Researching open source threaded discussion/forum applications

I’ve been looking at trying to get some threaded discussion boards going. The requirement of a threaded display eliminates a large number of sites. Of course it’s also important for the software to be free and open source. With so many forum applications available I had to try and pick a few that looked good for further testing while keeping track of other possible alternatives as well as those programs which did not meet my needs.

I found the site ForumMatrix which aided my search.

Leading Candidates

These are applications that seem to meet my criteria that I’ve investigated a bit and would be willing to test further.

• nextBBS (PHP)
• BMForum (PHP)
• Phorum (PHP) - examine license
• MyBB (PHP) - examine license

Future Canidates

These are applications that came up in my search but I’ve not really looked at.

• Advanced Electron Forum
• mwForum (Perl)
• Yazd (Java)
• Discuz! (PHP)
• XMB (PHP)

Eliminated Products

These applications failed to meet my criteria.

• Beehive - uses frame
• E-Blah (Perl) - no threads, no db support
• phpBB - no threads
• punBB - no threads
• Beast (Railts) - no threads
• miniBB - no threads