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Well, you could steal vB, but I don't recommend it...

Dark is good, light is bad... To keep spam down, just get a couple moderators that can delete posts, and ban accounts. Works wonders on keeping down spambots. (I have experience as a moderator/admin on several forums if you need help with that aspect of the forums)

I personally think that the PHPBB style forum looks much better than the vanilla one. I'm not really too knowledgeable on forum software, but I've heard that vbulletin is apparently good, although I think you have to pay for it.

It's obvious, Vanilla is a non-comfortable, eye-depressing excuse for a Forum engine, while phpBB, despite being a common choice, actually offers much more expandability and customization. So the only variant here is phpBB. However, I protest against the removal of the comment section. It feels natural to discuss news as they appear. Indeed, forums have a wider range of possibilities but when it comes to News and Updates only, comments are much more efficient.

Yeah, Vanilla definitely is the LAST option. Also, FUN FACT: Around the time the WordPress site was launched last year, I actually HAD a phpBB installation running with the accursed farms logo, a darker theme and everything. It was even on the site for a while, but Ross wanted to write the sticky posts and the categories. He never got to it, and now we're at a point where there's 1000+ users and we don't want *everyone* to have to register again.

There aren't as many wordpress/phpbb mods (plugins).

No, flamethrower instead.

"but I’ve been told it doesn’t have as many features" What? phpBB has heaps of addons. And if you want even more you can go with SMF, although I personally find SMF poorly set out and annoying to use.

Back in 2001 or so, I hated when phpBB starting pushing out simple anonymous chat-style forums, I hated starting accounts just to post one reply and never come back. Worst thing was that it just looked so complicated and confusing. It took some time to get my brain to get accustomed to phpBB layout. If You choose Vanilla and I have to go all over this familiarization process again, I'm gonna kill myself.

Quote: ... speaking from experience as a moderator ... my eyes hate ... bright .. *freeman voice* : Aaah, my eyes! Gaze upon the fiery doom of this earth!

"By the way, I would greatly appreciate if you chose to go with the same colour theme for the forum as the main website. Not only because it feels more consistent but because me and my eyes hate dark text on bright background in general." I second that!

I like how similarly Ross and I think. When I first read about the forum plans I imagined it would be cool if the accounts as well as news entries integrate into the forum to both simplify account management and post counting. I definitely prefer the phpBB layout myself, but I must warn you Ross, and I am speaking from experience as a moderator of one; without robust anti-spam measures you will easily be getting 5+ spam accounts created every single day. Keeping the software updated doesn't cut it. The forum I help manage is not even that big or popular, just a cozy little forum for a tiny indie developer. By the way, I would greatly appreciate if you chose to go with the same colour theme for the forum as the main website. Not only because it feels more consistent but because me and my eyes hate dark text on bright background in general.

I'd prefer the phpbb one by a longshot. I wouldn't mind having create new account info either.

People will still be posting comments, they'll just be in a thread that duplicates the news postings.

Ass-hat.

Lol, do it.

phpbb is better. I didn't even know that the Vanilla format was even considered a forum style.

Despite my better judgement, I must protest your comment removal. Just because someone acts like an asshole on your site, you really shouldn't spoil it for peeps who still want to post comments. Personally, I hate twitter, facebook, or anything because there are asshats everywhere and just doing it for those who intend to spoil the fun. Whatever. I'm not running your site though, but I could careless what you decide anyway.

If he chooses Vanilla, I'm going to send you a gun

I like PhpBB better myself, I could care less about having to recreate login information or the loss of the current comments. Better to go with a layout that is better for the long run and have temporary inconveniences than to go with something that will become annoying in the long run. Also phpbb is much funnier to say when pronounced phonetically. PHPBB!!

Yeah, phpbb. Also, glad to hear your voice is back to normal, Ross!

Oh god. I'd rather shoot my dick off than use the WordPress Vanilla scheme. PhpBB, for the sake of humanity.

I personally like the idea of removing the comments on news posts. It gives the site more of a... professional(?) feel. I also enjoy the more common phpBB style then the WordPress one. I like some of the things that WordPress has right there, but the phpBB is more familiar.

Oh well if that's the case then ok.

I guess the vanilla engine was too vanilla for this...