May I know who suggested using SMF? SMF is really lousy from what I see and what most of us see. I suggest changing the forum board software from SMF to MyBB(free) or vBulletin(paid). I would suggest MyBB as it is free and easy to use, unlike SMF which does not meet the requirement to become a professional bulletin board software.

MyBB
vBulletin

Thanks for the suggestion.
Can you post links of sites (forums) that use that two softwares for us to see?

Well SMF has served well for over four and a half years that I have been on the forums.

What I see is far from lousy and I also think it is easy to use, I don’t know what you mean by “does not meet the requirement to become a professional bulletin board software.”

I have seen a few vBulletin forums and aside from the look/theme functionally I don’t really see the difference, you can read/post/search, select a theme, customize the look and feel, etc. etc.

Forums don’t have to be complex to be functional and from what I have experienced this is a functional working forum.

What is in MyBB or vBulletin that isn’t in SMF that is so important or would make the forum better ?

I agree with David!

SMF is working fine so why change?

I had a look at the MyBB site and visited their forum and I have to say I’m less than impressed.

The one thing that really gets me is web sites/forum software that don’t control the page width to conform with the browser page size, but have a fixed width.

This forces the user to scroll left and right depending on the monitor resolution, etc. I have a large monitor 20.1" at 1680X1050, I feel sorry for anyone having to use low resolution. I keep my browser at about a regular A4 paper size (like reading a normal letter). This allows me to have two such pages side by side, but more importantly it makes it easier to read the page, in full screen it is easy to lose your place with very wide lines.

Welcome to the forums, LaptopFreak.

I have to agree with David, also. I contribute on many forums some of which use the other 2 mentioned. I like SMF best for it’s simplicity and ease of use. One thing I very much dislike is what David mentions in this quote …

The one thing that really gets me is web sites/forum software that don't control the page width to conform with the browser page size, but have a fixed width

May I suggest that maybe your problems with SMF might be due to the video or screen on your laptop?
I do not know … just a suggestion.

Every day I visit different forums and I must say that SMF-based forums are the most user-friendly ones.

I think we should draw this topic to a close as we have had zero response from the original poster, so this could be a drive by post to generate this king of reaction.

Intolerable…
Sorry, keep SMF then.

Try MyBB or vBulletin’s functions and you will realise the huge difference.

Lets talk about MyBB instead since its free of charge like SMF.

MyBB has a User Control Panel which makes the user have an easier time to change their profile, options signature and stuffs, while I can’t even figure out where those functions are despite me clicking on the ‘HELP’ button at the header bar. I’m not sure if SMF has this, but I don’t see any quick reply functions around here. MyBB’s security is pretty good too. I can’t even find new post / latest post / today’s post, unlike MyBB with this function included. When I click on the hyperlink button, it is just asking us to type in our own hyperlink, while MyBB & vBulletin could have an easier way out. MyBB has a huge variety of plugins too which serves best to be the best free forum software. There are more to mention, especially the AdminCP but I have no clue about SMF’s AdminCP so I shall not say much. Until I get to know more about SMF, I’ll find more of the difference.

Please, a link to a site to test (see) MyBB and other forum software… I’m lazy to Google ;D

I did and it sucks, sorry but it really did.

I believe you are experiencing a forum imposed restriction in what a new user can do with their profile (nothing to do with the SMF software). Untill you have 20 posts (Jr Member) you can’t use the PM function, nor can you change your Profile settings.

This is because in the past we were getting SPAM abuse in both the PM and signature link spamming, by drive by cretins signing up to the forums and spamming other forum members. That is why these measures were introduced (and the SMF software allows for this control by the administrators), unfortunately because of these cretins we the legitimate forum users are also penalised.

This may be because you have the restriction in the ability to change the look and layout settings that are accessed from your profile. Though the Quick reply is on by default, see images, I don’t know if this has been changed for new members, but the SMF software certainly allows it.

So I believe all your issues relate to forum administrator restrictions for new members.

SMF has worked fine for years here. Unless there is some major change (like it was suddenly discontinued) I doubt Alwil will change it.

Me too… they are very slow on forum software movements…

VBulletin remains my favorite, ease of use for the end user, more profile options, more attachment controls, looks better too with some themes, and the fonts are better, but OK it’s not free ;D This said SMF is doing really fine here, I mean on Avast forums, and I wouldn’t complain about it at all. It must also depend on how well it’s administered, and again, here it’s OK.

I find SMF and phpBB forums way way better,more clean and more easy to use. Also its look more professional and very its almost impossible to exitate to register and ask for help or help the people.

So if ALWIL is moving to one of the two host forum you said. I think its wouldnt be very cool.

So i would say to keep SMF because by that design on what its give i did not exitate to register on avast! or otherwise i wouldnt never did it.

Mr.Agent

Am on other forum types and each have their own uniqueness…I like this forum the way it is, thank you very much.

Wow … 3 new posts on a 1 year old dead thread. ;D

It was Lazerus