ok... so here's my story. I'm currently using UBB.Classic 6.7 BR2.

I am looking to move over to a php/mySQL solution instead for 2 reasons:

1) I need the flexibility and power of using a mySQL db.
2) I'm having better luck learning PHP than I am PERL.

Now, while I don't mean to start a flame war here, I will say what I think most of us would agree on, which is that the two main contenders out there for self hosted solutions that are php/mySQL would be UBB.Threads and vBulletin.

My question is, what are the differences?

In terms of speed/features/security/ etc etc ?

Obviously Threads would be cheaper for me as it would only be $99 for my to upgrade. However ultimately that's not important.

So please.. no die hard Infopop zealots. In other words, no "Infopop RULES! Everything else SUCKS!" as that's not exactly helpful. If you can please give me as much detail as possible.

Thanks much.

[:"blue"] Infopop has been developing messageboards for a very long time, and has the most experience. UBB.threads has less features, but is more stable and faster. Infopop will also provide better tech support. I also prefer the UBB.threads interface over vBulletin (even more than the vBulletin 3 dynamic interface)

BTW, v6.5 (currently in dev beta) has an admin panel like UBB.classic.

6.5 demo site [/]

I know very little about VBulletin, but what I DO know is that after running Classic for a couple years, switching to Threads was like stepping out of my work shoes and into a nice warm pair of slippers.

Very comfortable and easy to understand. I too find PHP more intuitive than I did Perl and have had a great time with it.

Along with Threads, comes the backing of Infopop who has great support, but you also get this site with all the excellent members, whose knowledge combined is amazing!

I'm a member of a couple VBulletin boards and I find the Threads user interface more comfortable as well. So I think I'd have a very hard time being convinced to switch at this point. In the end it's a personal choice. I chose Threads, but that was my choice.

Mark,

I just went through the "research learning curve" on just this topic... which is the best BB. Of course how do you define the best. What are youe exact needs, etc.

I am building a site for Honda automotive techs. It will have forums, chat, news, and online training available by subscription. My original plans were for the site to be a traditional framed html site with a BB that would open in the main frame when they clicked on "Forum". All the other site functionality would be built with html pages. So I was looking for a BB as an add on to a html site.

I knew I wanted to offer my training modules on a subscription basis. So my first quest was to choose a good subscription/membership script to control access to this information. After pretty exhaustive research on this, I decided to use aMember Pro Membership script to control access to my training modules.

I then saw where they offered a plug-in for many BBs so you could sell access to specific forums for specific amounts of time. This got my attention. It seemed like a good option to have, in addition to controlling access to specific folders for specific amounts of time. I then decided to use subscription controlled forums to deliver all my traning. The simple explanation is that I will put links to PDF files in the forums. As long as they have a paid subscription they have access to the links (and yes there will be provisions so they will not be able to visit the link after their subscription expires).

I have 10 training modules that a customer will be able to subscribe to. Basically $20 buys you 60 days access to a module. $100 gets you access to all 10 for 6 months. I needed to be able to have a member subscribe to any combination. Such as subscribe to Module A today, subscribe to Module b in 2 weeks, etc. As it turned out Threads was the only BB that allows a member to belong to an unlimted number of groups, which is what you need to do this.

So that took vBulliten and Invision Power Board off the table. When I started taking a close look at Threads it was apparent I was doing the right thing. Threads has plenty of horsepower and features, yet is not so complicated that it takes weeks to master. Take the time to visit vBulliten and IVB and read their Admin manuals. It will make your head explode after an hour or two... LOL

In my humble opinion, some of the high end BBs have become way too feature laden and complicated. You want a headache, try to read and try to understand the "skinning" process on either of these two boards.

I had decided I was going to use Threads for the BB part of my site and to deliver information based on subscriptions. Everything else way going to be html. Then I found this site and saw how you could let threads drive an entire site with some of the mods and add ons developed from this gang. I do not think you will find such a large and vibrant independent suport group like this one with any other BB.

Now it looks like Threads will vitually drive my entire site. The content of the site will built up by visitors contributions. I will provide a vehicle for them to share service information (for free) and sell them access to training when and if they want it.

In my book Threads was the best choice for me.

Hope this helps!

Mark,

I actually own a Threads License and a VB license. I can tell you I never put VB to use on a production site. I used it to test but here are my results. Threads is faster than VB. Now as straight out reason is the clunky coding in VB. VB appeals to the kiddies of the world cause its loading. Stuffed like an over stuffed sausage.

So speedwise for me it was Threads hands down there. Another reason I use Threads over VB is easy of use and customization. VB's templates are in a mysql database and you ever see their template editor and trying to find the right template it is a nightmare.

That alone was enough to keep me from every putting out a public version and keeping my site running threads. The two most important things to me were speed and ease of customization.

Put those two together and VB can never win. Rick is coding in some bells and whistles slowly but at a pace that it can be done correctly and not compromise the code.

The only thing I really miss with threads is the inability to create nested forums. I would need them to be able to archive posts according to specific categories.
For instance, mushroom cultivation posts would split up in different species subforums in the archives.

Some interesting read here:
http://www.sitepoint.com/print/671

speed is of much importance..

also high capacity is my other major concern.

Another reason I'm moving is b/c I need serious capacity. UBB.Classic I worry has the potential to bring my server to its knees with high capacity (I'm going to be hosting myself in the near future.. moving away from outsourcing).

Well, the final verdict is that it does look like I will be moving to threads... I'm checking on some details with Infopop but it looks like I'll pay the $99 and move to Threads.

Thanks to all.. I'm sure I'll be seeing you all regularly soon.

One thing I really have having to give up though I'll admit is the content islands with RSS feeds.

is there perhaps a hack for that?

The RSS Feeds hack can be found here
Also, content islands are a planned part of 6.5.

I have to ask...

what is a content Island?

[]slayer60 said:
The RSS Feeds hack can be found here
Also, content islands are a planned part of 6.5. [/]

yay.

[]shortbus said:
I have to ask...

what is a content Island? [/]

http://www.musicianchat.com

the 2 tables above the main forum summary are content islands... the one that is "Last Posts" and "Last Topics"

there's also the ability to do a recent visitors island... and a few others... their real usage is in placing forum objects and related info in places other than the forum.

For example I believe you can even have a content island from my forum, on your site if the path was set correctly.... I'm not sure about that though so don't quote me.. I've never actually tried that.

so, kinda like IIP?

similar You can use them with many of the available rss newsreaders like trillian as well... excellent if you wanna syndicate your content.

Well, the support and hacks etc. for threads is awesome, and 6.5 will have some nice features. My site (threads forum) has almost 1 million posts now and is very slow when compared to large VB sites I think, a lot of that stems from the search feature not being up to par, the good news is that they are addressing that issue in the next few versions.
I really like 6.4 as far as features go but was dissapointed with the speed decrease from 6.2, I hope 6.5 will be much faster, looks like they are heading in the right direction, I think Rick and others at Infopop realize the problems and are working very hard on the problem and should get it nailed very soon.

I use both. I've been a threads customer since 1998 and vbulletin since 2000.
Each has it strenghts and each has it weakness.
Which software to use is a matter of choice. If you ask here you'll get all pro threads answers. If you ask at vbulletin you'll get all pro vb answers.
Ask your users what they would prefer. Give them a link to a threads site and a vbulletin site and ask them post their likes and dislikes. Just don't give them a link to here or vbulletin. They will be the one using it. To check out the admin sections head to vbulletin. They have an admin demo up. I don't know if Infopop has an admin demo up for threads.
There is a robust hack community for vbulletin and an active template and customization site.

One thing I'd like to point out. Not all vbulletin owners are kids. The more vocal ones are kids, but rest assured there are many old guys like me that own vbulletins. They just choose to stay quite.

If you do go with Threads, avoid the 6.4.1 release which is the current one. There are known bugs with search and stickies and some (our site included) are experiencing significant slowness vs 6.3.2. I really wish we hadn't upgraded, it's been a step backward in some regards.

I'd either wait for 6.5 and hope these kinks have been worked out, or use 6.3.2 or 6.4 (if Infopop would give them to you).

I'm going to stick with the general consensus. I own no Threads or vB liscense, but have been active on several boards powered by both softwares.

I'd say the one thing vB has going for it is a slow release cycle. It was roughly a year ago that Threads 6.2 came out. vBulletin has had maybe two or three "minor bugfix revisions" since then, and several 3.0 betas. It is overstuffed with features, and often pokey.

The style is ugly, but IMO the default Threads style isn't much better. vB's entire interface (in 2.x, and not really improved in the last 3.0 beta I looked at) seems awkward, almost as if it were designed by someone like me. Threads makes more sense, although I'm not a big fan of threaded discussion.

</objective rant>

Oh, and BTW, according to the "page generation" times in the footer, taken on my localhost server with the trial of Threads and phpBB 2.0, phpBB is faster.