I need to figure out what software to use to create a message board. (Sorry Doc, yours has too many errors!) (I don't know if the Doc intended/wanted others to use his software). This is board is to reunite a community (who, on the community as WHOLE was much close then anyone here who has felt a sense of "community" and/or been involved in the various chatrooms.) There have been many failed attempts, for reasons other then that of Sage's 87 different boards which was simply due to people not posting most of the time, some of which are outlines here (yes we do indeed have a good amount of "squeeing fangirls~", and the rest of the members hated the anime forum because of it). Polling the members has shown a good amount of excitement, but I need to be successful, part of which involves having a good base software which is capable of holding a good design. The only one I can actually think of in InvisionBoard (if all phpBB boards have the basic setup like this one then I'm not interested... if not then feel free to include phpBB discussion if you think it relevant). Most boards that I go to and believe are using InvisionBoard software seem to be done well, but I remember specifically thinking InvisionBoard sucks the first three boards I saw using it. There is also the possibility that the "good" boards aren't actually InvisionBoards. I will also need a board that can be used with a free site, because I obviously cannot pay for it (I'm homeless for those who don't know), so if the board cannot be used on a free hosting site, then it will need to host itself like EZBoards used to do. I obviously cannot put a board on something like Geocities, but I don't know if sites like freeservers.com and sytes.net allow full HTML control or enough to place a board code.

Some features I am looking for:

-Email subscription option - this is REQUIRED because I am going to be encouraging people to subscribe to topics by e-mail, so that they don't forget about the board after no one has posted for 2 months as usually happens at new boards, and therefore don't see the new activity even though they're interested, and just because I need to be able to see what's been posted on the board myself. *REQUIRED*

-A space for the four basic messengers, and XFire (customizable field of couse) as well if possible. Some boards only have one field that just says "Messenger". *very important*

-Polls - there has always been specifically a "polls" forum on our boards *REQUIRED*

-Ability to allow/disallow posting in one specific forum by indvidual user name - I am going to include a "computer help" forum and do not want non-members posting there *REQUIRED*

-Custom Titles - I am going to identify people with new screennames by their CT *REQUIRED*

-Ability to use HTML and unlimited characters in CT: Many members of the community still focus on making their CT look "Spiffy", so this may be somewhat important to them *medium-to-important*

-Ability to post in HTML, rich text editor available. This is mainly personal prefrence. *medium*

-Ability for moderators to be non-global *REQUIRED*

-Ability to design the board in colors, etc. - would also prefer a board that does not have skinning ability on ANY of it's boards. *medium*

-NO ability (or able to turn off ability) for members to change their own user name and NO ability (or can turn it off) for users to change their own custom title. *REQUIRED*

-An integrated chatroom is a plus... we had very mcuh difficulty trying to implement IRC, but good popularity in EZBoard's built-in chat. The main adminidtrator of most of the other boards still does not know IRC commands.

I know I am missing a few things so please do not get upset if you suggest something which I reject because it has or doesn't have a feature not listed here. Also if the software does not host itself, and you know of a place where I can implement and use it, please let me know. Thanks!

The possibility of a very complicated URL is not important.

Edited by God on August 30, 2008 at 14:22:56.

To cover that one, IOBoard is meant to be released eventually, but I'm not focusing on that so it might be several years away still. It's the meanwhile, it's an Interordi.com exclusive!


I haven't checked point by point everything that you mentionned, but SMF might be worth a check. If I had to setup a new message board and not use IOBoard for some reason, that's probably what I'd go with. It was several features, and it can be easily customized to your needs.