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Author Topic: phpBB or Simple Machines..  (Read 2093 times)

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Offline Rictor

  • Murdered by Brazilian Psychopath
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phpBB or Simple Machines..
on: May 09, 2006, 09:35:24 am
For all those who have adminstered forums (HardLight admins, I'm looking at you), which forum solution would you consider to be the better overall option. I need to set up a forum, and the free alternatives seem perfectly fine. I've known about phpBB for quite some time, and would have used that had I not seen HardLight's switch to Simple Machines, which I hadn't know about until now.

I'm looking for a) ease of use (by the admin), which includes set-up and maintenance and b) robust functionality, though I'm fairly sure that both offer all the standard doodads and more. Never having done this kind of thing, I don't know what exactly to look for, which is why I'm asking you, the enlightened masses.
 

Offline Fury

  • The Curmudgeon
  • 213
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #1 on: May 09, 2006, 09:42:12 am
I wouldn't touch phpBB, it's codebase is badly outdated, it would be like running Windows ME instead of Windows 2000 or XP. phpBB 3 is getting duke nukem forever reputation as it is taking ages to complete. Of the free forum softwares, SMF is truly one of the best. If you choose SMF, go with SMF 1.1 RC2. The few bugs still present in RC2 are minor indeed.
 

Offline achtung

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Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #2 on: May 09, 2006, 09:51:16 am
PHPBB is good for a small scale forum, SMF is good for a large one like HLP.
FreeSpaceMods.net | FatHax | ??????
In the wise words of Charles de Gaulle, "China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese."

Formerly known as Swantz
 

Offline Fury

  • The Curmudgeon
  • 213
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #3 on: May 09, 2006, 10:08:38 am
Quote from: Swantz on May 09, 2006, 09:51:16 am
SMF is good for a large one like HLP.
SMF 1.0 is not really optimized for large forums, but 1.1 is. If you visit Simple Machines Community forums and look at how many users their forums have online, they kinda have to optimize the code for large forums. :drevil:
 

Offline Sandwich

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Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #4 on: May 09, 2006, 02:38:06 pm
SMF is fully scalable now that 1.1 RC2 is available. I might have recommended phpBB in the past, but they've dragged their feet so much that they're quite far behind. I'm sure that when they release phpBB 2.2, it will be much more competitive, but for now, SMF wins by a mile.
SERIOUSLY...! | {The Sandvich Bar} - Rhino-FS2 Tutorial | CapShip Turret Upgrade | The Complete FS2 Ship List | System Background Package

"...The quintessential quality of our age is that of dreams coming true. Just think of it. For centuries we have dreamt of flying; recently we made that come true: we have always hankered for speed; now we have speeds greater than we can stand: we wanted to speak to far parts of the Earth; we can: we wanted to explore the sea bottom; we have: and so  on, and so on: and, too, we wanted the power to smash our enemies utterly; we have it. If we had truly wanted peace, we should have had that as well. But true peace has never been one of the genuine dreams - we have got little further than preaching against war in order to appease our consciences. The truly wishful dreams, the many-minded dreams are now irresistible - they become facts." - 'The Outward Urge' by John Wyndham

"The very essence of tolerance rests on the fact that we have to be intolerant of intolerance. Stretching right back to Kant, through the Frankfurt School and up to today, liberalism means that we can do anything we like as long as we don't hurt others. This means that if we are tolerant of others' intolerance - especially when that intolerance is a call for genocide - then all we are doing is allowing that intolerance to flourish, and allowing the violence that will spring from that intolerance to continue unabated." - Bren Carlill
 

Offline Kamikaze

  • A Complacent Wind
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    • http://www.nodewar.com
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #5 on: May 09, 2006, 08:15:29 pm
phpBB is a pain to configure and template.
Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers in the preceding generation . . .Learn from science that you must doubt the experts. As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. - Richard Feynman
 

Offline Rictor

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Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #6 on: May 09, 2006, 08:17:09 pm
Well the people have spoken, and so shall it be.
 

Offline Kosh

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Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #7 on: May 09, 2006, 08:51:03 pm
So when do we get the cool HLP look back? :p
"The reason for this is that the original Fortran got so convoluted and extensive (10's of millions of lines of code) that no-one can actually figure out how it works, there's a massive project going on to decode the original Fortran and write a more modern system, but until then, the UK communication network is actually relying heavily on 35 year old Fortran that nobody understands." - Flipside

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Offline Rictor

  • Murdered by Brazilian Psychopath
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Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #8 on: May 23, 2006, 04:52:29 pm
I'm slightly confused. Which is the newer and better package: 1.07 or 1.1 RC2? I've downloaded and installed 1.07, just because it seemed to be the newest version on their download page, but looking at the numbers that doesn't make sense.
 

Offline Ferret

  • 28
  • A very hungry Fiona.
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #9 on: May 23, 2006, 04:58:44 pm
Having lots of experience with multiple forum software I must shout out some love to PunBB which is my fave and the best one out there.
SMF is very good, it's speedy and secure, I recommend it if you want a few more bells and whistles than Pun.

Steer clear of PHPbb.
 

Offline Sandwich

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Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #10 on: May 23, 2006, 05:30:52 pm
1.07 is the latest stable version. 1.1 RC2 is the most up-to-date version, with the latest features, etc. It's still getting some bugs worked out of it, apparently, but we're running it here and haven't encountered anything show-stopping that I know of. I'd recommend 1.1 RC2.
SERIOUSLY...! | {The Sandvich Bar} - Rhino-FS2 Tutorial | CapShip Turret Upgrade | The Complete FS2 Ship List | System Background Package

"...The quintessential quality of our age is that of dreams coming true. Just think of it. For centuries we have dreamt of flying; recently we made that come true: we have always hankered for speed; now we have speeds greater than we can stand: we wanted to speak to far parts of the Earth; we can: we wanted to explore the sea bottom; we have: and so  on, and so on: and, too, we wanted the power to smash our enemies utterly; we have it. If we had truly wanted peace, we should have had that as well. But true peace has never been one of the genuine dreams - we have got little further than preaching against war in order to appease our consciences. The truly wishful dreams, the many-minded dreams are now irresistible - they become facts." - 'The Outward Urge' by John Wyndham

"The very essence of tolerance rests on the fact that we have to be intolerant of intolerance. Stretching right back to Kant, through the Frankfurt School and up to today, liberalism means that we can do anything we like as long as we don't hurt others. This means that if we are tolerant of others' intolerance - especially when that intolerance is a call for genocide - then all we are doing is allowing that intolerance to flourish, and allowing the violence that will spring from that intolerance to continue unabated." - Bren Carlill
 

Offline Kamikaze

  • A Complacent Wind
  • 29
    • http://www.nodewar.com
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #11 on: May 23, 2006, 05:55:05 pm
Quote from: Ferret on May 23, 2006, 04:58:44 pm
Having lots of experience with multiple forum software I must shout out some love to PunBB which is my fave and the best one out there.

:yes: I really like how PunBB has clean html. Makes the CSS really worthwhile.
Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers in the preceding generation . . .Learn from science that you must doubt the experts. As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. - Richard Feynman
 

Offline Sandwich

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Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #12 on: May 24, 2006, 03:20:33 am
SMF is fairly good in that regard as well, though it does still have some extra crap. FYI, I altered the default SMF 1.1 theme to this current HLP theme purely through CSS changes - didn't touch the template file itself.
SERIOUSLY...! | {The Sandvich Bar} - Rhino-FS2 Tutorial | CapShip Turret Upgrade | The Complete FS2 Ship List | System Background Package

"...The quintessential quality of our age is that of dreams coming true. Just think of it. For centuries we have dreamt of flying; recently we made that come true: we have always hankered for speed; now we have speeds greater than we can stand: we wanted to speak to far parts of the Earth; we can: we wanted to explore the sea bottom; we have: and so  on, and so on: and, too, we wanted the power to smash our enemies utterly; we have it. If we had truly wanted peace, we should have had that as well. But true peace has never been one of the genuine dreams - we have got little further than preaching against war in order to appease our consciences. The truly wishful dreams, the many-minded dreams are now irresistible - they become facts." - 'The Outward Urge' by John Wyndham

"The very essence of tolerance rests on the fact that we have to be intolerant of intolerance. Stretching right back to Kant, through the Frankfurt School and up to today, liberalism means that we can do anything we like as long as we don't hurt others. This means that if we are tolerant of others' intolerance - especially when that intolerance is a call for genocide - then all we are doing is allowing that intolerance to flourish, and allowing the violence that will spring from that intolerance to continue unabated." - Bren Carlill
 

Offline Ferret

  • 28
  • A very hungry Fiona.
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #13 on: May 24, 2006, 04:08:27 am
Quote from: Kamikaze on May 23, 2006, 05:55:05 pm
Quote from: Ferret on May 23, 2006, 04:58:44 pm
Having lots of experience with multiple forum software I must shout out some love to PunBB which is my fave and the best one out there.

:yes: I really like how PunBB has clean html. Makes the CSS really worthwhile.
The mantra is minimalist and very fuctional, which I think works superbly, I havn't seen another forum software pull it off quite as well.
 

Offline Fury

  • The Curmudgeon
  • 213
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #14 on: May 24, 2006, 04:21:12 am
PunBB is maybe a bit too minimalistic to my liking, it requires a number of modifications which really should be already bundled with the software, or at least I'm getting that impression. I think PunBB is good for small forums, but there's no word how well it would scale and perform when forums get big, at least I didn't see any information regarding this.
 

Offline Ferret

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  • A very hungry Fiona.
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #15 on: May 24, 2006, 06:29:13 am
I've ran a pretty big forum on it before, and even with an absolutely abysmal hosting package I had absoluetly no problems with it.
It's fine for large forums, and the only thing I can think of that should be in it by default is PMs, but the mod is pretty easy to install anyway.

I can inderstand your concerns about busy forums though. You were using VB before ffs. :lol:
 

Offline Fury

  • The Curmudgeon
  • 213
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #16 on: May 24, 2006, 06:50:29 am
Quote from: Ferret on May 24, 2006, 06:29:13 am
You were using VB before ffs. :lol:
Obsolete v2.something, it was breaking down under the weight. When the vB database was converted to SMF, the converter restored so much lost or intentionally deleted information, such as private messages that our faces went :wtf:. God knows how ****ed up the database would've been if we hadn't moved to SMF when we did.
 

Offline MatthewPapa

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Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #17 on: May 24, 2006, 07:06:50 am
VBbulletin FTW

It is everything  u could possibly want and more.
  

Offline Fury

  • The Curmudgeon
  • 213
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #18 on: May 24, 2006, 07:39:03 am
Eh, vBulletin's licensing sucks. Owner's license costs $160 and then $30 each year to get updates. :ick:
 

Offline Ferret

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  • A very hungry Fiona.
Re: phpBB or Simple Machines..
Reply #19 on: May 24, 2006, 09:25:47 am
VB is also not in the least bit designed with large communities in mind, it's stupidly slow on it's own. If you want to spend that kind of money for no real reason then you're better off with Invision to be honest. Even if you can, at the moment, SMF is a better solution.
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