Why does MyBB get so much hate here?

[Jesus]

This is coming from a user of Mybb for 6+ years.

I was checking out some forum promotion posts and seen mybb gets a lot of hate.
I don't really see why though, as MyBB is personally the only software I actually like.

And no, not because its free, I have enough money to purchase other software if I wanted.
Just because MyBB has everything I want, and not extra crap like phpbb, or has none of the features I need like vbulls*it or xenforo.

Please let me know why you hate MyBB if you do. I would love to see some opinions.

and I am not saying MyBB is perfect, I am just saying its perfect software for me..

 

[Thomasss]

Honestly, the support there stinks. The staff on their support forum are all "important" and the community is just not friendly...

I like MyBB, however there are features that it lacks, and it's just bulky...and again the support there is awful.

 

[Jesus]

Honestly, the support there stinks. The staff on their support forum are all "important" and the community is just not friendly...

I like MyBB, however there are features that it lacks, and it's just bulky...and again the support there is awful.

I have to disagree on the support is awful.

I personally think that the support does take a bit to respond, but the answers are high quality

 

[VirusZero]

I've seen cases where the support did take a while to respond. And they didn't have any idea how to help.

That stated... I can understand why they might not respond quickly. (I've been a part of a support staff.) Some of it might just be that they don't know the answer. I mean MyBB is a fairly complex software and there are many things that could go wrong. (Even before we get into cases where people are messing with the code.) So trying to pinpoint that one specific instance where conditions X,Y and Z lead to a glitch can be really tough.

Plus when you get hit with dozens of support requests a day it can be overwhelming.

Though they have improved since then and seem to be much better at answering questions. (At the time they were also going through some staff changes. Which probably didn't help either.)

 

[Reverse Flash]

Honestly, the support there stinks. The staff on their support forum are all "important" and the community is just not friendly...

I like MyBB, however there are features that it lacks, and it's just bulky...and again the support there is awful.

Um... their support is really good. Fixed every issue I've ever had. 'Important'? Care to elaborate? And how is the community not friendly? It does lack certain features that should have been implemented a while ago, true, but a lot of that will be taken care of in 2.0. Bulky? How so?

 

[Nebulous]

Forums using MyBB across the net have been hacked several times in the past. MyBB seems to have things patched up at the moment but a lot of hacking/warez/illegal communities use MyBB for their software. They're pretty good at finding exploits and vulnerabilities. You'll never know when they'll strike next! *runs*

😛

 

[Allenafaith]

With the experience that I've had on the MyBB website, I wasn't very pleased. I never got an answer on my support topics and people were rude. I also messaged a staff member and asked them if they answered some simple questions in PMs and they said not unless I am paying them. How is a 15 year old, (I was 14 at the time) going to pay you for a simple question?

 

[Deleted member 8254]

I am good with MyBB, nice forum software. Easy to edit and work on. Support sometimes it is slow and not acted upon. But you find most of the answers in the forum.

 

[pandaa]

I honestly haven't seen a whole lot of MyBB hate. I think they're miles ahead of phpBB, and a pretty decent piece of software for being free. I'm pretty partial to it, but I don't think there's anything inherent to the software that's bad.

 

[Cierra]

Not sure. Maybe because it's a free software, the support isn't the best at times, and for the current version there aren't too many free plugins/themes/etc.

 

[Reverse Flash]

With the experience that I've had on the MyBB website, I wasn't very pleased. I never got an answer on my support topics and people were rude. I also messaged a staff member and asked them if they answered some simple questions in PMs and they said not unless I am paying them. How is a 15 year old, (I was 14 at the time) going to pay you for a simple question?

Fair enough. But cut 'em some slack, they're busy with dev for 2.0. and they get tons of support threads every day... and how were people rude?
What kind of questions we talking about? Also, you're not supposed to PM staff members for support - they have that in their sigs. (some of them, anyway)
It also depends on the job. (difficulty, etc.)

 

[Allenafaith]

With the experience that I've had on the MyBB website, I wasn't very pleased. I never got an answer on my support topics and people were rude. I also messaged a staff member and asked them if they answered some simple questions in PMs and they said not unless I am paying them. How is a 15 year old, (I was 14 at the time) going to pay you for a simple question?

Fair enough. But cut 'em some slack, they're busy with dev for 2.0. and they get tons of support threads every day... and how were people rude?
What kind of questions we talking about? Also, you're not supposed to PM staff members for support - they have that in their sigs. (some of them, anyway)
It also depends on the job. (difficulty, etc.)

The one I asked didn't have it in their sig, that's why I asked. 😛

 

[Mozzie]

Sorry but i had two MyBB boards, well i still have but we moved, it was support, or the lack of. We couldn't get a lot of it so we moved.

 

[Cosmic]

People get religious about forum software. It's true on FP, and everywhere else. 😛 You can find a good reason to rip on any of the main forum software brands, and people usually do rip on the ones they don't like. It's kinda like PC and Mac. If you own a PC, then the Mac people are stuck up rich kids. If you own a mac, then PC users are nabs.

Just because MyBB has everything I want, and not extra crap like phpbb, or has none of the features I need like vbulls*it or xenforo.

People also rip on phpBB and vB a bit too much, IMO. 😛

I have a license to vB, IPB, and xF, and have also used phpBB and MyBB in various projects. They're all pretty cool software. Haven't used SMF much, so I guess it's not for me. But overall, I think:

- phpBB is the most stable open source product. It has a lot of confirmations before executing sensitive actions like deleting stuff, and also a lot of tools. Its permissions system offers a LOT of customization. I like to think of this as "built like a battleship" software. Sure, it's clunky, but it also gets the job done very well, and usually has some obscure way of doing whatever you might need it to do. This is probably the best option for forums like FP, which are large, but for some reason prefer free software.

- MyBB is a more user-friendly version of phpBB, pretty much. It sacrifices some of the stability and options of phpBB for a slick, wiz-bang UI. The UI can also feel a little bit silly, though, because "Built-like-a-battleship" software like phpBB always makes you feel like you're in control, because you have so many options. MyBB gives you less control, but is also easier to use. This is the best option for new forums that can't afford paid software.

- SMF: Haven't used it enough to comment.

- vBulletin: vBulletin is the "built-like-a-battleship" option for paid software. If you think phpBB lets you do a lot of things, then you're yet to play around with vB. vB offers everything, plus the kitchen sink. If the US Army chose a forum software, they'd chose vB, because of the steel gray UI, the droves of drop-down boxes, the long scrollbar of tools, and the years of history behind the brand. This is the best option for large companies.

- IPB: IPB is a very stable and old product, which has a slick and updated UI, but also has a gritty back-end that is visible from time to time. It offers a lot of options, but less than vB. It also offers a good community suite for if you need your site to do other stuff. IPB is an excellent compromise for someone who doesn't want to go "all in" on buying the kitchen sink, like vB, but also wants their forum to be fresh and young. It's best for small or mid-sized businesses, or people who like the extra feeling of control it offers over xF.

- XenForo: XenForo is a new software which offers a super-slick UI, but offers less control than IPB and vB. The ACP has less options in it. The options for integration, like blog and CMS options, aren't as good. In many ways it feels like a much fresher and much newer vBulletin, with the baggage stripped out, and replaced with good design. xF is probably the best option for a forum that wants to look new and refreshing, rather than stable, but also wants to use paid software. Their UI is a lot more radical and bold, but also less proven.

So, I think the truth is that every forum software has a place. Sure, everyone has their loyalties, and personally I'm an IPB and phpBB fan myself, but at the end of the day, all of the options are viable.

 

[Roguevial]

Because MyBB is a piece of shit, to be honest. The plugin/extension support is non-existent now, the software is outdated (and there is much better forum software out there), and the staff are pretentious and take too long to respond to their customers.

Both MyBB and VBulletin have fallen off the radar, and fast.

Invision Power Services (IPS -formerly known as Invision Power Boards (IPB)) is fantastic and definitely worth the money. I've been with IPS since 2013, and before that InvisionFree since 2004. Top tier support and fantastic mods. Unfortunately, my IPS 4.0 forum is on temporary disable due to SSO functionality with wordpress being non-existent. Until a mod comes to IPS or WP that enables a master and slave connection, my community is offline.

On the upside, my website is doing well!

 

[Cosmic]

@Roguevial: Most open source projects have very minimal support. With software, you always get what you pay for. Paid software is going to be better and have better support. Open source software is going to be lower quality and have less support. It's also cheaper, though. A lot of people won't want to pay ~$140 for their website, particularly if it may not go very far, and particularly since for most new users, both the open source and paid options meet their requirements.

 

[mikado]

The designs usually don't look great and the layout, settings options, and profile restrictions aren't interesting to me.

 

[Roguevial]

@Roguevial: Most open source projects have very minimal support. With software, you always get what you pay for. Paid software is going to be better and have better support. Open source software is going to be lower quality and have less support. It's also cheaper, though. A lot of people won't want to pay ~$140 for their website, particularly if it may not go very far, and particularly since for most new users, both the open source and paid options meet their requirements.

Thank you for the answer.

 

[Maestro]

Ive used multiple forum software and I have never had to contact their support departments I ve always been able to find the answer somewhere online. I do not see n issue with mybb It is working good for us and weve never had a problem. I actually just swithed a forum to mybb due to when I bought it the other software was nulled and I switched it to mybb to keep the board up unlil I get a contact roi and then will upgrade to xenforo, or vbulletin.

 

[Mozzie]

I have a great team on mine that usually figure stuff out before i go running to support, but there are those times that you have to.