I am thinking of trying out a forum on my site and not too sure but I am aware of liking the ideas that come with Vbulliten, just not the price tag. What are some other options? This one is not too had, but I hear that phpbb works different than most others too.

What's VBulletin? I've heard good things about phpBB in some forums I've been reading. I wish I knew more to give some sort of pointer or advice.

VBulletin is like phpbb but not. From what I can tell its like the difference in buying a car, different model type but same over all features, well mostly. Both are forums but one has a really big price tag, thats about all I can tell at this moment.

Would consider other types of forum like SMF? Or are you just deciding from vBulletin and phpBB? If they have the same capabilities then better get the one with a lower price.

I think the members of the forum is much more important than the forum itself. But if you are thinking about maintenance of the forum then I guess that's another thing which I don't really know what to advice.

I've heard the best things about SMF. I don't know much about vBulletin or phpbb either. Good luck with deciding which is best! I wish I knew more so I could pick the right one for my site.

Unfortunately I am not savvy in these things, so I cannot offer you sound advice. But I have been involved in many forums which use either phpBB, VBulletin or SMF platforms. From the user side, I can say that I feel more comfortable to participate in forums using SMF platform.