I had tried installing YaBB, which took hours, blocked my IP address, and never even worked. Then I tried this phpBB, and had it installed and running in probably half an hour! Also, it looks a lot newer and more professional.

Although the current version is a little bit old (a new one is in development) the board has everything one can imagine. Using well documented modifications (hundreds available) even subforums are possible. Masses of available styles allow different look and feel. A very active community is closing any security leak as fast as possible. Best of all: The installation is for dummies. I was absolutely new to php and MySQL, but the script was running within less than 10 minutes after the download.

phpBB is very bad BulletinBoard . Bugs and easy to hack BB :P . Small functions no subforums etc.

Almost all of the reviews are 5 stars. You simply can't find a better message board than phpBB. Unchanged liscense since the first day, great features, easy customization, mega support, and they are always working on a new version. Next release is going to be amazing.

Being brand new to PHP, I was very impressed with the ease of installing PHPBB. As I scale up the learning curve, I plan to make use of some of the more advanced features available, but for now, I have a professional-looking BB with minimal fuss.