Which message board system is your favorite?

We all use them (obviously), and we all love them (maybe). So tell me, which of the numerous message board systems available to us do you most enjoy using. Take into account features from both user and administrative sides, visual appearances, etc.

 

I found Zetaboards to be easy to use, yet had lots of good features at no cost.

 

vBulletin. I'm the Head Admin on a role-playing website hosted on vBulletin, so I have a lot of experience with it. This is compared to Invision and ProBoards, both of which the website used to be hosted on.

 

IGN, really. The thing I love most is the fact that you can't have stupid images in your signature. Clutter, gone!

 

Dang, I forgot to say IGN boards. Oh well.

 

IGN, possibly because I'm so used to it over the years. Some of the others annoy me.

This. x10. Sig images are really annoying.

 

IGN, simply because it's so nice and sleek - I like that the message tables don't have any blank spaces in between, or fancy boxes or whatever. And I'm just so used to it.

phpBB would be my second choice.

 

IGN and SMF(Simple Machine Forums) are my favorites. I did enjoy BB, but after my old site didn't install BB3 without a hassle, I switched to SMF. Lot of handy features and layout options available from the get-go, and it's all for free.

Vbulletin isn't bad, but it isn't free either.

 

Signature images have their uses on certain websites, such as role-playing websites. It's good to be able to have a signature image for your character, and you can even use the signature as a link to the character's profile. It makes the role-playing a bit less boring, IMO.

 

Signature images do get annoying, and can detract from the overall appearance of the site.

 

Not if you regulate how large they can be. On IGN it would look horrible just based on the layout, but on other systems, such as vBulletin, they do work, particularly when used for role-playing. If a vBulletin website lacked signature images, it'd be rather boring.

 

I wasn't referring to vBulletin; I was a member on a few sites using other message board systems, and the signature spots were clogged with images.

 

Hey, RPing doesn't need fancy images. In fact, having gotten so used to playing here where there aren't any, I find websites that make heavy use of icons/sig images to represent characters a bit jarring, especially when they just plaster celebrity faces there and call it a day.

 

I absolutely love vBulletin for the features and customization options. It's a ton of fun to work on.

 

I'd vote vBulletin. I've been a regular of several sites that have used it over the years and it's been a pretty good mesage board system.

Going back to the sig-image discussion - all the vBulletin boards I've posted on allow for the user to disable sigs (and avatars, and even posted pics as well) so one doesn't have to see them if they wish. Like others I do tend to view sig-images as extra clutter but I found the ability to personally disable them preferable to just disallowing them outright.

 

I'm a big fan of phpBB and have been since 2002 when their 2.0.x line released. I think the 3.0.x is a nice step forward in terms of features and looks but it's a pain in the butt to modify now.

I like IGNboards too but it could stand a UI update.

 

Does anyone still use Discoboards?

 

Not likely.

 

Hahaa... what about EZBoards? Does anyone even remember those?

 

The first BYS and Dark Lords sites back in 02 were EZBoards. They weren't that bad until the ads started. Man, that was annoying as heck.

 

Oh man, yeah. Happily the board I posted on was on EZBoard Gold ... or whatever their paid membership was, I've long forgotten ... so we didn't see the ads. But the moment our subscription lapsed, bam. Ads. Ugh.

Those were the days of actually paying for ad-free stuff. Now you'd just tell everyone to use Adblock.

 

Exactly. To me, ads are the most annoying things on the web right now. EZBoards was brutal once your free trial ran out.

 

vBulletin without a doubt. I was a big IGN boards fan (love simplicity) until I found VB.

Honestly, any forum is better than a Yahoo group.

 

I've heard a lot of good things about vB. I use it over at the LOTRO official forums. I like the inline editing of posts.