Are there any non XenForo users here?
- Thread starter Lee
- Start date
PGen98
Staff member
Woltlab was a great option, I was a little baffled with their newer version. Back in the 1.x, 2.x and even 3.x era it was fantastic, but I've been struggling to adapt to their newest line of products. It's not bad, not by any stretch, but feels convoluted!
Shawn Gossman
Member
I use XenForo now but I've used everything in 25 years lol.
I started out on ProBoards (server 1). Then PhpBB and then PhpBB2. I've used MyBB, SMF, and vBulletin. IP.Board and XenForo.
I've also used some old school stuff like Php Nuke. I miss Php Nuke! It was like a social media platform before social media existed. It was pretty fun to use to be honest.
I started out on ProBoards (server 1). Then PhpBB and then PhpBB2. I've used MyBB, SMF, and vBulletin. IP.Board and XenForo.
I've also used some old school stuff like Php Nuke. I miss Php Nuke! It was like a social media platform before social media existed. It was pretty fun to use to be honest.
PGen98
Staff member
Agreed, it was a real shame PHP Nuke died off. Such a great platform!
Darth-Apple
Member
We're still using MyBB for mine. We ended up doing a lot of custom work and built our own theme and a number of our own plugins for it, so we've been able to modernize it a bit more than the default out-of-the-box experience. Still has a bit of an old-school feel to it, but it's worked well for us.
PGen98
Staff member
Wow, you've definitely put a lot of work into that, it looks great! Good to see someone putting the work in on a MyBB!
Darth-Apple
Member
Thank you! It's definitely been years of progressive improvement with it. Some things were challenging (making MyBB responsive was one of them), but it's also been a highly customizable software that has let us pretty much make it however we want it.
We've considered switching softwares at multiple points in our history, but always ended up staying on MyBB because it just worked well for us.
PGen98
Staff member
Understandable, I've done a lot of forum-hopping in my time and used basically every option out there (quite literally), and MyBB was always a solid platform. I really hope they can work towards getting a newer, more responsive version out in the not-too-distant future, but the delays are understandable when it comes to a volunteer development team squeezing in development time when they can. I'd like to see them keep pushing, to ensure they don't fall by the wayside like so many others have.
Darth-Apple
Member
Agreed. MyBB still is vibrant because of its plugin and theme creating community. Still a great option for new forums, and it tends to do very well for making active communities (even though it's a bit archaic out of the box).
Sometimes the more advanced forum softwares don't always guarantee more activity. Xenforo seems great (we've considered switching before), but I've seen a couple of forums that switched to IPB and then died shortly after, so maybe I just have a bit of a weird bias with it these days.
PGen98
Staff member
Absolutely agreed, it's still an active and lively community that makes it very appealing beyond just being a good solid platform.
IPB is an entirely different monster altogether, IMO They've bloated that software and made it relatively expensive for what it is, and while it works well for some, it really feels like they've abandoned their average customer in search of corporate and large-scale customers. XenForo have large-scale customers, as well, but their product is light, agile and brilliantly maintained, so it works for all involved, big or small. If you ever did consider migrating, they would be a great option! Granted, when you've done the legwork you've done on that forum, I can understand not wanting to move
Arantor
Member
These days I only have StoryBB instances (which I'm not prepared to share) but over the years I've tried in no particular order: PunBB, phpBB, MyBB, SMF (even been dev team), Wedge (dev team), IPB, XF, vBulletin, Woltlab, Flarum, Discourse, NodeBB, MiniBB, Gaia Athens/Vesta, eosAlpha, Protendo.
IPS has been moving towards the corporate sector for a while; it's not surprising because it's a growth sector as companies start pulling their engagement back in-house rather than engaging via social media. It's not that they're 'in search of' larger customers, they *have* larger customers. They're just keeping them and building features to service them and those like them.
XF has remained in that camp for the hobbyist - but I fear it too will inevitably have to consider what IPS is doing, because hobbyist forums are struggling.
IPS has been moving towards the corporate sector for a while; it's not surprising because it's a growth sector as companies start pulling their engagement back in-house rather than engaging via social media. It's not that they're 'in search of' larger customers, they *have* larger customers. They're just keeping them and building features to service them and those like them.
XF has remained in that camp for the hobbyist - but I fear it too will inevitably have to consider what IPS is doing, because hobbyist forums are struggling.
