Ever used lesser known software to run your community?

[Ravenfreak]

What I mean by lesser known software is using software such as PunBB, FluxBB and other ones that aren't the main popular ones you often see. (Such as Xenforo, MyBB, SMF, vBulletin, and IPB.) I've used a number of different forum software, mainly just to test them out and get a feel for how they work. I love forums and get curious to see all the available options. Out of the alternatives, my favorite is probably either FUD forum or PunBB. PunBB is super lightweight, and loads much faster than other software. The downfall is, there's no typical plugins that come with the original package such as Private Messaging. You have to install a plugin for that feature. FUDforum reminds me of the old versions of vBulletin, at least from a member's point of view. (I've never really tried out old versions of vBulletin from a staff member point of view.) Another con to using software that just isn't as popular or well known, are the number of themes and plugins. You'd have to make your own themes in most cases, or deal with the limited amount of themes.

 

[PGen98]

I've used basically every forum software there is to use, lol. From the popular options like UBB, iKonBoard, vBulletin, phpBB, XF, IPB and so on right to the ones that were more niche, like MercuryBoard, HeBB, UpperBoard, QuickSilverForums, FUD Forum, FluxBB, PunBB, OpenBB, Woltlab Burning Board, and so, so many others. It's fun using them all, seeing what's what and getting to know them

 

[Nebulous]

I've used a lot of them. A lot of them are underwhelming. Some are downright uncomfortable to use. Others are confusing. There's usually a reason certain softwares don't become more mainstream.

 

[Kale]

Yep I did! I used UltraBB at one time before and even some others which I cannot recall the names of.

 

[Nebulous]

Yep I did! I used UltraBB at one time before and even some others which I cannot recall the names of.

Theres an old skool one. Do they make that any more?

 

[Kale]

Theres an old skool one. Do they make that any more?

Website is shut down. I dunno what happened.

 

[PGen98]

Yeah, UltraBB went the way of WowBB, out to pasture. So many come and gone.

 

[Nebulous]

Website is shut down. I dunno what happened.

Yeah, UltraBB went the way of WowBB, out to pasture. So many come and gone.

WowBB? Never heard of that one/

 

[PGen98]

WowBB? Never heard of that one/

Yeah, there's not much proof of it's existence these days except a few threads on TAZ, but you can find the odd historical screenshot now and then.

One of many defunct forum platforms lol

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, there's not much proof of it's existence these days except a few threads on TAZ, but you can find the odd historical screenshot now and then.

One of many defunct forum platforms lol

Looks just like every other forum out there.

 

[PGen98]

Looks just like every other forum out there.

It pretty much was, which is why it failed, lol.

 

[Nebulous]

It pretty much was, which is why it failed, lol.

Kind of reminds me a cross between phpbb and mybb.

 

[PGen98]

Kind of reminds me a cross between phpbb and mybb.

Yeah, it also had a lot of similarities with IPB1, back when it was free.

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, it also had a lot of similarities with IPB1, back when it was free.

Ah the one that jcink uses today.

 

[PGen98]

Ah the one that jcink uses today.

Yep! Such a shame IPB went paid, they had such a huge following in the freeware market, and sure they've done well in the paid market, too, but it felt like such a slap in the face for their customers. Did sort of the same thing when he (Matt) was developing iKonBoard, too...had a great following, then just buggered off and started IPB. Abandoned a lot of people. Ah well.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Maybe back in the day.

I ran a community with PhpNuke once. It included a PhpBB2 integration into it. I ran it when everything else was way more popular than PhpBB.

Nowadays, I just stick to XenForo.

I've considered making forums with other software just for fun but I need to not overload myself haha

 

[Nebulous]

Yep! Such a shame IPB went paid, they had such a huge following in the freeware market, and sure they've done well in the paid market, too, but it felt like such a slap in the face for their customers. Did sort of the same thing when he (Matt) was developing iKonBoard, too...had a great following, then just buggered off and started IPB. Abandoned a lot of people. Ah well.

Would have been cool if they kept the free version with standard features and then created a preimium version with all the bells and whistles.

I remember ikonboard, I was a member on a couple of those back in the day.

Maybe back in the day.

I ran a community with PhpNuke once. It included a PhpBB2 integration into it. I ran it when everything else was way more popular than PhpBB.

Nowadays, I just stick to XenForo.

I've considered making forums with other software just for fun but I need to not overload myself haha

phpNuke was a CMS program? I remember seeing that in my cPanel in the early days. One of those programs you could click on and auto install.

 

[PGen98]

Would have been cool if they kept the free version with standard features and then created a preimium version with all the bells and whistles.

Yeah, it would have been great to do that, they easily could have, or even do what vBulletin did in the vB1 days, have a vBLite version, limited features, but still usable. That would have worked.

I remember ikonboard, I was a member on a couple of those back in the day.

Yep, I was actually on the iKonBoard staff for a while, 3.x, 2.x and "iBHacks" support. It was a good product, but Perl-based message boards just fell by the wayside over the years (I miss you, UBB!)

phpNuke was a CMS program? I remember seeing that in my cPanel in the early days. One of those programs you could click on and auto install.

Yep, it was a decent CMS for it's time. Could have been a great one to this day if they'd kept on working on it. Ah well.

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, it would have been great to do that, they easily could have, or even do what vBulletin did in the vB1 days, have a vBLite version, limited features, but still usable. That would have worked.

Thats actually a genius way to gain more customers. Give them just enough to run a basic forum and when they feel like getting serious, they'll buy the whole thing. XenForo should do that.

Yep, I was actually on the iKonBoard staff for a while, 3.x, 2.x and "iBHacks" support. It was a good product, but Perl-based message boards just fell by the wayside over the years (I miss you, UBB!)

Wonder why? Is it because you can do more with php?

 

[PGen98]

Thats actually a genius way to gain more customers. Give them just enough to run a basic forum and when they feel like getting serious, they'll buy the whole thing. XenForo should do that.

Agreed, it was great back then, I created so many vBLite forums, but they were limited in what you could do, so when it was time to actually take a site seriously I bought a real copy and got the full feature set.

Wonder why? Is it because you can do more with php?

Yeah, I think Perl was just a bit of an obsolete language for message boards, php was faster, more agile and you were able to do more at the time. Not sure if Perl is better now, but it certainly lagged behind then.