Why SMF?

[[chrisB]]

I have used many forum scripts, and it might come across differently than I intended, but I have always loved SMF. Yet, if I had the money (I don't), I would have multiple sites running Invision Community. At one point, I had five active licenses. Three main sites, but this has dwindled down to one.

MyBB is a nice forum, but I have never been a fan of vBulletin, which MyBB originally looked a lot like, but with hints of Invision. There used to be third-party portals that would integrate with it, along with Subdreamer CMS, and I chose the forum based on what I attempted to kick-start. Most of my ideas are what I consider projects, and then they fizzle out.

My SMF site has transitioned to using Invision. It was on it all the way to something like 4.5, but it could have been 4.7. The site used to have over 1000 members, which averaged 150–220 active members. It was a great joy. I am really hoping to get that type of environment back, and with the cost being less, there is a lot less pressure to succeed.

I don't mean for this to come across as if, just because SMF is free, it means I can be casual, but I can invest easier. There are many great free forums, some of which I don't personally like, but that's the good thing about having options.

SMF is very simple to use, yet it does have a great community. It reminds me a lot of the earlier days on the internet, when people coded for fun and released mods as a passion. The extent to which people are down-to-earth and helpful is a big achievement of the SMF community. Some can be unhelpful, stuck-up, and even rude. There's one which I respect, but it's difficult to use, and its support community is a nightmare.

I also admire a lot of the talented theme designers for SMF. I have a custom theme designed by Diego, and it's awesome.

The fact that there are many free mods is also super useful, and I have made donations to devs who release free plugins because I think that if you get something of value, there comes a point when you need to pay it forward.

Whilst I love Invision, I have a similar admiration for SMF. I remember when I first used YaBB and became excited when I learned about SMF. I recall using earlier versions that featured some incredibly entertaining mods, allowing for a personalised touch in the post-bit area alongside the old karma system. It basically had four parts, which showed stats and looked super awesome. I don't think it was ever released as a mod; I recall it being an edit. SMF has always seemed the Linux version of forums, where you can customise it to your wishes. While many products appear to be standard and lack durability, often breaking with minimal use.

What about you?

[Skhilled]

Great post! As I've said before, I love myBB's usability. The problem with it was that you had to manually add mods and themes. At one time, they had a mod that would do it for you but the coder shut it down.

I've always liked Invision but it was out of my price range so I never really got to use it much.

I used to play with phpBB but thought it was harder to use than other software. I used to be a beta tester for the arcade and thought the arcade was the best, bar none and used to be the admin for SMF Arcade!

Diego is very talented. We used to be on the same team when LogoOff themes was around. Boris, the creator, and I are still good friends and keep in touch. I still have some of his old themes on my hard drive. LOL

I've never used YaBB but heard about it. I didn't start using SMF until version 1.0.3 or 4, I think.

I miss dual-booting Win and Linux. LOL But now that I have a new PC I may do it again.

[Oldiesmann]

I got started with SMF through YaBB SE, which I discovered after visiting the website for a band whose CD I had just purchased. I liked YaBB SE because it was different - it had more fun bbcode options than phpBB and it wasn't something that everyone else was using (at the time there were only a handful of forum systems out there - phpBB was the big one of course, then YaBB SE and IPB. On the premium side of things there was vBulletin and UBB/UBB.Threads but vB was the only popular one). I eventually set up a forum on boardnation so I could play around with YaBB SE. Eventually I decided to set up my own site because of the limitations of boardnation (free hosted forum - limits as to what modifications you could install and such), so I set up a fan site for a band I liked (not the same one that introduced me to YaBB SE). I followed the development of YaBB SE and was one of the ones who migrated to SMF when it became available. I've stuck with SMF all this time because I like the price, the community and the features.

[[chrisB]]

@Oldiesmann a project I had was a fan site for an indie band; it never really took off, but my main site is also one, but not for a band or musician. It's a sports team, but I am considering bringing past failed projects to SMF (now the more I am getting used to TinyPortal).

I posted recently on a webmasters forum about how I am using SMF, and I regret it.

I don't think it's mediocre; the learning curve is a lot easier than most alternatives, and it's a shame that several people mentioned having moved to using Discourse. TinyPortal does have a learning curve, as I think you need to know how to code, or at least understand much of it to make things work, but as a portal, it's powerful. Pushing it beyond that, it does make a nice CMS and by far elevates SMF.

WordPress was my intended aim for the site, but rjen and the TinyPortal team have won me over. I really wish I could support the project more, including SMF. I am considering the charter option with SMF, and I wish TP had a similar option.

[Skhilled]

The main thing is use what you like and what feels good for you and your needs.

[Oldiesmann]

I'm still trying to keep my Archie forum alive at this point. It did really well, even after I had to start over due to a hard drive crash (the RAID array failed on the physical server that my VPS was on; I didn't have any backups because my hosting plan was supposed to include nightly backups; host didn't have any backups because they said the feature somehow didn't get enabled on my account - at that point I found a new host), but has all but died now because I got busy with life and didn't have a chance to keep up with it. I've got more time now and want to try to keep it going, so we'll see what happens there. I've made a few posts recently, upgraded all the mods and switched galleries (originally had Arantor's Levertine Gallery, but switched to SMF Gallery Pro since LevGal isn't developed anymore and was broken due to MySQL strict mode), so hopefully I can revive interest in it.

Every so often I get the urge to try starting a new forum, but I never know where to start and starting a forum is so hard these days in the world of short attention spans and social media.

[Dave]

starting a forum is so hard these days in the world of short attention spans and social media.

Yes I 100% agree with that

[Skhilled]

Very true!

I'd like to restart my cooking forum or maybe even make it a blog. Either way I'd like to do it just keep everything I've posted somewhere accessible.

@Oldiesmann - I forgot all about your Archie forum until now. LOL

[Dave]

I started my first forum back in the early 2000s using phpBB, then eventually I moved to SMF and haven't looked back. The guys and gals on the SMF site are very helpful, even Kindred and they'll help you as much as they can.

What does amaze me sometimes is the way some people asking for help give so little info as to the whole issue they're having and expect the members there to know what they're talking about