Comm100 Forum Review

(December 16, 2010 02:05)
Last Version 2.0.1 (November 26th, 2010). Released under Microsoft Reciprocal License (Ms-RL).
Resources Website Comm100 Forum Website Download Download...
Company Comm100.
Price Free.
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What is Comm100 Forum?

Comm100 is a company dedicated to provide internal or public communication tools to companies.

They provide for such purpose several softwares, mainly linked to Web:

  • Forum
  • Live Chat
  • Newsletter
  • Email Ticket
  • Issue Tracking
  • Knowledge Base
  • Survey
  • And of course, consolidated reports around all these tools.

Of course, we are going to talk about the Forum software, that is what is interesting us. According to their website, 42.925 companies chose one of their solutions this year. Let's see if it can easily suit your company requirements as well.

Review Updates:

  • December 14, 2010: First Review.

Comm100 Forum is recommended for Medium Community.

(and supports smaller communities perfectly as well.)

Server & Client Requirements

Server Requirements
Programming Language
Required Architecture and Versions.
  • ASP.Net
Web Servers
How the forum is delivered to users.
  • Microsoft IIS
Databases
How Forum Data are Stored.
  • Microsoft SQL Server
Operating Systems
Systems Supporting this Software.
  • Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Browser & Client Requirements
Compatible Browsers
List of Compatible Browsers.
Mozilla FirefoxMozilla FirefoxInternet ExplorerInternet Explorer
Google ChromeGoogle ChromeOperaOpera
Apple SafariApple SafariKonquerorKonqueror
Mozilla SeaMonkeyMozilla SeaMonkey
Required Plugins/Technologies
Additional or Basic Requirements from Client Side.
HTML, Javascript, CSS.
Localization
Languages supported by Comm100 Forum.
No.
No.

Set Your Forum Name and Status

Comm100 Forum could be installed on any application server compatible with ASP.Net, which is, basically Microsoft IIS, and, of course, the Apache server with the mod_mono plugin.

Compatibility with Smartphones
Compatible SmartPhones
Compatible Cellphone Brands and Manufacturers.
No.
Application Distribution / Type
How it is distributed / App Store Availability
No.

Forum Threads & Posts

Forum Threads / Topics
Forum Style Flat Forum Organization
  • Forum Categories
  • Sub Sections
Thread Icons No Topic Tags No
Hot Topics Yes Unread Topics Yes
Hidden Topics No Sticky Threads Yes
Related Threads No Detect Duplicate Threads No
Announcements Yes
Posting Messages / Answers
Message Editing Form
How to Post Messages.
  • Plain Text
  • Formatting Buttons
Post Editing Format
Supported Markup Language (HTML, Wiki, BBCode,...).
  • Plain
  • HTML
Spell Checker
Checks typos on posts and topics.
No
Image Attachment
How Images can be Attached and Displayed in Message Posts.
  • Upload via Classic Attachments. Images are all at the end of the post.
Embedded Videos
Videos and Media Websites Supported in Message Posts.
No.
Posting Features
Quick Reply Box Yes Smileys Yes
Attachments Yes Syntax Highlighting No
Message Rating
No Message Quoting Yes

Mark Topics as Featured

Threads are managed exactly as they are in classical bulletin boards, like phpBB or vBulletin. You will see the same features, and same actions, which is really convenient if you plan to migrate from one of these softwares.

Additional & Technical Features

Additional Forum Features
Poll Creation Yes
Private Messages
Users Can Communicate using an Internal Messaging System.
Yes
Instant Messaging
Discuss with Visitors and Members in a Chat Window.
Plugin
Calendar
Topic, Member Birthdays, Events are available from the perspective of a calendar.
No
Online Users List
Connected User List (Often Found in the Forum Footer).
Yes
Members List
Search and Consult the List of Members.
Yes
Technical Features
Bundled Software
Additional Software Available with the Forum.
  • Bug Tracker
RSS/Atom Syndication
Posts and Threads Exported to Feeds Aggregators Syndicate.
No.
Friendly URLs
URLs are clear and contain information about the topic (title, message,...). Highly recommended for SEO purposes.
Yes
Post by Email
Post Directly From your Email Box.
No
Remote Control
Remote Control from External Software/Websites.
No.
Cache System
Cache pages to optimize bandwidth and load times.
No
Template Engine
It is easier to theme a forum using a known template engine (more docs & examples,...).
No.

Vote Polls

No calendar, but polls, and live chat available as a dedicated product. Finally, most important features are here, and this is a good point.

User Profiles & Options

Some details about Comm100 Forum features regarding members.
Member Options & Features
Bookmark Threads
User Profiles Keep a List of Followed Posts and Topics.
Yes
Email Notifications
Receive Emails When New Messages are Posted in Followed Threads.
Yes
Export private messages
Private Messages can be Downloaded by Users.
No
Payment Subscriptions
Paying Membership Subscription.
No
User Profiles
User Profile
User Information and Settings.
Yes
Avatars
Pictures of Members, Useful to Easily Identify their Posts.
Yes
Signature
Signatures Added at the Bottom of Each Message.
Yes
Ranks
Tags and Labels Identifying the Members, based on specific criteria (Total Posts Count, Credits, Moderation Level...)
Yes

Extensible User Profiles

Members can discussing with each others with the private messaging system, and they will love customizing their signature and avatar with the User Control Panel.

Moderation & Users Management

Moderation & Threads Management
Moderation
Post-Moderation The moderation is done afterwards, if an administrator notices a problem or if a member reports something wrong. Each message is therefore directly published.
Reactive Moderation By reporting any problems, members are reactive against moderation problems. Moderators' main objective is to regularly check user reports, without having to follow each threads.
Distributed Moderation By organizing the forum around moderators, who are usually power and experienced users, moderation is self-powered and only depends on the community.
Moderator per section Yes
Global Moderator Yes
Move Threads
Move Threads from Topics
Yes
Shadow Topics
When a thread is moved, the previous position is kept in order to inform users of this modification.
No
Close/Lock Threads
Close/Lock Problematic Threads
Yes
Users Management
User Groups
Organize and define groups of users, and apply different actions and settings on them.
Common Groups: Guests, Members, Moderators, Administrators,...
Yes
User Registration
  • Free Registration
  • Registration needs Approval
  • User Account created by Administrator
  • Confirmation sent by email for validation
Limit Features For New Users
Features are limited if a user has created a small number of posts.
No
Guest Posting Yes
Multiple Administrators Yes
Send Warnings to Users
Inform users by email or PM that they infringe the board rules, and could be excluded for such behavior.
No
Forum/Section Restricted Access
ACL could be use to determine if a user or a group of users can access (in read only, post message) to some sections and topics.
No
User Banishment Yes

Administration & Support

Admin Control Panel

The Administration Panel is quite common, as it lists on a left sidebar sections and properties that could be selected. It will not change from traditional forum software.

Database Management
Backup Database
Backup forum datas that you could store somewhere else.
No
Prune Database
Remove old and unused datas from your forum.
Yes
Restore Database
Restore a backup of your database if the previous install crashed.
No
Administration Tools
Statistics
Statistics about posts count, users, traffic...
No Error/Notice Log Viewer
Forum Logs could be consulted.
No
Tasks Scheduler
Maintenance tasks are regularly launched and could be scheduled.
No Mass Mailing
Send an email (newsletters, advertisements, information,...) to all users.
Yes
Installation & Upgrading
Installation Method
How this forum software could be installed.
Installation Wizard
Upgrading Method
How this forum software could be upgraded.
Manual Upgrading
Updates Notifications
The Admin Panel informs you when a new version is released.
No
Forum Migration
Convert an existing forum to Comm100 Forum.
No.

We maybe miss some additional tools, like an integrated log viewer, but, nothing important as Microsoft IIS will give you access to these information.

Security & Spam Protection

Security & Spam Protection
CAPTCHA
Captcha protects your forum against spam bots.
e.g., Syndicate
Yes
Complexity: [++[ Normal
Abnormal Behavior Detection
Detect users or request strange behaviors, and try to process proactive actions.
No
Words Filtering
Offensing Words are automatically replaced.
Yes
User Blacklist
Prevent specific user accounts to register (based on email address, name,...) and disable potentially harmful members.
Yes
IP Blocking
Prevent access to spam robots and other scripts that could attempt DDOS or Brute Force attacks on your forum.
Yes

Customization & Social Networks

Customization
Plugins
Add new features to your forum installation.
No.
Themes
Modify the style of your forum easily.
No.
Custom BBCodes No Smiley Packs No
Custom
Thread Icons
No Additional User Profile Fields
Ask more about your members with custom fields.
No
Integration with Applications, Social Networks, Intranet...
Social Networks
Users can share information from their social network account...
No.
CMS / Blog Bridges
Integration with existing Web publishing tools.
No.
User Accounts Integration
Do users be able to log in with their corporate, Google, Facebook,... accounts?
No.
Content Aggregation
Forum allows to integrate news and content from other website, using an aggregation protocol (RSS, RDF, Atom,...).
No.

W3C Norms & Accessibility

Norms & Accessibility
HTML / XHTML Markup
XHTML 1.0 Transitional.
XHTML 1.0 Transitional
Click to see if it respects HTML norms.
CSS Stylesheets
CSS 2.
CSS 2
Click to see if it respects CSS norms.
Accessibility (WAI)
Web Accessibility ensures that the forum is usable by people of all abilities and disabilities.
Conformance to A level.
A
UTF-8 Support
Default encoding used to support all locales and countries.
Yes
Conformance to W3C Norms
Does Comm100 Forum correctly follow (X)HTML and CSS norms?
Yes.

Comm100 Forum follows the W3C guidelines in terms of XHTML norms, which is a good point, compared to old fashioned forum softwares.

Final Words


Good.

Comm100 Forum has released a good software: simple to use, really similar to other competitors, and full of features we expect for this kind of bulletin board. It will satisfy with no doubts the need of (or maybe the lack of) communication in your company.

Such tool is particularly useful when you cross its usage with other softwares from Comm100, like the Live Chat and so on, but we haven't tested them.

And, by the way, being able to choose among the Hosted version (no maintenance costs, no installation problems) and the Open Source version is really great, because these two usage of this software will be valuable either for companies that do not have any IT expertise, or small ones that require a free tool for their needs.

Additional Resources:

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Comments (3)

Hi, I want to integrate

Hi,

I want to integrate comm100 forum with my existing website http://www.mycarpoint.com . The site uses ASP.NET MVC3/SQL Server Membership Provider. I want to use the same login that user already have on my site for forum as well. How can I synchronize/integrate the login?

thanks

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lastnico's picture

Hi, Note this kind of

Hi,

Note this kind of questions should go to the forum, but don't worry about that right now. I don't think it's going to be possible with Comm100, as it does not provide any Single Sign on (SSO) API facilities (see User base Integration in the review), which would you be really useful in your case.

The only way then to integrate the login is to modify either the forum or your website to use the same log in form and user / password database table (or at least synchronize both of them).

FSR Admin - Vote for 2012.

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And, by the way, being able

And, by the way, being able to choose among the Hosted version (no maintenance costs, no installation problems) and the Open Source version is really great, because these two usage of this software will be valuable either for companies that do not have any IT expertise, or small ones that require a free tool for their needs.
wishes

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