Looking for forum with static page output

[Macphisto]

Hi,

i'm looking for a forum which produces static pages for a small site.
I already checked UBB but it is too expensive for my needs. I just need something small for 3-5 general topics.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Matt

[rogerd]

Discus (www.discusware.com) can do static pages, framed and unframed, and has a free version. I'm not sure what the limitations of the free version are in regard to the page type options - I do know that for full-featured e-mail notification you need the paid version.

[sun818]

Discus freeware also does not allow the user to self-register.

Old version of UBB (Ultimate Bulletin Board) has static page output which they will sell you for full price.

DCForums is another that has static output.

I believe all the static versions are CGI/Perl based. Tested on Unix/Windows.

[Macphisto]

I checked the suggested boards and it looks that the old UBB freeware version fits my needs.

Thanks for the tips.

Matt

[sun818]

Another one is Message Board v4.5.1 freeware from cgi-factory.com -- I have this one installed on my site. None are as sophisticated as BestBBS, but they work.

[sun818]

Found another one called HSPNotes. It runs on embedded Perl and will require Apache web server. Took some tweaking, but finally got it running on a Windows OS! :)

[NeedScripts]

Try PhpBB2 it is GREAT :)

[KakenBetaal]

Hey Macphisto, now I can answer a question for you maybe? I use phpBB2 - it's really excellent and is free. The support is top notch as well, far better than many commercial apps.

According to GoogleGuy, Google is now pretty good at spidering dynamic URLs, so there's little motivation for doing that for Google. I've found this to be the case, and as of the last update have over 2000 forum pages in the index. (I did add one simple hack that disables SID usage for GoogleBot)

There are alternatives - do a search for static pages on the phpbb2 forums, and there are full details on how to make your pages static.

[sun818]

If you view the Download page at phpBB, you will find there is a IkonBoard 2.x converter to phpBB. I have never used it myself... but conversion may not be as difficult if that is what you choose to do.