If you couldn't use your current script, what would be your next choice?

SMF as per the link is in my sig...

 

Interesting, Bendo. Are there any forum scripts that you feel would be an "upgrade" from Simple Machines Forum?

 

No, if there were, I'd have done it by now. Obviously price is not an issue, the $160 or whatever it is these days for a vB owned license is less than a months hosting. I did have a leased license to evaluate it.

That said, if SMF disappeared tomorrow, I'd move to vB. phpBB I can't stand on a tiny forum than I'm forced to admin, IPB, I'm not a fan of their insistance on hiding all the juicy stuff behind customer logins and I'm not convinced MyBB would scale well enough, that said, I'm pretty certain I'd need a hardware upgrade if I wanted to run vB anyway...

 

Now that's the kind of answer I am looking for, I find that post to be quite interesting, thanks for posting!

 

If I couldn't use vBulletin anymore, I'd go with MyBB - hands down.

 

I'm designing my own custom CMS

Failing that, Drupal.

 

Probably Invision Power Board if I couldn't use vBulletin, nigh on everything else is too basic for my preferences.

 

If I couldn't use vBulletin I would use an custom one.

 

Would you custom code it yourself or hire someone, John?

 

Both, I am currently coding an own CMS but there is some stuff that I can't code.

 

Depends on the site. I don't think there is a "One-size fits all" when it comes to software.

 

I'm sure that's a good learning experience, but that would be too much for me!

 

I would probably say Expression Engine - I have just taken a look at it and it has great intregation with their own cms.

 

Using SMF 1 and 2 for now.
I wouldn't know.. phpBB is not an option. I would be testing IPB and VB, as well as myBB. In the end, it would probably come down to the mods available. it's not essential that the forum has as many features as possible, but more that it has the features I need.

 

I like the way you think. I would evaluate several, we have a few features that are extremely important, beyond that not a huge deal. Support would be a HUGE issue because I cannot code, at least not anymore.

SMF and MyBB would both be on the list to test. I'm not sure about IPB, at first glance they do not appear to meet our needs but I've not tested it.

 

IPB is my favorite, and as for why I chose it, it was because with it, I was able to do things that I wasn't able to on other software, such as have full control over the layout of my board, post html in threads, have custom bbcodes, skin changer, set up an arcade, have an avatar gallery.. etc..
Demo : free forum

 

What are those features?

I believe you can do those things with any forum software, at least with a few tweaks/mods.

 

If I couldn't use vBulletin then I'd use MyBB. I doubt I'd ever use anything else.

 

I've used phpbb for 2 years, I've also used SMF and installed a copy of mybb, but I would go with vbulletin 1st, and IPB 2nd...ATM

 

That ^