Forum software: myBB

[W13]

On Zybez Forums, we were using IP.Board since forever. I think we were one of the first to ever use that software starting in 2002. But it costs money and I wanted to use a free option for this forum.

The criteria was:
- Has to look like a classic forum. None of that fancy, modern stuff with hashtags and whatnot.
- Has to be simple and easy: both for users and for installing/admin.
- Has to be free.
- Has to be in active development with recent security fixes - so we don't get hacked.

I narrowed it down to phpBB and myBB. phpBB is ancient and somehow still free and somehow still in development. But the development is slow and their code is bogged down with relics that they refuse to update. I tried it out. It was alright. Not as good as IP.Board but still hit all the criteria. Then I came across myBB and upon installing it, it was immediately obvious which forum software was the winner here. It isn't as good as IP.Board but it is pretty damn close. In fact, I like how solid and clean it looks. The admin panel is nice too. A big plus: myBB is in active development and then upon closer inspection I realized that I've known about this software from back in 2002 when it was called MyBulletinBoard.

Anyways, if you're looking for a free forum software, I'd recommend this.

Also,    how many of y'all recognize the logo at the top? I made it years ago in the same app as my avatar: PaintShopPro. When I made my avatar, it was actually in a hurry just because I wanted to upload one (I had just found out what an avatar was). I think it took me less than a minute and I've used it since 2001. :-D

[Gintoki]

It looks clean and nice, I'm sure that there are ways to customize it in the future if you ever wanna go down that path. Flashy forum software sometimes gets in the way and detracts from what is actually important, the discussion.

[Wee Man]

What password encryption does this version run on? Back in the day it used to be some crappy MD5+Salt variant which doesn't cut it in 2018.

[Yoto32]

Also,    how many of y'all recognize the logo at the top? I made it years ago in the same app as my avatar: PaintShopPro. When I made my avatar, it was actually in a hurry just because I wanted to upload one (I had just found out what an avatar was). I think it took me less than a minute and I've used it since 2001. :-D

How could I forget it? RSC the day I first registered: web.archive.org/web/20051205090509/http://www.runescapecommunity.com:80/

[The duck]

I miss the winter W13 version

[Nullusion]

Isn't quite as good as IPB but it's not horrible.

Jasc PSP7 and 8 were always two of my favorite programs to edit images along with the Animation Shop that came with it. I'd always be on the free trial though because I can't find serial keys now that Limewire isn't a thing anymore.

[Yeahduffman]

This feels really nostalgic, I like it. The logo takes me back.

[Venenatis]

Really isn't too bad.

[W13]

What password encryption does this version run on? Back in the day it used to be some crappy MD5+Salt variant which doesn't cut it in 2018.

I'm too lazy to check the code myself, so I posted a question on their forums: https://community.mybb.com/thread-219582.html

Anyways, as long as you're using unique passwords and non-easy-to-guess passwords, then the point of failure is rarely due to weak encryption. I've made sure the database and server are secure - and will continue to monitor this and continue to do so.

There's a modification for myBB to add encryption but I'm skeptical using a mod for this as it would surely break stuff in future updates, etc.

[Wee Man]

What password encryption does this version run on? Back in the day it used to be some crappy MD5+Salt variant which doesn't cut it in 2018.

I'm too lazy to check the code myself, so I posted a question on their forums: https://community.mybb.com/thread-219582.html

Anyways, as long as you're using unique passwords and non-easy-to-guess passwords, then the point of failure is rarely due to weak encryption. I've made sure the database and server are secure - and will continue to monitor this and continue to do so.

There's a modification for myBB to add encryption but I'm skeptical using a mod for this as it would surely break stuff in future updates, etc.

Oh that's the same as IPB 3. I'm encouraged by them saying that 1.9 and future updates will take care of the "out of touch" practices of 1.8.

As for the point of failure being encryption that's fairly true but with modern GPUs and the hashing on here it wouldn't be all that difficult to crack 9/10 character passwords and as much as we like to think users would use good password practices that wasn't the case for most database dumps.