This is a rather random question, but... I was thinking about all the "forum" sites (such as this site itself), and how sooooo many of them run "commercial" (non-free) software, when there are free (OpenSource) programs available.

Obviously, I'm not expecting everyone to immediately delete vBulletin &co, but I'm curious as to why for-pay software is so popular -- does vBulletin offer features that things such as phpBB2 don't, or is it just a "Why bother switching?" type scenario? Just wondering. :)

Both free and pay forum software offer something that another dont and support is way different, theres nothing much I can yay or nay to about vbb or phpbb as they both are good products

EDIT: Err, I should read my posts before posting them. I meant to say YaBB, which you didn't mention.

Anyways, it all comes down to preference. I actually prefer vBulletin over phpBB because of its interface. :)

phpBB is PHP-based, but I guess I should be arguing with the hosts, not you. :)

I hadn't really noticed any differences (short of cosmetics) between things like vBulletin (here) and phpBB (on my computer), but I'll take your word that they differ. :)

different applications for different purposes. vB offers a nice portal software besides the forum ... phpBB is working on the development of such a thing but it's not there yet. and there are some small differences. it's probably mainly a matter of preference, though most forum software are getting closer to eachother in terms of functionality and usability.

although vb3 is looking cool :)

VBB; 400 -500 hacks, VBB 3 soon, Vbb is the leader
phpBB: 150 hacks, Phpbb is the ... :D

phpbb has 232 mods/hacks if you use the fullymodded bootleg or fullymoded official from MJ at streetpromos.

http://phpbbfm.streetpromos.com/bootleg/

im making my own

since phpbb uses more resources than nessasary, because its logs so much data, that i dont want or need.

So im building my own, that way you have complete control over the code as you wrote it, and you know it better than anyone else. Its also easy to make something of yours blend in with the rest of your site

Originally posted by matt2kjones
im making my own

since phpbb uses more resources than nessasary, because its logs so much data, that i dont want or need.

So im building my own, that way you have complete control over the code as you wrote it, and you know it better than anyone else. Its also easy to make something of yours blend in with the rest of your site

this is always the best solution, but most people won't have the time or knowledge to do this.

if you do have the time and knowledge, I'd definately recommend building your own. knowledge of the code, the setup etc is worth so much more than the standard cosmetics and most of the times useless features of most forum software outthere.

Support. I run vB on my main site and love it. If I should have a rare issue arise, they respond very quickly and don't stop until the problem is resolved.

I tried phpbb on my hobby site. All was fine until the fifth week or so. A major bug or glitch caused most of my posts to disappear. I posted on the phpbb forum and no one replied. I searched and found about a dozen similar posts, and no one had ever replied to them, either.

I may try free forums again, but only for sites that I can afford to lose. Anything else will get a vB license.

I prefer www.invisionboard.com

The guy that wrote the old Ikonboard wrote this one and it's at 1.1b and it's SUPER powerful. It really puts vB to shame (IMO) and it's free (or pay for support, installs, etc). I really like it, and the skinning system is SICK. I'm actually working ona flash interface for it, but that won't be done for a while (quite a bit more complicated).

Out of interest how are you going about it in Flash, are you using the Flash MX XML capabilities... which would seem like the logical starting point if I were to attempt it?