After using SMF, MyBB, and a whole lot of forum softs for two years, I have to conclude that phpBB is just the worst. Firstly, there is a huge lack of features (including not showing topic titles on the index page!), it's never updated, there are lots of exploits, and hard to mod. Strangely, it has a huge community which is the only good thing I can think of.

LOL..

I have to disagree.. I run several phpBB3's and at least 1 SMF install..
(have not tried MyBB yet. other than being a user)

to me phpBB3 takes the prize.. I think its extremely easy to mod and customize..
the only thing it really lacks is the 'click and go'.. I like installing thngs manually..

you learn lot more of how the software works and interprets the code that
you install..

Phpbb3 is one of the best in my opinion

it has many features plus you can add on mods that you want easily.

SMF is really hard for beginners and it doesnt have as many styles to choose from.

Also Vbulliten also doesnt stand up to phpbb3 if you ask me

Well, franky im not sure what to say.

phpBB is updated very often, sometimes with only two weeks between versions. I have found no exploits that currently work with it (and im in that field quite a bit, let me assure you ).

I like the fact that it is open source, and I ratehr like manual MOD installs as well. It gives you more control, which I really like. Its hard to configure MyBB or even SMF to do the things phpBB can. Im not talking little things, but extreme things, like making it work with a torrent tracker.

Overall, I think phpBB is the best of them all, but hey, thats just my thoughts on the matter.

yea.. what he said.. :-p lol

Yeah very, especially on the ones that only registered users can view posts or threads.

lolol..
I never understood that either...
if I felt forced to join a forum just to read the posts.. I went looking for the
information elsewhere..

and Welcome to the forums Jane.. Great to have you here..

Invision Power Board is a good one, it's also got a lot of free add-ons to add just about any feature you could want. but a Permanent License costs $130. ^^;;;
Demo : free forum

I used phpbb 2 back in the day and I loved it. The permissions were easy to understand. I don't like phpbb 3 so much. I don't understand why it feels the need to have the admin in registered users, moderators, and administrator groups at the same time.

It gets pretty cluttered if you ask me. It does have a good community of skinners and modders. But a couple of things it should have out of the box is FURL support and a sitemap generator. I know there are mods for both, but these are pretty much industry standards now. The only thing it has over SMF in my opinion is an easier to use ACP, and a table-less design.

SMF wins in almost every other area. =/ The problem with having a lot of mods is every mod you add, increases security flaws, decreases performance, and increases the chance for something going wrong. But as far as free softwares go, it's not bad. But if I were forced to use a free forum solution I'd probably go with SMF or XMB.