Best forum software?

[Okapi]

Are all forum software packages written in php? I am guessing because it is fast and free?

What about javascript? It seems fairly fast and can do cool things. In chrome and the new FF it will be very fast.

And finally, is PHPBB the best [free] forum software out right now?

I have heard good things about SMF but to be honest it doesn't look as good.

[Tony]

The answer to every question in your post is No.

[Clayton]

I've heard and seen good things about Invision.

[rdrake]

Like Tony said, the answer to everything in that post is no.

• Forums exist in Perl, PHP, Ruby, Python, ASP, ASP.NET, etc.
  
• Everything listed above is also free.
  
• PHP is not the fastest.
  
• JavaScript enhances the user experience by making the site more interactive, it would not be possible to write a completely JavaScript-based forum without help from another language running on the server side. JavaScript also has the added bonus of being used unnecessarily on almost every site out there.
  

I personally like PunBB since it's very small and worked extremely well for me. Lots of people use IPB since it has free hosting with only ads. PHPBB is constantly attacked. Those who want the grand daddy of forum packages opt to buy vB.

[Okapi]

Could you provide examples of forums in perl and ruby?

EDIT: and invision hasn't been free for years
EDIT again: Found rforum, looks horrible

[Tony]

Beast -- the real beauty is in the fact that it's around just 500 lines of code. The style sheet put on top is also decent.

[Okapi]

That's cool, looks nice also. Very slow though

[Zeroth]

Actually, take a look at http://www.anelectron.com/ It is simply awesome, phenomenally easy setup and maintenance. 100% free, simple eula.

[rdrake]

Okapi @ Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:01 pm wrote:

EDIT: and invision hasn't been free for years

No, it's not free, but there's free hosting for it provided you can stand the ads.

[Dan]

What ever you do, don't use PHPBB. The code is pity bad, there are always security expolites for it and it seems to need alot of moding to get it to do what you want. However this is based on there older versions, they might have made things better in the newer ones.

[Areyout]

IBP is awesome. Vbulletin isn't too bad, if you're going for a free forum, PHPBB has a great backing community.
Demo : forum hosting

[md]

PunBB is the best PHP-based forum I have seen.

Also, this thread was like old. Why do people insist on reviving old threads?

[DemonWasp]

Depending on what you're going to do with your forum, it may be easier to have someone else host it for you. Means you don't have to worry about the machines or the software or updates or security or stuff like that. You just have to have a forum. I've used forumer.com in the past with good results.

[md]

What part of "don't revive dead threads" wasn't clear?