UBB Threads

[Ravenfreak]

UBB Threads is one of the oldest forum software, if not possibly the oldest? Anyways I'm currently using them for my forum. To me it feels like a lightweight version of Xenforo. Or at least the general structure of the forums remind me of a non modified Xenforo. It's not free software, but it's the cheapest paid forum software on the net. I haven't had any complaints since using the software, and the support team are quick to answer questions on the forums. Though I feel that most people who use UBB Threads have been doing so since the late 90's/early 00's since at the time of it's release there really weren't any other competitors. Have you ever used this software? Or maybe you've visited or joined a forum that used this software?

 

[Smokey]

I remember when GameShark.com ran UBBThreads for their boards back in the day before moving to IGNBoards and then IPB. It's been around since 1997 I believe, very old software no one seems to utilize anymore.

 

[PGen98]

I used UBB.Classic in the late 90s and early 00s, but Perl-based bulletin boards, particularly flat-file Perl-based software like UBB.Classic and iKonBoard 2 (at the time) quickly grew obsolete as they were replaced by software with proper rdbms integration. Most people migrated to vBulletin when it first launched as it was legitimately a php re-write of UBB.Classic (then just UltimateBB or UBB), but Infopop (the company that owned UBB at the time) felt it was not going to work as a product...how wrong they were! vBulletin very quickly left them in the dust and flew past them in popularity, particularly as vB2 came to market, and UBB were left floundering. They acquired WWWThreads and its developer, Rick Baker, and had him discontinue his Perl version (since they had UBB.Classic) and continue to produce his php version which became UBB.threads, but the damage was done and they continued their slow decline into obscurity. What's left is essentially a community of enthusiasts, but it is nice to see it still going under the current ownership.

All that just to say, yep, I've used it, I quite liked it back in the day, but it's dated and isn't updated enough for a paid software, I worry that a critical exploit could bring it apart for months at a time, so I haven't bothered to go back to it, sadly.

 

[Shortie_]

Being that I never really got involved with forums until the early-ish 2000s (2004 onwards) I don't remember this software and I never used it. I don't see it mentioned too much at all now though so it's probably not something that is used as much anymore. I am curious though, to be honest, and may do some research into this particular software.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Looks like UBB.Threads finally supports PHP 8! There's a new update for the software, I let my license expire for my forum once I moved to Xenforo, so I don't have a hands on experience for it yet. (Though I might renew my license so I can try it out.) It took over four years to get this update though, so updates aren't too common. You can read more about it here!

 

[PGen98]

Looks like UBB.Threads finally supports PHP 8! There's a new update for the software, I let my license expire for my forum once I moved to Xenforo, so I don't have a hands on experience for it yet. (Though I might renew my license so I can try it out.) It took over four years to get this update though, so updates aren't too common. You can read more about it here!

It's nice to see them push an update, that's for sure, and now that they have php 8 support perhaps they'll focus on some of their other lingering issues, but with a team of 2 part time developers and minimal support, it's hard to put enough faith into the project to renew my license just yet. Fingers crossed for them!

 

[Ravenfreak]

Over a year later and there's been another smaller update to UBB Threads released a few days ago. It's good to see the devs are still working on this software. It's just mainly a bug fix update though.

8.0.1 Patch Changelog Discussion

UBB.threads 8.0.1 Patch has been released and is now available to download in the Member Area within the patch section. TOC / Overview • UBB.threads...

www.ubbcentral.com

 

[PGen98]

Over a year later and there's been another smaller update to UBB Threads released a few days ago. It's good to see the devs are still working on this software. It's just mainly a bug fix update though.

8.0.1 Patch Changelog Discussion

UBB.threads 8.0.1 Patch has been released and is now available to download in the Member Area within the patch section. TOC / Overview • UBB.threads...

www.ubbcentral.com

It's nice to see the brand still going, but yeah, a bit sad it's down to two part-time developers.