vBulletin - phpBB

**Vinay** · Feb 12, 2001, 07:03

Alright you faithful users of vBulletin ... I just wanted to point out that there is a GPL alternative also in PHP / mySQL available ... GPL == free ... free == good ... GPL is the same license linux ( http://www.linux.com ) comes under ...

so, take a look at it.... hey, you might like it

..

http://www.phpBB.com

**Graeme** · Feb 12, 2001, 07:15

looks good, but i cant wait untill i finsih off my php/mysql message board its about 40% done, and i need a name for it

**klisis** · Feb 12, 2001, 09:29

....... Graemebb ...

**TWTCommish** · Feb 12, 2001, 10:36

Another PHP/MySQL based message board?

- look what you've done, Kevin!

phpBB is old news, my man, just catching on now that it's been released officially. I've installed it once before and used it a bit - it's a poor man's vBulletin, to put it plainly.

The template system isn't even half as useful as vBulletin's - if you don't have the cash for vBulletin but need something better than UBB, then I guess phpBB is the way to go.

Personally I'll use phpBB as soon as someone writes an upgrade script, thereby ensuring that I can upgrade to vBulletin, which I'll want to do if the board is successful.

**Vinay** · Feb 12, 2001, 11:02

Commish ... i knew of phpBB a long time ago .. i was waiting for it to be out of its beta stages before i start recommending it to people..

poor man's vB ? .. you cant compare the two , they're under totally different licenses... phpBB has its own audience .. in my group of coder-like friends, we either build our own, or use GPL alternatives (i guess thats because we all use linux and know / support the GPL license)

hehe, it all depends on what you need it for, i like 100% customizability, and for that, i always write my own stuff

**TWTCommish** · Feb 12, 2001, 11:27

Of course you can compare the two - I'm leaving out all monetary/license issues and simply judging them on performance and overall quality as a message board, in which case vBulletin is the prince, and phpBB is the pauper.

If you take money into account, it all becomes relative.

**MattR** · Feb 12, 2001, 12:11

Just because something is free doesn't automatically make it "good".

Just because they're not on the same doesn't mean you can't compare them.

As Chris said, you can compare the functionality of the programs.

**Vinay** · Feb 12, 2001, 12:59

alright.. i'm not one to argue

if i look at it from your view point, sure, vB has more capability, but sure, you also pay the price

Matt, i never said free things are good, but hey, for a whole lot of people, a commercial BB is no the best option, and in that case, phpBB works out very well, i would give more support to something under the GPL license than something being distributed for "free" under their own license.. anyhow.... not important

If i were talking about commercial BB's, than yes, I would say vB is the only one which has caught my eye till now ... I never liked UBB's methodology of doing things

as a BB for a small site, specially those who use vB lite which is meant for testing purposes (for what i understand), phpBB serves as a better alternative..

i'm sure vB will come out with a phpBB converter soon enough, and many sites would end up starting off with phpBB atleast, if not using it all the time ...

if I were in a situation of starting a new site with an aim in mind, however not a huge amount of venture capital to work with, phpBB would be my first choice .. (ignoring the fact that i rather write my own . heheh)

i started the thread to point out to those people who are just waiting to get enough money to buy themselves a copy of vB (and i've known some) that they have a GPL based alternative available for them to use, permanently or as a temporary solution

**Graeme** · Feb 12, 2001, 13:51

lol Graemebb, my board does have afew little features vb and ubb dont have but well thats my little secret untill i finsih the script off

**Vinay** · Feb 12, 2001, 17:36

lol, graemebb sounds scary

**nomad_x** · Feb 12, 2001, 20:27

yeah phpBB is ok, i suppose, but i like blazeboard, it has the best template support in the world, yes, even better than vbulletin, not only that, but it is (again) GPL, its faster than vbulletin (slightly) and phpbb (by ALOT), remember, vbulletin makes a lot of mySQL queries slowing down its overall performance... theres another one YapBB, yet another php bulletin board, that one has serious security probs and its slow, but it doesnt use mySQL and is a good solution if u dont have that available...

almost forgot blazeboard is available at http://bbhacks.com got a real high rating in HotScripts

**nomad_x** · Feb 12, 2001, 20:28

oh yeah, and is graeme the same graeme from webmonkey php mysql tutorial (the one that i learned from

)

**nomad_x** · Feb 12, 2001, 20:29

wait sorry thats http://www.bbhacks.com, doesnt seem to work without the three w's

**ibeblunt** · Feb 13, 2001, 10:20

Originally posted by MattR
[B]Just because something is free doesn't automatically make it "good".

This is 100% correct. The biggest mistake I made was switching from my $100 a month server to a $14.95 server. Everything was going great until they switched my server from a Linux to a Unix box and didn't transfer everything. They didn't make a backup of the old box. I threatened them with lawsuits and all they did was cancel my account and send me a $50.00 check for my troubles. I lost all of my users account information...Info I had collected for 2 years.

The expression, "You get what you pay for" applies so heavily here.

Oh and that ISP I was using was CommuniTech.net...

Also, Blazeboard is faster than VBulletin because it doesn't have any traffic or posts.

**Vinay** · Feb 13, 2001, 11:00

here is my opinion, strictly in the viewpoint of a developer .... you should have kept backups of your site yourself IF the data was so important to you

**TWTCommish** · Feb 13, 2001, 11:02

That may be correct, but if the host promised a backup and did not deliver, they are still at fault.

**klisis** · Feb 13, 2001, 11:27

But if the data was in mysql or some soft of database, it'd be very easy for you to keep a backup of current database.
It only takes a few seconds(with fasr typing) to make a back of mysql by telnet, you know.

**TWTCommish** · Feb 13, 2001, 11:35

Yup, I know.

Just saying that if his host screwed up, kicked him off unfairly, etc, and they guarenteed a backup, they are provided to give him one.

Hey, I backup my data now and then, but it's up to my host to be responsible for it in the end, if they include that as one of their features.

**ibeblunt** · Feb 13, 2001, 11:37

I was paying for backups. They should have made backups. They were/are a seedy operation because it took me 1 month to get someone on the phone to explain the situation to me. 30 days is a long time to duck one customer. It was only after I had some peoples in their area go to thier offices in Minn. and kick in the door that they called me back.

That's my second rule...Never get an ISP you can't visit within an hour.

**Vinay** · Feb 13, 2001, 22:12

yes, they are at fault for not providing you with your backups which they said they offered (maybe they didnt in reality) ..

oh well, i dont trust machines, my weekly hard drive backups of all my code lying on my hard drive goes onto 2 CD-RW's .. 1 is redundant just incase something hapepns to the other

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