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phpBB is one of the oldest and most popular open source online forum applications due to it’s great support backing, list of amazing features and it’s exceptional price tag of $0. phpBB was first publicly released in December 2000 after initially being used as a personal project by the author James Atkinson and has since grown into the application it is today. phpBB makes it easy for website owners to run an online community, manage memberships, topics and replies through simple administration and moderation control panels.

As expected from an online application, phpBB provides the ability to install 3rd party scripts, known as add ons, which can be used to enhance existing functionality or new features all together. To top it off, owners also have the power to completely change the look of their forum either by creating themes of their own or installing pre-made themes made by 3rd party designers and developers.

phpBB Features and Perks

With a huge range of features and functionality it’s no surprise that phpBB is such a popular online forum application. It boasts a range of impressive features that you would expect from such an application, these include:

Open Source

phpBB is a 100% free and open source application, this means that you can make any changes you want to the core framework and redistribute it in a manner that best suits you without restriction or the need for prior permission.

Moderation

A range of moderation tools are included, for both website administrators and moderators, via a control panel and additional on-post options. This makes it easy to moderate forum members in a range of ways such as post locking, temporary and permanent membership bans, post and thread deletion, post editing and many others.

Spam Control

Multiple anti-spam control options are included in phpBB to help avoid fake members and spam posts. These options include CAPTCHA confirmation, flood control, user logging and post approval from new, or existing, members.

Large Support Community

Due to it’s age, and popularity, phpBB has a huge support community that houses more than 400,000 members which makes it super easy to get the answers for your questions. On tops of this there are also many fan websites around the web who offer a range of support and wealth of knowledge for website owners.

Customisation

It’s easy to change the look and feel of your phpBB forum to just about anything that suits your needs and requirements. With a powerful templating system and an easy to use plugin manager it won’t take long for you to develop a community that behaves and functions in a specified manner. If you’re a little less technical you can simply install one of the thousands of pre-made themes directly onto your new phpBB community and save the hassle of trying to make one of your own.

Multilingual

phpBB has been translated into more than 40 languages which makes it easy for users to set up a community in their native, or prefered, language. If you find that a language isn’t supported and wish that it were you can join in on the project and help out with the translation.

phpBB Is The Right Application For Your Community

If you’re currently looking to create a new online community, or maybe want to migrate from an alternate forum software, then phpBB may definitely be the right option for you. With a great list of awesome features and a huge support community it has a lot to offer over many of the other open source forum applications.

Get started with your own online forum using phpBB today by signing up for a good web hosting account and registering a domain name.