phpBB, one of the best known open source forum software to be found on the internet, has recently updated the 2.x version of the software. On itself this isn’t such a big thing, but we need to keep in mind that phpBB already developed the 3.x version of it’s software.

Photo by MShades

phpBB 3.x is completely different from phpBB 2.x and therefor there was a lot of work to be done, before the launch of phpBB 3.x. This makes it even more wonderful that phpBB is still working on the older version of the forum software.

Why should they improve an older version of the software, if there is a new version that is working just fine? Because they love the community that has been created around phpBB and they are loyal to their users. Exactly the way it should be with many more developers. Read more »

A question that people keep on asking me all the time, since I implemented a phpBB forum inside my WordPress installation (on my Dutch blog). Reality is that people think different about forums, combined with blogs.

Photo by Stewart

Many people think that a blog retains it’s quality, because it’s written by one person. Forums are for discussion and attract more people to give their opinion. That’s the reason why many people think a forum shouldn’t be used in combination with a blog.

But besides that, there are lots of people who think a forum is a great extra feature for a (successful) blog. Comments in blog tend to lose their overview, which keeps new visitors away from posting their comment. Threaded comments improve the readability of comments, but forums are way better in this part of discussion. Read more »