MyBB

MyBB is a free bulletin board system software package developed by MyBB Group, It is written in PHP and licensed as free software under the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3.
History
MyBB was founded in 2002 by Chris Boulton, following a fork of the XMB development team. DevBB, a fork of the XMB code base, was created as a temporary solution while the new MyBB development team worked on the first MyBB release.
MyBB RC1 was released on December 10, 2003, and was one of the first public releases of MyBB. After three years of development and numerous other pre-releases, MyBB 1.00 was released to the public on December 9, 2005, marking the beginning of the 1.0x/1.1.x series. On March 9, 2006, MyBB 1.1.0 was released, which fixed a number of outstanding issues with the 1.0x code base. The final release of the 1.0/1.1 series was MyBB 1.1.8, a security update, released August 29, 2006.
On September 2, 2006, MyBB 1.2 was released. It included a thoroughly rewritten and revised code base and over 40 new features. The final release of the 1.2 series was MyBB 1.2.14, a security and maintenance update, released on July 17, 2008. Support for the 1.2 series ended on June 1, 2009, and security vulnerability maintenance of the series ended on December 31, 2009.
On August 2, 2008, MyBB 1.4 was released to the public following a long private and public beta test period. It featured over 70 features and changes, including a completely rewritten and redesigned administrator control panel, numerous new user moderation features, and a new calendar system. As with previous releases, MyBB 1.4 was released under its own proprietary license, but on October 12, 2008, it was moved to the GNU General Public License v3 license, making it a free and open source software. MyBB 1.4.2 was the first release of MyBB released under the GPL.
MyBB has had a closed development process since its creation. However, following the change to an open source license, preparations were made to open up MyBB development. On August 19, 2009, the MyBB development site was opened to the public, giving users read access to the MyBB subversion repository, including both the maintenance branch and the development trunk, as well as the official bug and feature tracker.
MyBB 1.6.0 was released August 3, 2010. MyBB 1.6 includes more than 49 new features and changes. MyBB 1.6 requires PHP 5.1 or later, a significant change from previous releases.
Future development
MyBB 2.0 will be the next major release following MyBB 1.6. Currently in planning stages, MyBB 2.0 will feature a rewritten code base, a new default theme, and numerous new features. A timeline for MyBB 2.0's development has not been confirmed.
Features
MyBB includes many features not included in other free forum software. Most notably, it includes a reputation system, multi-quote, and the ability to create custom BBCode (called MyCodes) out of the box. Additionally, MyBB includes support for multiple calendars with ranged and repeating events, a scheduled mass mail and newsletter system, and AJAX-based features such as quick reply, quick edit, and inline thread title editing.
For moderators, posts and threads can be managed through inline post and thread moderation, allowing for moderation actions to be applied to multiple posts or threads at the same time. Custom moderator tools allow administrators to combine moderation actions into individual tools to be used in thread and post moderation. MyBB also includes an extensive warning system, which allows for preset and custom warning types and configurable "warning levels," where actions are automatically performed when a user's warning level reaches a certain percentage.
Plugins require little or no modification to core files through MyBB's extensive use of plugin hooks. Plugins are installed on your forum to give your forum enhancements or changes without having to manually edit loads of files. Plugins can be obtained from the MyBB Modifications page as well as other MyBB plugin sites such as MyBB Central.
Merge System
In order to facilitate the process of migrating from other forum software to MyBB, the development team has maintained the MyBB Merge System. While not part of the forum software itself, the Merge System allows users to easily convert from vBulletin, IPB, phpBB, SMF, XMB and PunBB. It also allows merging multiple forums into one.
Reviews
An extensive review of MyBB features and limitations published by Forum Softwares Review website indicates that "MyBB is a really good alternative to all well known forum softwares". MyBB has received a score of 8 out of 10 by the reviewers and a score of 9 out of 10 by the users of Forum Softwares Review.
A review of MyBB version 1.4 on Neowin mentions the full control MyBB offers over the forum and that MyBB is free to use as it main advantages.
Another review by "Forum Software Reviews" ranked MyBB and vBulletin as best forum software of 2008. MyBB is frequently compared to vBulletin because of their similarity in features and use; the main difference of the two products is in the license: vBulletin is proprietary software and users should pay for the license, while MyBB is free software released under the terms of GNU Lesser General Public License. MyBB won again the best free forum software award of 2010 .

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