Comparison between forum software

[Hellraider]

[taken out of german computer magazine c't 01/2004]:

[3MZ]

[taken out of german computer magazine c't 01/2004]:
That is something that we really really need for all major software in this industry (in English, of course).

According to the results above, phpBB outdoes vB. How about that?

I am pretty sure they are comparing vB2 and not vB3.

[DarkDelight.net]

I am pretty sure they are comparing vB2 and not vB3.
vB2.3.3 and phpBB2.0.6

[Shining Arcanine]

vBulletin 2.3.3 has a documentation... We should complain.

[filburt1]

The price is also $169, but complaining isn't really useful...the most they'll do it add it to the next issue's Corrections column which nobody reads.

[the geek]

That is something that we really really need for all major software in this industry (in English, of course).

According to the results above, phpBB outdoes vB. How about that?

I am pretty sure they are comparing vB2 and not vB3.
Not really. 2 of the phpBB items (Calendar and datesomethingorother) are via mods only. Though I do have to admit it is pretty interesting.

[ManagerJosh]

someone outta complain and have them look at all the features indepth...

[Brad.loo]

someone outta complain and have them look at all the features indepth...
You guys for the most part are really biased, not that I dont expect that here or anywhere else in the bbs world. You have no idea why they think phpbb is better, just a cart. vBulletin is not the perfect software for ever site, im opening two next month, one will be vBulletin powered, the second invision powered. Why dont you guys write them and find out more about how they came up with that set of results before you start telling them they screwed up.

[ManagerJosh]

You guys for the most part are really biased, not that I dont expect that here or anywhere else in the bbs world. You have no idea why they think phpbb is better, just a cart. vBulletin is not the perfect software for ever site, im opening two next month, one will be vBulletin powered, the second invision powered. Why dont you guys write them and find out more about how they came up with that set of results before you start telling them they screwed up.
I've analyzed every software but it is still inconcieveable that phpBB is better. The templates are simply a disaster! I've seen PHP disasters before, but the coding for phpBB reminds me of a nuclear winter.

I'd give more credits to IPB than phpBB. IPB is clearly much better written and has more logic and more intune with the needs of its users. Plus Matt is a lot better at getting in new features.

vBulletin outranks IPB in terms of templates, useability, originality in features, and organization. I must admit that IPB 1.3 is at the point of vB2 but then again we also must remember they have a model to work off of :)

vBulletin seems to be a front runner, especially with this WYSIWYG editor, Chen with the quick reply feature.

I've seen people leave for IPB but in a few months have came back to vB.

I also notice one thing.....they don't mention anything about support. Only documentation.

And notice they didn't compare IPB as well :D


I think other features they should have compared includes interface ratings for both end user and administrator, the ease/ability to customize, stability for long term/intensive performance, and personalization within the basic forum software (meaning what can you do to give it your own feel within the basic features)

[poweredbySIN]

I've analyzed every software but it is still inconcieveable that phpBB is better. The templates are simply a disaster! I've seen PHP disasters before, but the coding for phpBB reminds me of a nuclear winter.

I'd give more credits to IPB than phpBB. IPB is clearly much better written and has more logic and more intune with the needs of its users. Plus Matt is a lot better at getting in new features.

vBulletin outranks IPB in terms of templates, useability, originality in features, and organization. I must admit that IPB 1.3 is at the point of vB2 but then again we also must remember they have a model to work off of :)

vBulletin seems to be a front runner, especially with this WYSIWYG editor, Chen with the quick reply feature.

I've seen people leave for IPB but in a few months have came back to vB.

I also notice one thing.....they don't mention anything about support. Only documentation.

And notice they didn't compare IPB as well :D


I think other features they should have compared includes interface ratings for both end user and administrator, the ease/ability to customize, stability for long term/intensive performance, and personalization within the basic forum software (meaning what can you do to give it your own feel within the basic features)
Nevermind IPB 1.3. Check out the IPB 2.0; it gets better and better.

[DarkDelight.net]

Nevermind IPB 1.3. Check out the IPB 2.0; it gets better and better.
vB3.0.0!

Nuf Said

[Shadow Duelist]

Nevermind IPB 1.3. Check out the IPB 2.0; it gets better and better.
Nevermind IPB 2.0, check out vBulletin 3.0.0 Gamma; It get's better and better via the second.

'Nuff said (like the user above..:p)

[Ganonx]

I have no idea how they are judging those systems up there but after having worked with phpBB many times, I don't see how you can even compare the two systems.

phpBB is on a totally different echelon from vBulletin. It's a "light-weight" software ideal for small sites. I performs pretty decently but that's because it has only basic functionality. To even get to the point of vb 2.x.x you have to hack the system for attachments and whatnot. And let's not even go into the templates.....

vBulletin is a "heavy-weight" software that's great for medium-large sites. Of course it'll be slightly slower but it has exponentially more features and tasks to carry out with each execution. It has a state of the art admin panel that is self documenting and easy to use. It's pathetic that phpBB's admin panel is almost the hardest thing to use even though it's so simple. It took me 30 minutes to figure out how to make moderators while it took me 15 seconds on vBulletin to figure that out.

My point, a cliche, is that you can't compare apples to oranges. They're comparing two totally different classes of systems there and that's not right.


Edit - That's a German magazine and they haven't made any mention of Woltlab Burning Board? I'm quite surprised as WBB is the second most popular choice of BBS after vBulletin in the "heavy-weight" market.

[poolking]

I have no idea how they are judging those systems up there but after having worked with phpBB many times, I don't see how you can even compare the two systems.

phpBB is on a totally different echelon from vBulletin. It's a "light-weight" software ideal for small sites. I performs pretty decently but that's because it has only basic functionality. To even get to the point of vb 2.x.x you have to hack the system for attachments and whatnot. And let's not even go into the templates.....

vBulletin is a "heavy-weight" software that's great for medium-large sites. Of course it'll be slightly slower but it has exponentially more features and tasks to carry out with each execution. It has a state of the art admin panel that is self documenting and easy to use. It's pathetic that phpBB's admin panel is almost the hardest thing to use even though it's so simple. It took me 30 minutes to figure out how to make moderators while it took me 15 seconds on vBulletin to figure that out.

My point, a cliche, is that you can't compare apples to oranges. They're comparing two totally different classes of systems there and that's not right.


Edit - That's a German magazine and they haven't made any mention of Woltlab Burning Board? I'm quite surprised as WBB is the second most popular choice of BBS after vBulletin in the "heavy-weight" market.Check out:

http://ian.go-gaia.com/forum/

I thought I'd post the link first for a change. :)

I wouldn't call that a small site.

[Hellraider]

Well guys,

I just sent an email (after reading comparison for the first time) to the author/magazine and asked exactly the same question you mentioned above: Why he/they didn't take a look on Woltlabs Burning Board 1.2 and 2.x, Invision Power Board and the new vB 3 Gamma.

An autoreply email told me that the author is on holidays and will be back on 6th of January. So when I get an answer I will tell you...

[3MZ]

Nevermind IPB 1.3. Check out the IPB 2.0; it gets better and better.
And their service gets worse and worse. At least IPB have faster (much much much faster) devs. But even that might be on the decline. People who come back to vB mostly come back due to the service, not necessarily the software.

[Ganonx]

Check out:

http://ian.go-gaia.com/forum/

I thought I'd post the link first for a change. :)

I wouldn't call that a small site.

Designed for small operations, but I never said that it couldn't handle the big leagues did I?

Although I did notice that several things in the database design would make it horribly intensive on diskspace and efficiency as the site grew bigger (when I used phpBB on a production site).

[3MZ]

Nevermind IPB 2.0, check out vBulletin 3.0.0 Gamma; It get's better and better via the second.

'Nuff said (like the user above..:p)
Disagree! This vB3 Gamma has been the same ever since it was launched 3 weeks ago. And given Jelsoft's speed, it might remain this way for months...

The same thing was days for IPB; but now it is becomes days for them too.

Certainly not seconds!

[3MZ]

Designed for small operations, but I never said that it couldn't handle the big leagues did I?

Although I did notice that several things in the database design would make it horribly intensive on diskspace and efficiency as the site grew bigger (when I used phpBB on a production site).Ya, that's true. I have heard that the above link uses many servers to handle the forums. Even then, it is horribly slow.

[_| () R | Z]

Check out:

http://ian.go-gaia.com/forum/

I thought I'd post the link first for a change. :)

I wouldn't call that a small site.
http://www.big-boards.com/int.php?n=60 read that interview, he changed so much code that you can hardly call it a phpbb board

[_| () R | Z]

vBulletin 2.3.3 has a documentation... We should complain.
http://www.vbulletin.com/manual/ everybody can see that it is really outdated.

[Hellraider]

There's also a small text passage about the vB docu in the comparison:

I hope that I tranlslated this correctly ;)

Original german text:

"Diese schlampig generierte PDF-Datei wirkt chaotisch strukturiert, beantwortet aber die meisten Fragen zu Installation und Betrieb."

Tranlsation:

"This sloppy generated PDF-File is structured chaotically, but answers most common questions on installation and operation."

[Ganonx]

http://www.big-boards.com/int.php?n=60 read that interview, he changed so much code that you can hardly call it a phpbb board

Yah, agreed. It's what we can call a super optimized phpBB if at that. Running a site like that with vBulletin or IPB would force him to strip so much of the functionality down that he would be better off with something simpler. After reading that, everything does make sense.

[Marco]

Check out:

http://ian.go-gaia.com/forum/

I thought I'd post the link first for a change. :)

I wouldn't call that a small site.
Yikes... 15 million posts!

That has to be the biggest forum I have ever seen...

[_| () R | Z]

Yikes... 15 million posts!

That has to be the biggest forum I have ever seen...
www.big-boards.com (http://www.big-boards.com) <- bigger once's there ;)

[3MZ]

Yikes... 15 million posts!

That has to be the biggest forum I have ever seen...
VN Boards (http://vnboards.ign.com/) have 65 million.

[robertusss]

want to know about how phpbb can handle gaia?
read this:
phpBB tweaks for large forums (http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=135383&highlight=gaia)

You people should stay openminded to new technology - or do you still search the web without Google (or any other searchengine that "learned" from them)?!? How you want to improve vbulletin without watching what others do? They watch you - that's for sure.

[Hellraider]

The author of the comparison (Eric) has written some passages to the comparison in this thread (http://www.vbulletin-germany.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8456) (sorry, only german).

[Shadow Duelist]

Gaia is such a huge ass board... Around 3,500 users online each day.. At the same time! O_0

[Mr. HillBilly]

Hardware config
1 x Celeron 1.3 w/512k RAM, single HD
4 x P4 2.6Ghz w/2GB RAM, single HD
1 x Dual Xeon 2.6 w/4GG RAM, 4 80GB HD running as 2 sets of RAID 0 arrays
1 x Dual Opteron 240 w/4GG RAM, 4 x 15,000RPM 16GB HD as 2 sets of RAID 0 arrays from Raid Array controller, 1 80GB HD for OS

The dual Opteron setup is for the MYSQL server, while the dual Xeon is the main web server for the forums. Within the 4 smaller servers, one is used to serve static information such as graphics and avatars. The rest serves all the other pages like the art rating page, the character item stores, and the link list. The slowest machine is used strictly for displaying the non-vital graphics such as frame borders and forum buttons since the site is very graphic intensive.