Burning Board: Thoughts?

After doing a few searches on Google, I ran across a rather interesting forum script called Burning Board (developed by an organization known as WoltLab). At first, I thought that this script looked a bit odd - after taking a closer look at its feature list and a few of the screenshots, it's actually not that bad looking.

More information can be found here. Your thoughts?

 

It looks just - different. I wanted to try an admin demo, but I couldn't find one; only a front-end demo.

They seem to have a huge customer base though. They have 56k registered users, whereas the MyBB community only has 20k. What could that mean?

 

It's also a commercial-grade script, which I find a bit funny. From what I can gather, it's priced to compete with IP.Board - a "Standard" license is $139.99, while a "Professional" license is $269.99.

 

Hmm... D: I don't like it. Doesn't look bad, but for a paid script........... =\

Either way.... Looks easy to play with design wise. <3 I imagine so many styles I can do with it. I just don't like it... ;~; Showthread looks ugly!!!

 

I'm curious about their accessibility promises, unfortunately this is something most forum software does not do well.

 

They misspelled Customization :rofl:

Now I wonder...

 

That's a horrible mistake to make.

To me, the visual appearance of this script just doesn't look "professional" enough. If this is such an excellent script (and it should be for the price(s) they're asking), why is it not as well know as, say, vBulletin?

 

Ok, is it me or they turn every z to an s?????

Even at that why isn't it at least as known as SMF!? <.< That gives something to say!!

Also, from what I saw, it's most popular in Germany, but it's used on other countries that are from Europe. I just saw the Featured Forum bit and was looking at the Avril Lavinge forum, I just know that the script loads SUPER slow for me and I do not understand it. :S

 

They're promoting an Avril Lavigne forum? That would explain why it's not used often...

I'm now noticing quite a few grammatical (and spelling) mistakes on their website - very unprofessional. Taking a closer look at the screenshots, I'm actually not too impressed with the postbit... take a look.

 

I'm seeing a lot of musician forums, Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, etc. German forums, irish...

I don't like the postbit, looks clean, but not useful. Too little for me I guess.

 

It's unique, that's for sure. I'd personally like to know how the skinning process would be.

 

I'm getting the impression English is not their first language. Still, it shouldn't be to hard to find a native speaker willing to take a look.

 

Precisely, Michelle - particularly seeing as this is a commercial-grade venture.

 

I like it.

but I would not pay for it.

 

I visited one board that runs off it, and it looks pretty sleek.
German Smash Boards | Startseite

However, registration was a chore (it asks for all the profile info straight-up in registration, which is a lot to deal with) and the postbit is kinda ugly. Never seen the backend though, so I wouldn't know...

 

It appears as though it can be customized to quite an extent.

 

Calling Burning Board a commercial grade script is an insult to any genuine programmer who wants to be paid for their work.

I've known two people who were [strike]conned[/strike]persuaded to use it. Sure it was a long time ago but phpBB 2 was better.

 

Would you care to share their experiences on your behalf? That's quite the statement.

 

o.o I...got interested. phpBB2 was better than Burning Boards??????? xD

 

This is what I'm thinking. Clearly it's a matter of personal preference, but I'd be interested in hearing the exact reasoning.