what is the simplest forum out there?

[azi]

i'd like to set up a fourm at my new payspace that's just incredibly simple. it's not for a huge number of people it's only going to be for me and my friends to "chat" in a non-realtime basis.

i have a cgi-bin and database at my disposal and generous space and bandwidth. i looked at the huge mass of forums you have listed, and saw that yabb is the only forum that can be run in the cgi-bin (well, according to the list, anyways), but... it seems almost too elaborate for what i need it for.

suggestions appreciated.

[conkermaniac]

http://www.ikonboard.com/ can be run using a CGI bin.

You can check http://www.hotscripts.com/ for some good WWWBoard scripts (very simple).

The simplest linear board (like FWS.net) would be http://www.minibb.net/

[The Red Guy]

http://www.ikonboard.com/ or http://forums.ikonboard.com also uses CGI-BIN and MySQL/DBM database. Better than YaBB though, but still not good enough.

Add: Damn! Conker beat me to it! :mad:

[azi]

hey, thanks. i think i'll give minibb a shot after i read up on it a little more.

basically, i simply didn't want something too complex and formal, so that people would feel free to post whatever without feeling like they need a statement of purpose -- and i believed that all the bells and whistles of a "real" forum would just make no sense, seeing as how i'm pretty sure there's only going to be 6 actual 'members' for the thing, and there wouldn't likely be more than 2 of us on at the same time.

[[lhomme]]

You might be interested in Shoutboxes.

http://www.xigla.com/shoutbox/ is an example
Type in "shoutbox" in google for more.

[Blank Verse]

If you want really simple, you could go with the old school wwwboard by matt wright (http://www.scriptarchive.com/wwwboard.html). It doesn't look the best, but it's low on resources, and really easy to set up.

[ashben]

I agree with Blank Verse. wwwboard is the slimmest. You may also like minibb.

[Rebel]

www.ibforums.com is the easiest by far...

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by Rebel
www.ibforums.com is the easiest by far...

IBForums is loaded with unnecessary features. And it puts quite some load on the server. It's also MUCH harder to install and setup than WWWBoard.

[Rebel]

Conkermaniac, you need to understand that they were sharing a host before which was slowing them down, not to mention they were still in their Beta. If you go there now you'll see the server load average under .20. For a forum that size, I don't think it's so bad...

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by Rebel
Conkermaniac, you need to understand that they were sharing a host before which was slowing them down, not to mention they were still in their Beta. If you go there now you'll see the server load average under .20. For a forum that size, I don't think it's so bad...

OK, but IBForums is still far from simple.

[Christopher]

Yes, far from simple, but I still like them the best!

They look nice too, the layout...

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by Christopher
Yes, far from simple, but I still like them the best!

They look nice too, the layout...

What do you think of Ikonboard's layout? :D

[Christopher]

Well I guess the layouts are basically the same, but I dunno. I like IB better then everything else - I used to like phpBB...

But IkonBoard is CGI isn't it? I think thats why I didn't like it.

[Blank Verse]

If you want a customizable board, the phpbb2 is the way to go. But slim, easy to set up, gotta be wwwboard.

[The Red Guy]

Originally posted by conkermaniac


OK, but IBForums is still far from simple. Fast can be another option for simplicity.

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by The Red Guy
Fast can be another option for simplicity.

There are fast boards that are cluttered with features (phpBB, IBForums, etc.). Some people just want a clean interface. They not necessarily want simplicity because of speed...

[The Red Guy]

Originally posted by conkermaniac


There are fast boards that are cluttered with features (phpBB, IBForums, etc.). Some people just want a clean interface. They not necessarily want simplicity because of speed... IBF is not cluttered at all. It doesn't have most of the many unwanted features other boards like phpbb2 have.

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by The Red Guy
IBF is not cluttered at all. It doesn't have most of the many unwanted features other boards like phpbb2 have.

I guess "cluttered" wasn't the best word.

[Jan]

Okay, I think azi got his reply in the first few posts. He/she wants simple, you guys are just complicating the issue now.

i'd like to set up a fourm at my new payspace that's just incredibly simple. it's notfor a huge number of people it's only going to be for me and my friends to "chat"in a non-realtime basis.

So let it rest please? :)

[azi]

hah! funny. i go away for a few days and come back to actual responses. i actually did leave the forum after my last response, so i only just saw all this ten minutes ago.

i wound up using both minibb and this: http://www.webfroot.co.nz/ which is my favorite shoutbox so far, which i discovered casually going over the net. installed 4 different shoutboxes/tagboards onto my site before i came up with this one. i think the delete function and the superior admin area won me out.

the wwwboard was what i'd used before, and while damn simple was also damn ugly.... sort of endearingly ugly, i admit. i think the sudden jump from an ugly board to a pretty board (with a sign in, oh, gasp) put off my friends. so the shoutbox in all its casual glory was my winner, tho i kept the minibb for kicks.

and actually, in this case, i didn't care a whole great deal about how much resources the thing ate. i have quite a bit of space left on my website, i just wanted an interface to suit the function. and something with a million bells and whistles simply wouldn't suit the demographics in this case....

but thanks. the hotscripts link really helped, i've gotten 3 other scripts from there and i'm contrasting and comparing as we speak.

[trenzterra]

Originally posted by The Red Guy
IBF is not cluttered at all. It doesn't have most of the many unwanted features other boards like phpbb2 have. www.xmbforum.com is more simple than IBF.