Looking for integrated forums component for Joomla
February 22, 2010 9:06 AM Subscribe
Currently using Joomla 1.5, SMF 1.1.X, and JFusion. Looking to migrate to a direct Joomla Component that is a forum, need help choosing one.
With the political shakeup that is happening at Simplemachines.org, and the slow development for SMF 2.0, I am beginning to become leary of continuing to run SMF on my site. I'd prefer to keep purely Open Source / GPL, and avoid paying for forums, but I'm not sure where to go at the moment. phpBB3 has a reputation for security issues, and would still require JFusion to integrate with my Joomla install - I'd like to move to something that ties directly into Joomla without a bridge, while keeping the functionality of SMF.
I've looked at the Joomla Extensions Directory, but there's a lot out there to choose from, so I am turning to the Hive Mind for guidance.
Requirements I am looking for:
1) Joomla 1.5 compatible / component (not a Bridge with a separate DB).
2) Can convert / migrate from SMF 1.1.X
3) Handles board permissions and user groups to allow for hidden boards, or at the very least priavte boards protected by groups created by the admin.
4) Secure. The thing that started this search was a flurry of spambots managing to register themselves in SMF, despite up-to-date patches and anti-spam mods in SMF. (I suspect they injected themselves into the DB somehow, but cannot be sure.)
It would be a plus if it had the ability to run multiple instances / forums, as I am looking to integrate more than one SMF install if I can, but this is not a huge requirement.
Thank you!
With the political shakeup that is happening at Simplemachines.org, and the slow development for SMF 2.0, I am beginning to become leary of continuing to run SMF on my site. I'd prefer to keep purely Open Source / GPL, and avoid paying for forums, but I'm not sure where to go at the moment. phpBB3 has a reputation for security issues, and would still require JFusion to integrate with my Joomla install - I'd like to move to something that ties directly into Joomla without a bridge, while keeping the functionality of SMF.
I've looked at the Joomla Extensions Directory, but there's a lot out there to choose from, so I am turning to the Hive Mind for guidance.
Requirements I am looking for:
1) Joomla 1.5 compatible / component (not a Bridge with a separate DB).
2) Can convert / migrate from SMF 1.1.X
3) Handles board permissions and user groups to allow for hidden boards, or at the very least priavte boards protected by groups created by the admin.
4) Secure. The thing that started this search was a flurry of spambots managing to register themselves in SMF, despite up-to-date patches and anti-spam mods in SMF. (I suspect they injected themselves into the DB somehow, but cannot be sure.)
It would be a plus if it had the ability to run multiple instances / forums, as I am looking to integrate more than one SMF install if I can, but this is not a huge requirement.
Thank you!
Response by poster: Looking at the listing, the top three are Agora, Kunena (the successor to Fireboard), and ccBoard. I know Fireboard has been around for a while, but none of them seem to have a way to convert from SMF that I can see - only each other, or maybe phpBB.
posted by GJSchaller at 1:37 PM on February 22, 2010
posted by GJSchaller at 1:37 PM on February 22, 2010
Best answer: From what I am seeing, I won't find what I am looking for, but I'll document this for the future.
Most of the contenders lack a major component that is needed to run the forum up to the same standards as SMF - Kunena lacks any form of ACLs, as does ccBoard from what I can see. Agora is lacking in documentation, and Agora and NinjaBoard have pay-for support. None of them have a smooth migrator from SMF - they require jumping through hoops or paying for a conversion app.
It's looking like my best hope is to tough it out until Joomla 1.6, which will include ACLs. Once this is a part of the core CMS, it should hopefully propagae to Kunena, whcih looked to be the best of the list at this time.
posted by GJSchaller at 9:36 AM on February 24, 2010
Most of the contenders lack a major component that is needed to run the forum up to the same standards as SMF - Kunena lacks any form of ACLs, as does ccBoard from what I can see. Agora is lacking in documentation, and Agora and NinjaBoard have pay-for support. None of them have a smooth migrator from SMF - they require jumping through hoops or paying for a conversion app.
It's looking like my best hope is to tough it out until Joomla 1.6, which will include ACLs. Once this is a part of the core CMS, it should hopefully propagae to Kunena, whcih looked to be the best of the list at this time.
posted by GJSchaller at 9:36 AM on February 24, 2010
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I will say that nothing improved my opinion of Joomla more than ditching extensions that tried to bridge it other pieces of software.
posted by advicepig at 11:15 AM on February 22, 2010