Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > Reference > Help Forum > Free forum software - HELP!

[Enkida]

I was asked to put up a forum on one of the websites I maintain for my local archery club, and I'm trying to decide if I should install

E-Blah (perl)
phpBB3 (php) or
nextBBS(php)

There are some basic requirements:

1) no super freaking huge security holes
2) fairly nice features / customizable
3) free
4) german language mod / patch / fix etc.

I sifted through a whole bunch of forum software, and phpBB3 is the "free standard" of course. But I have had a lot... and I mean a lot... of bad experiences with phpBB of lesser versions. Mostly with security problems of said phpBB versions. But also with a serious lack of features and organization. This makes me kind of frosty towards phpBB3+, even though it was just released and supposedly has new features and improved security out the wazoo. Any feedback on this would be appreciated.

nextBBS is not updated too often, but it seems to be The Solid Contender for people who want a free forum but don't like phpBB for one reason or the other. It has the most features, the least security holes and the best reviews. It doesn't come with any kind of German language support or mod, though, which is the one big thing holding me back from going with it.

eBlah is something I never heard of before until I went digging. It's perl-based script (!) but I tested the testy forums and it seemed to work fast and fine. It has fairly nice features and active moderation / patching. Also very good security and German language support.

So... anyone got an opinion on any of these (or other free forum rec)? I went through quite a lot, and if you're going to suggest myBB don't (it's full of security holes), or SMF (I don't like 'em), or Phorums (also with UNPATCHED security holes).

Any help would be appreciated!

[Spuuky]

This thread probably belongs in the Help forum.

I thought all the phpBB problems were due to really old versions being... really old. Supposedly 3 is way more secure anyway. I don't really know, though, I'm not a security expert. It's a low priority for private messageboards like the one I used to run.

[Zeromus_X]

Moved to Help Forum.

[Hsu]

Like Spuuky said, most of the complaints towards pre-3.0 phpBB versions were because they didn't really update it that much and holes were found a lot. It just got a stigma attached to it. I haven't heard anything major against phpBB3. I run it on my personal forums and really like it. It has a rich feature set, fairly easily modified skins, and is pretty modern in the overall design of the interface. I'd recommend it.

[o_O]

phpBB3 is pretty nice. I've been using it for a bit now and I was quite surprised at how much of an improvement it is over previous versions.

[Enkida]

Thanks for all the feedback, I'll try to swallow my prejudice and check it out, then.

[Renmiri]

German ? Have you looked at SMF ? A lot of german people seem to like it.