rogerd - 1:08 am on May 18, 2004 (gmt 0)

I can't disagree with you, Bo, though it would be good to get some feedback on currently available packages. I'd add Invision BB to the list, though I've little exposure to it.

Contrasting vBulletin and phpBB, I'd say the admin and formatting features for the former are far more powerful; phpBB seems like a decent package, but requires more "hack" installations to get features standard on other forums.

VBulletin 3 makes fairly extensive use of CSS and control panel format control to reduce the need to hack the code to cutomize the appearance of the board. It also uses templates with a tracking system to find ones you have modified.

All in all, I'd say that one desirable objective in choosing forum software is to minimize the code hacking needed. Not only is changing the code time-consuming, it can introduce problems and affect security. The worst part, though, is that it greatly increases the hassles of version upgrading. If a new version comes out to patch a security hole, you don't want to have to spend hours re-installing all your mods and hacks.