I'm looking for a good Bulletin Board/Message Board product...It needs to have a calendar function, ability to attach documents to messages, and take surveys/polls. Any suggestions? Thank you.

vBulletin www.vbulletin.com (This Website uses this board)
phpbb www.phpbb.com


Both do what you need,
vBulletin you have to pay for,
phpbb is free...

I think http://invisionboard.com has a calendar feature though can't remember 100%. It's a good free board. Vbulletin is probably best if you don't mind shelling out some dough.

Now that I think of it.. Im not sure if phpBB has a calendar, I do know I have seen it, So maybe you would need to apply a mod to it.


Vb is the best, But yes, $$$ is sometimes an Issue

btw, Please only post in one forum.. :rolleyes:

phpbb is a really good choice espicaly if you just want to see if people will use your BB. Why shell out the money for vB and then never have anyone come to it.

Plus there are a lot of hacks and mods for phpBB that can make it look and feel alot like vb

don't forget:
XMB (http://www.xmbforum.com)
IkonBoard (http://www.ikonboard.com)
UBB family (http://infopop.com)

Ikon and UBB to resource intensive :rolleyes: :eek:

I recommend phpBB, have used XMB but in my opinion it is no where near as good a product.

i think the calendar is a mod im sure ive seen it on phpbbhacks.com :D

Yes, there is a calendar mod with phpBB and I've used it. Very nice. You can find it here. (http://phpbbhacks.com/searchresults.php?version=&query=calendar)

I wish people would begin to look at the new UBB options (ie. Ubb.Threads) because yes, the old perl UBB was very intensive. But with Threads being completely php/mysql it is incredibly quick. A few months ago I had been running UBB.Threads and the latest Vbulletin on identical servers with nearly identical user base, VB required more queries and a few more resources than Threads, and load time on threads was faster on most machines I had tested it on. Granted it is a tad pricey, but if you know your forums will be used and used a lot it is a very solid solution.

Also, there is a calendar mod for threads you can use :)

Originally posted by JeremyV
I wish people would begin to look at the new UBB options (ie. Ubb.Threads) because yes, the old perl UBB was very intensive. But with Threads being completely php/mysql it is incredibly quick. A few months ago I had been running UBB.Threads and the latest Vbulletin on identical servers with nearly identical user base, VB required more queries and a few more resources than Threads, and load time on threads was faster on most machines I had tested it on. Granted it is a tad pricey, but if you know your forums will be used and used a lot it is a very solid solution.

Also, there is a calendar mod for threads you can use :)

As much money as the original UBB (err.. UBB.Classic or whatever they call it) cost me after starting my parenting board, I don't care WHAT they do to it or what new boards Infopop comes out with, I would NEVER use it again. Not only was there the cost of the board, but for 2 months it used twice as much bandwidth as I'm allowed!! At $10 per GB over, I was spending almost $100/month for hosting with money that comes 100% out of my pocket (no sponsers, no ads, no donations, etc). I bought vBulletin for $160, and don't even use 5GB of bandwidth with it, compared to a high of 15GB with UBB.

Understandable, after an experience like that it is hard to try and change :) I noticed my biggest difference because I was using UBB.Classic (v. 6.x) and I had half as many users/posts as I do now and was pushing 15gig's a month, close to 20. Then I switched to Threads, I now have more than double those users and much more activity on the boards, and even on top of that a newly installed photo gallery script and I'm pulling 6 or 7 gigs. That's a huge change :)

I know a lot of users have run a UBB in the past and obviously know the steep requirements, but when people are asking for advice on boards to disallow and people simply say UBB its being too general since they do have an almost identical product to vBulletin, and infact even a bit quicker and with some neat features.

Originally posted by JeremyV
I wish people would begin to look at the new UBB options (ie. Ubb.Threads) because yes, the old perl UBB was very intensive. But with Threads being completely php/mysql it is incredibly quick. A few months ago I had been running UBB.Threads and the latest Vbulletin on identical servers with nearly identical user base, VB required more queries and a few more resources than Threads, and load time on threads was faster on most machines I had tested it on. Granted it is a tad pricey, but if you know your forums will be used and used a lot it is a very solid solution.

Also, there is a calendar mod for threads you can use :)

Threads was just released... vB 2.x was released a year ago :D

I'd reserve the comments on who's faster till vB 3 is final..

From what I understand it uses half the amount of queries as it does now...

And to show what kinda company IP is, when I used UBB, now UBB.classic, I voiced an opion about something they did, and they banned me...

I've been a vB user ever since, haven't been banned there yet :D

True, I can't wait to see v3 of vb myself, but how long has that been on the table now? ;) v6.1 of threads is due out shortly, even increasing performance in somre areas and adding new features.

Either way. on a budget, can't go wrong with phpbb, need a bit more, pay for vb, or if you need a really solid product with great support choose ubb. In the end, you get what you pay for :D

For those of you not hip to the http://invisionboard.com scene, they will have a calendar feature soon in their v1.1 release. :)

Originally posted by JeremyV
True, I can't wait to see v3 of vb myself, but how long has that been on the table now? ;) v6.1 of threads is due out shortly, even increasing performance in somre areas and adding new features.

Either way. on a budget, can't go wrong with phpbb, need a bit more, pay for vb, or if you need a really solid product with great support choose ubb. In the end, you get what you pay for :D

Slated release date for vB 3 is August-September.. 2.2.7, the final 2.x release is this month also.. so that pretty much sums up when beta of 3 comes out :D

I still remember Navaho saying, that Mysql would never be supported, as it hads to much overhead, and no one would ever need it anyway... And that Perl is so much better than PHP, now look what they have, a PHP/Mysql forum :D

I got tired of the **** with IP...

I don't wanna turn this into a jelsoft/ip debate, hell I don't like most of the vB moderators :D

Threads was just released... vB 2.x was released a year ago

Threads was recently 'acquired'. The PHP version of it has been around for more than a year:

WWWThreads has a new home with Infopop Corporation. After five years of growth and development, W3T has been acquired by Infopop to compliment its suite of industry-leading message board solutions.

Rick Baker will continue to consult as lead developer of the product, which has been renamed UBBThreads™.

I haven't used any of the products listed here that cost, so I'm unable to make a comparison but I thought I'd mention phroum which is FREE.

I've used an earlier version of this software and it worked great. I had 0 problems on a small board. YMMV. Here is some info from their site:

Phorum is a web based message board written in PHP who's goal is to be database and platform independent. It is used on many high-traffic/high-profile sites such as slackware.com, zend.com, and scubadiving.com to name a few (see our links page for a larger list); Phorum is designed with high-availability and visitor ease of use in mind. Features such as mailing list integration, easy customization and simple installation make Phorum a powerful add-in to any website.

You can check out the webpage and download source here:
phorum web page (http://www.phorum.org/)

http://yabb.info

www.boardnation.com ;)