Xenforo, MyBB, Invision, etc offer over Discourse I wouldn't mind joining a forum using Discourse or modern platform. If the community offers engaging content that I enjoy, I'll join it regardless of software. I just wouldn't personally use certain software myself.

No.

 

Listen, that sort of aggression is what has caused a lot of forum industry and genre to die like it is.

 

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.

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.