Best forum software?

[xequence]

What to you is the best free forum software? Like phpbb and SMF.

And what are the advantages/disadvantages and features, and if you used it what your experience was with it.

And it would be good if I can close registeration, but allow people to invite other people and such. And have a good way of doing that.

Thanks

And off topic, but oh well - I did a clean install of XP and the automatic update thing went on. It has been running for almost an hour, downloading and installing things, making everything go slow.

Initializing installation... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB890859) (update 1 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows Messenger (KB887472) (update 2 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB896428) (update 3 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB905749) (update 4 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB904706) (update 5 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB900725) (update 6 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB888302) (update 7 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB892944) (update 8 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB901214) (update 9 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB905414) (update 10 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB899589) (update 11 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB893066) (update 12 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB890046) (update 13 of 33)... done!
Installing 816093: Security Update Microsoft Virtual Machine (Microsoft VM) (update 14 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB891781) (update 15 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB902400) (update 16 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB905495) (update 17 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB896358) (update 18 of 33)... done!
Installing Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 (KB896688) (update 19 of 33)... done!
Installing 814078: Security Update (Microsoft Jscript version 5.6, Windows 2000, Windows XP) (update 20 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB888113) (update 21 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB873339) (update 22 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB896423) (update 23 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB893756) (update 24 of 33)... done!
Installing Security Update for Windows XP (KB896424) (update 25 of 33)... done!

Ubuntu's updates go much faster, and they include all software installed.

[qalimas]

I prefer MyTopix ( http://jaia-interactive.com ) over all else. It's not open-source, but it is free. I love it's default layout, very professionally done, it's got a near perfect feature base, the community is nice, and it's easy to run. I can't really go into technical details about it, when it comes down to what I'd prefer to use on forums, I don't see hte need to, I'm just more comfortable using MyTopix over anything else.

[xequence]

Looks cool, more specificially, it looks similar to blackbox. (The WM).

Ill check it out

[WildTangent]

I've always been an Invision user myself, and prefer it over other forum software, but it's not free. PHPBB is highly customizable because it's opensource, but you need to actually know what you're doing . As for SMF...ughh, I can't stand it, it's too basic for my tastes. I'd go with PHPBB, and if you don't mind paying, Invision Power Board. I believe it's a one time fee, but you dont get updates unless you pay

-Wild

[basketcase]

I own an Invision board and love it. I moderate on a phpbb board, and have one locally to just play around with the db.

A board that I frequent just switched from vbulletin to smf. I like smf, but it does seem to lack features that I like in Invision and phpbb for that matter. I'm sure it's an infant compared to other boards.

If you want something free, use phpbb, and keep it updated.

[TravisNewman]

smf is fantastic, IMO

[Malphas]

PunBB, it's open source, fast and generates vaild XHTML. Best forum software out there in my opinion.

[newbie2]

What to you is the best free forum software? Like phpbb and SMF.

i wondered myself also , and found this site (Free and Commercial Web Forum Software) for a good comparison -->
http://www.thinkofit.com/webconf/forumsoft.htm

[xequence]

How much more bandwidth does phpbb take, compared to punbb?

I cant decide...

But then again, I dont even have a site yet. I need to get stupid paypal to work.

[NotJustANewbie]

I like SMF alot, but when I'm setting up my own forums, I always use phpBB.
phpBB seems to be leaps and bounds ahead of all other forum software available to me.