Simple Machines Forum

Although SMF provides a lot of really good features for posting as a user and for administering the forum, I cannot recommend using this software.

First, SMF suffers the same problem as phpBB when is come to "mods." A "mod" for your SMF forum is not a plugin or a module, it is a "modification." A patch is applied to a section of the code to make a "mod" operable. This can lead to multiple conflicts and a forum that cannot be upgraded to the most recent version.

The code is not organized in a professional manner. It is all over the place. There is no MVC architecture, it does no haas any object oriented design principles, code cohesion is weak, and code coupling is tight. If you've read Code Complete, then you know that you want strong cohesion and loose coupling.

Finally, with about 350 posts per day, 30 registrations per day, and 11,000 pageviews, I have experience frequent table locks especially on the ban tables, which I had to clear out completely in order to restore the forum to an operational state.

If you need a small forum for a small group of people, then this might be OK. If you plan on operating a site and growing it, STAY AWAY FROM SMF.