what do you guys think? i'm planning to put up a forum for a site i'm making for a group i'm affiliated with and was wondering which one would serve me best? i need to be able to let the users upload pictures (like a picture gallery of sorts), custom themes, maybe some adsense marketing tools, and etc. we just need an internet haven where we can write down our thoughts i guess. SMF sounds good so far, but i noticed that older, and usually, more reliable forums are in vbulletin. just wanted to get some inputs
SMF vs. vbulletin
- Thread starter dbringer
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Ian
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It depends on your budget really, as vBulletin has better support and plugins available for it (and is a really good bit of software, in my opinion), but it costs something like $160. SMF on the other hand has quite a selection of plugins/mods but you don't have any guaranteed support and it isn't as easy to customise heavily.
SMF is still a very good bit of forum software, it's just that vBulletin is generally better
I'd say pick whichever one suits your budget! You can always start off with SMF and then upgrade to vBulletin at any point down the line if you feel it doesn't do the job 
You might find that SMF does everything you are after and you've saved yourself some £ 
SMF is still a very good bit of forum software, it's just that vBulletin is generally better
I'd say pick whichever one suits your budget! You can always start off with SMF and then upgrade to vBulletin at any point down the line if you feel it doesn't do the job You might find that SMF does everything you are after and you've saved yourself some £ 
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my hosting company offers YABB 2.2 thru it's cpanel. It is nice once you learn how to use the mods. It is free and anyone can download and use it thru Sourceforge too.
http://sourceforge.net/project/down...b&filename=YaBB_2.2.2.zip&use_mirror=internap
http://sourceforge.net/project/down...b&filename=YaBB_2.2.2.zip&use_mirror=internap
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SMF would probably be your best bet if you are just getting into Forum's as it's relatively easy to set up. vBulletin is the daddy of all forum software, but at a price. Personally i think vBulletin is overkill in some areas and it'll take you quite a while to master it even with the improved admin interface.
Really it's whatever is appropriate given the audience you're trying to capture. I have a bunch of little forums set up for companies using SMF and the like and they work great - some are even quite pleasing to the eye. I do have a new forum which i'm building myself (automotive discussion board) and it's running - you guessed it ... vBulletin
Really it's whatever is appropriate given the audience you're trying to capture. I have a bunch of little forums set up for companies using SMF and the like and they work great - some are even quite pleasing to the eye. I do have a new forum which i'm building myself (automotive discussion board) and it's running - you guessed it ... vBulletin
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