Top 10 Forum Choices and Alternatives for Your Website
Published on 10 April 13
KorahMorrison
0
Here are ten of the top forum programs available at the moment. They can all be used to power a forum website, and many of them can be plugged into blogs such as WordPress. The ones that are able to be used with a blog will appear at the bottom of a post, where the comment section would usually sit. The list is in no particular order because they all have their own charms, pros and cons.
1 - Mingle Forum
You can have private messages and it has integrated HTML areas for AdSense or affiliate links. You can run different topic descriptions, such as hot and very hot topics. You can run sticky (Pinned) topics. You can edit, move, close and remove topics. It has media embedding that you can put into posts. You can use skins, and add email notifications for replies on your topics. You can also add Captcha to stop the spammers.
2 - bbPress Bulletin Boards
It is integrated with WordPress so all you need to do is upload it onto your WordPress blog. The forum allows for themes and templates and they are very easy to activate. The forum system itself is also being updated all the time so that people can add plugins to the forum itself. You can also add template tags within the forum so that you can customize your forum a little more easily.
3 - Forumpress
This forum is a set up as a WordPress plugin to make it easier to install on your blog. You can have guest postings and arrange/setup moderators and user groups. You can set up SEO friendly URLs. You can edit, move, close and remove topics. You can add various topics with various statuses. You can manipulate your posts by moving them, editing them or deleting them. It also has free support.
6 - phpBB
You can add plugins to this forum and you can set up moderators. There is an administration panel, and a choice of styles. You can set up user groups and it allows private messaging. There is a data management function and an anti-spam function. This forum can be used to with your blog at the very bottom, or it can be used to power a full website if you like. There are lots of image packages for you to choose from.
4 - Tal.ki Embeddable Forums (paid and free)
The administration panel is very easy to use, and you can set it to allow public and private forums. The CSS is customizable, and you can set up email notifications for new replies. It runs automatic security upgrades and patches and has lockable topics. You can permalink your topics so that they can be shared between users, and you can make announcements at the top of forums. You can create a number of sub-forums, which you add by dragging and dropping.
5 - Realtidbits
People can add real-time comments, and they can add comments to existing posts and pages very quickly and easily. The real-time functions allow you and your community to talk as if you were all in a chat room. It is powerful, extensible and configurable. It also has a real-time gallery for your media, just like an IM session. You and your community can embed videos and images into the forum for all to see and enjoy.
7 - vBulletin
With this forum you can have bog standard posts, but it also has member features that allow things such as private messages and permissions. People can set their own privacy levels, and may also have avatar options. You can set up users and user groups, and there is an attachment management system. You can control the admin board and its maintenance too. They have a help and FAQ section, a styles and template function, and will even help you to set up your advertising and payment integration into the forum.
8 - Vanilla Forums
The free version allows you to set up a forum with limited functions and features, and is a bit of a forum hobbyist forum. It is an open source platform and is highly customizable. There is a plugin for WordPress too. It has an import tool, and is easy to embed into a website because it just takes the addition of a little bit of code.
9 - Forumotion
This forum allows you to have 7000+ free skins to use within your forums, and it allows for free and unlimited forums. You have free image hosting and can send unlimited messages to users. The updates are automatic and secured, and you can use additional features such as chat box, portal, gallery and calendar. You can add your own domain name to the forum and have customized emails integrated into it too.
10 - Simple Press
It is a very SEO friendly forum that allows SEO friendly perm links. You can have member profiles and extend their member options. It has a permissions system to help security and can be integrated with WordPress. It is very customizable and even has language support.
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