Forum software recommendation?

Hello I have a few questions. I have been running a website for a youth camp. Our has had a message board on it for some time now and it was through pro boards. However I was contacted by the camps sexual abuse insurance carrier asking that I remove the message board because of cetrain aspects yhat the site could be used by sexuall preditors. My question is I am looking for a message board program that is either free or a payed fee to have some aspects of the board different from that of the pro boards.

Email address are hidden from the public however the person who registers does not have an option to make that info public its always private.

Birthday just like the email must be kept private. or not even asked for to begin with.

All members can sign up but they must be approved. by the moderator.

Those were the major topics that they had discuessed.

Another reason I am wanting to go with a paid service however is beacuse proboards had google adversiting on it and many of the ads that were displyed were not approiate for the type of content the message board was promoting.

I have looked into vbullitin and i belive that charge 160 one time useage fee.

What all do you reccomend and what boards have you had luck with in the past.


Thanks

Asnutting

Hello, I moved your thread to a more appropriate forum and changed the title so it's more descriptive I would recommend vbulletin, it can do everything you require and is well worth the investment!

You can pick up a leased copy (yearly license) for $85, the $180 is for the owned one.

sorry i clicked on generial duscussion and the next thing i know i had posted in the pogramming section very strange

Recommend leased version of Vbulletin, only $85.

Originally Posted by asnutting sorry i clicked on generial duscussion and the next thing i know i had posted in the pogramming section very strange

Robson moved it to Programming.

It sounds to me like you would be fine with phpBB. Doesnt sound like you need a whole lot of bells and whistles, that is why. phpBB is ad-free and gives you the ability to hide email addresses from the public.

If you DO want to go paid, your options are IPB and vB...most people will favor vB. In reality, the products are very equal, but if money is a concern, IPB is the way to go. vB's yearly license is $85. When that year runs out, you MUST renew to keep using it. IPB's yearly license, on the other hand, is only $70. When that year runs out, you can STILL use it, you just will not be able to upgrade. If you wish to upgrade, you can spend another $70. The lifetime licenses for vB and IPB are essentially the same.

does anyone know for a fact that the admin can force the users to have their email and birthdays hidden from the public in any of the boards that were mentioned above phpbb, vbullitin or IBP?

Thanks

Yeah, you can. In any case you can hack the boards to make it happen if a particular forum doesn't have the feature

I am not a huge programmer by any means which one has the best selection of skins for the boards

vbulletin without a doubt, vbulletin will probably win over the other boards in every category They have a huge amount of mods available and skins and there are alot more custom designers around for it than the other ones.