Which forum software would you use?

[#1]

Hi
This question is about which forum software you would incorporate into your own website.
Perhaps one of the most popular is phpBB but I think it’s a bit heavy for what I want and also it’s crammed with adverts these days.
With only 250mb of webspace and 1.5gb of usage, I think a forum could cause problems.
If you use the Plesk control panel you may know that you can install a forum from the Web Applications link and there is about half a dozen or so to choose from.
Does anybody have an opinion on this? Which would you choose?

[#2]

Without a shadow of a doubt, I would thoroughly recommend vBulletin - even though it's a paid-for product.
I've used quite a few of the forum packages out there - phpBB, YaBB, SMF and in terms of administration, flexibility and stability, vBulletin seems to beat the pants off of all the others.
B.

[#3]

Thanks for your reply Barry.
I know that it depends on how much it is used but ...
Do you expect that a forum like vBulletin would exceed our 250mb and 1.5gb limits?
How much space does the installation alone use up?
Do you think that a forum on a free PAYH account would cause problems due to data storage and the potential size of the database?

[#4]

I use vBulletin on our WoW guild forums: http://www.thegarrison.eu/forum
It's been in-place for a few years now (since around 07-04-2006) and we have around 101,000 posts there.
The entire forum subtree on the server is now 83MB, including all uploaded attachments
The entire MySQL database for the forums is now at 225MB
That's a fairly busy vBulletin site, which has been heavily customised with several available themes to pick from.
We do generate around 120GB of transfer per month overall, but that does include Teamspeak, web traffic, search bots, DNS etc.
HTH
B.

[#5]

I wasn't aware that phpbb was crammed with adverts - certainly the V3 sites I frequent aren't.

[#6]

SMF.
Simple to install; easy to update; easy to administer and easy for users too. I Found phpBB to be insecure, constantly in need of updating and fiddly in comparrison.

[#7]

Quote from: geofftswin

I wasn't aware that phpbb was crammed with adverts - certainly the V3 sites I frequent aren't.

I'm basing my statement on a site which I use frequently http://stockportbowls.freeforums.org
DOH! I've just realized why it's crammed with adverts Never looked at the address before cos i have it as a shortcut on my desktop

[#8]

PunBB or FluxBB.

[#9]

why? 

[#10]

Are you asking me? I like PunBB because it's fast, efficient and very easy to manage. The latest version 1.3 is a major redesign so most of the old plugins and skins won't work - if you want them you'll have to get the old 1.2 series or FluxBB which is based on that. I've used and moderated SMF and phpBB 2/3 boards; use either of these if you have a very large forum that requires extensive customisation.

[#11]

I’m after a particularly light one because I expect relatively low traffic from a small target audience and therefore don’t want it to have loads of stuff and customisation options that won’t get used but will make it heavy.
I may just write my own in php and use a table in MySQL because I’m not that bothered about emoticons or avitars. I just want the users to be able to communicate with each other and discuss topics relevant to the sites content and the community to which they belong.