I have a question for every registerd member here. It's not really a problem I have, I'm just inquisitive(?). Why did you all buy an UBB, why not a vbb or a free Ikonboard? I choosed for an UBB because a friend of me advised it. And I didn't know anything about vbb or other forums. Please tell me why you choosed for an UBB!

Well Because I posted on other UBB's which I enjoyed, the look and the Hacking community it has.

I can't remember where I first saw the UBB in use--maybe with a couple of sports' boards I like to frequent (GO PACKERS! ), but I liked the look of it, and I liked its features a lot.

At the time, I was using a "free" messageboard that wasn't too bad, but the cost of it being "free" meant advertisements. They were also a large site, so crackers targeted them, and my board would be wiped out. They then went to the really intrusive pop-up ads (the one here @ ubbdev only pops up on the front page), so I knew I needed to get out of there.

Because of my familiarity with the UBB from the sports' boards (GO PACKERS! ), I decided early on that my messageboard would be UBB-driven. I also loved the support at Infopop, and I especially am grateful for the support here at ubbdev--to fine tune the board to meet my community's needs.

When a friend unexpectantly offered up the money for me to not only purchase a website domain, but also a UBB license, I was in heaven!

So, that is the long and the short of why I use UBB.

I see the vBoards, and I have to wonder, Which came first? UBB or them?

There are a lot of similarities, but also enough differences to make them separate.

Me? I'm stickin' w/UBB.

I first chose UBB and stay with it because of Infopop's technical support staff, it's large user base, Infopop's commitment to producing a quality product, the active hacking community, it's interface, standard/recognized layout, and Infopop's willingness to listen to and interact with their customers. I also feel much more secure knowing that Infopop is a "real" company with a physical address and has actual employees -- not a guy coding out of his garage, only made up of volunteers, or a group of friends spread out all over the world. I'm sick of finding a great script, installing it, becoming reliant on it, and then watch it turn into abandon-ware.

ADWOFF, UBB came first and set the standard. All the others are copies or cheap imitations.

I have honestly tried other boards and found the same frustration that UBB gave me at first, having to "learn" it well enough to hack it. I believe that there are valid alternatives to UBB depending on whether you want a database or flatfiles etc. etc.

I stick with UBB because I love it and the communities that it represents. I started posting at UBB's first and to this day still consider it the most comfortable and natural feeling board system to use.

Here's why I didn't go with some other boards:

Ikonboard 2.1.9: Wimpy. It's excellent considering it's free but unhacked it needs... more.

Ikonboard 3.0.2: Discovered I didn't give myself (the Admin) permission to read or post to any of my forums. BIIIG mistake on their part.

vBulletinBoard: They made the mistake of saying that it consisted of quite a number of files. I don't remember how many, but I do remember thinking that it would probably take quite some time to upload using my 56K modem.

And since I like using UBB Code, it's a bonus to actually be running UBB.

Think I saw the words "Ultimate Bulletin Board" on a board early '99 and it looked really nice so I decided to hunt down the UBB maker and downloaded a demo...god I was sat there thinking "OK...What do you do with all these files??!!" and oinestly I didn't know how to upload in ASCII or binary!

Now I am a expert at it so all worked out well

Saw a UBB 5 late '99 ( and it\'s still a UBB5 ) liked it. Saw a UBB6 mid-01. Liked it. Used an iB 2. Didn't like it -- half of the hacks I had to fix myself. Used a UBB6. Liked it. Switched temporarly to iB 3. Don't like it. Going to open our UBB soon. Like it.

Actually, one of the main reasons is UBBDev. The other main reason is that I'm just used to UBB from many boards, and I think it has everything better than iB, vB and phpBB. What that doesn't come in a stock UBB, I hack. (therefore the UBBDev reason).

I don't care about company's support usually, because that's only basic stuff (post-installation troubleshoot, for example), but I agree that it's important that IP has a physical location and real employers/employees.

I also hate fakers. See: vB, iB, phpBB

WASSUP!

The addiction of continuously modifying UBB then upgrading when there is no reason to other than so you can rehack (and customize) the board all over again. While I do back up my files, I have the tendency to not use my testing board but to hack the board while users are online. They are crazed by the idea that everytime they press refresh they always find something new, sometimes with user-end goodies...This is a drug I tell you...

Err...What was the question?

THANKS!
PrimeTime