Personally my view of the these particular board software are similar to that of what A.Ah mentioned In my opinion I believe that Vb is the best overall and in terms of pro's/con's..Even ipb 1.3 is still better in my opinion than phpbb's (latest version)..

This is in no way to trash phpbb, but it's mostly what I read and hear about. phpbb's main problem is it's secuirty issue, almost all updates to the software have to do with updating of the software's secuirty issues. And it's true. phpbb is very easy to hack.

For example, on phpbb 2.01 version you can easily gain admin access on the forum simply by changing the cookie and visiting the page again even if you are not a member of it . People seem to be attacted to it's vulnerability which is probably because it's so popular. The only think I like about that software is it's extensive add-on hacks. These are mostly the major ones which i've all used. though you can try searching on google. i'm sure there are plenty out there

P.S: If you have the money buy Vb,

Good Luck

__________________
»» eBypassnow Launched :: Bringing the e to free access
»» Click Here to Access! :: http://www.ebypassnow.com

Well, I live in a country where my wage is 200 USD a month. This is also the amount i need to spend for a VB or IPB (some dollars less, but still a HUGE sum for me). Given all this info, it's almost certain I can't spend my money on a very expensive script, just to play the admin.

So, I started on phpBB. FREE. With hundreds of mods and an excellent template system (those dreaded tpl file some complain they don't want to upload all the time make an excellent modifying option. It's pure html and that means being able to create some unique layouts).

I don't have money to spend on my forums, but I do have some time, not to mention I have the knowledge to make the stand out. I dare say there are many VBs and IPBs that don't look as "professional" as my phpBBs with UNIQUE layouts.

phpBB being free makes my site look unprofessional? But who's there to know this? The only site that could get a VB (in the very far future anyway) would be my webmasters forums. All the other phpBBs will remain on the script. My members in the non-webmaster area DON'T KNOW what script I am running. They can't even show an image with [img] tags, lest comment on the script. They need features. and I give them. I have different mods installed giving me the exact features I need for all the sites. The webmaster community has the most of them since people are more picky. I have everything your VB and IPB gives for my members, so I can't care less about the script.

What makes a site unprofessional to me? NEVER the script. I have seen some awesome phpbb, smf, punbb and so on sites. Unique layouts, a lot of features, excellent communities. And I have also seen some horrid VB and IPB sites or defaul looking themes and forums. Paying 200 USD on a script and letting the site look just like another VB or IPB forum is unprofessional to me. A script is just the beginning of a forums journey. It's the base we'll build and entire structure.

For those that still think phpBB is a mess, allow me to offer some examples:
webmaster forums (this is how the site looked when theme installed - recreated the header in photoshop, recoded it to look like this, modified the index and the way the tables are, put over 40 hacks to have a huge number of features and an excellent user panel and many others. All I have left from the initial theme are the icons and the percentage images).

Women forums - the theme was looking like this. Nothing left from it: modified everything, only the table structure remained. Still I kept the credits. Added a lot of hacks too.

Movies forums - Kept only some buttons and some images. Header recreated from the scratched and a lot of hacks installed.

I have all the respect and understanding for people who could aford paying for a script, but I do have to say, with the same respect, that I don't think my sites are unprofessional or bad. I did whatever I could from the little resources I had and I'm very proud. The women forums were elected as featured forum on phpBBhacks last month, so it's not that bad.

I don't have 1 member complain that he's not feeling nice in my sites or ask me to buy a paid script. I have tested other scripts too, but this is the only one that gives me the complete freedom to create my unique layouts and put all my ideas in a site. As for security ... all scripts are vulnerable. ALL scripts need constant tweaking and we need to back up DBs constantly.

I rest my case (and my fingers )

__________________
Webmaster Tips & Tricks - Unique articles, tutorials and topics. Free promotion.

PhpBB is always my choice as its free, but i would go for vB if i had the money

I wish I had VB. In fact, I'm thinking about switching pretty soon. Until then I'll use SMF.

__________________
www.webmasterforum.tk -The Webmaster Forum
http://www.nerdcouncil.comThe Nerd Council