FUDForum Review

(August 24, 2006 13:29)
Last Version 3.0.4 (July 15, 2012). Released under GPL License.
Resources Website FUDForum Website Download Download...
Company Advanced Internet Designs Inc..
Price Free.
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What is FUDForum?

FUDforum, or Fast Uncompromising Discussion Forum is a complete forum package, with a quite impressive list of features. Its developers insisted on the ease of use of its administration panel and on the general usability of the forum.

Review Updates:

  • September 10, 2011: Update FUDForum Review with 3.0.3.
  • May 5, 2011: Update FUDForum Review with 3.0.2.
  • March 10, 2009: This review has been updated for the 2.8.0 release of FUDForum.
  • August 24, 2006: First Review.

FUDForum is recommended for Huge Community.

(and supports smaller communities perfectly as well.)

Server & Client Requirements

Server Requirements
Programming Language
Required Architecture and Versions.
  • PHP 4
  • PHP 5
Web Servers
How the forum is delivered to users.
  • Apache 1.3
  • Apache 2.0/2.2
  • Microsoft IIS
  • Lighttpd
  • Nginx
Databases
How Forum Data are Stored.
  • MySQL
  • Postgresql
  • SQLite
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Oracle
  • Firebird
  • IBM DB2
Operating Systems
Systems Supporting this Software.
  • GNU/LinuxGNU/Linux
  • BSD UnixBSD Unix
  • Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows
  • Apple Mac OSApple Mac OS
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 FUDForum.
Yes.
Supported Languages:
Dari Bulgarian
Catalan Chinese (Simplified)
German Spanish
Finnish French
Croatian Hungarian
Indonesian Icelandic
Italian Lithuanian
Macedonian Dutch
Norwegian Polish
Portuguese Romanian
Russian Swedish
Slovak Turkish
English (British) English (American)
Chinese (Traditional)

FUDforum ships with more than 50 official translations as part of the default installation.

FUDforum is localized on translatewiki.net (site that localizes Wikipedia), and you can consult the FUDForum project page and translation status.

FUDForum is a classical forum software, and can be installed on LAMP server or Microsoft IIS, with a MySQL backend and a PHP extension.

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/Threaded Forum Organization
  • Forum Categories
  • Trashcan Forum
Thread Icons Yes Topic Tags No
Hot Topics Yes Unread Topics Yes
Hidden Topics No Sticky Threads Yes
Related Threads No Detect Duplicate Threads Yes
Announcements Yes
Posting Messages / Answers
Message Editing Form
How to Post Messages.
  • Formatting Buttons
  • Preview Button
Post Editing Format
Supported Markup Language (HTML, Wiki, BBCode,...).
  • HTML
  • BBCode
Spell Checker
Checks typos on posts and topics.
Yes
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
Yes Message Quoting Yes

Spell Checker can be enabled if your PHP installation contains the PSPELL extension, in the Global Settings Manager. Same for the detection of duplicated threads, which is not enabled by default.

FUDForum is also one of the only forum fully supporting Mailing List. Once integrated with a mailing list, it is even possible to post new messages through an email box.

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.
No
Calendar
Topic, Member Birthdays, Events are available from the perspective of a calendar.
Yes
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.
No.
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.
No
Post by Email
Post Directly From your Email Box.
Yes
Remote Control
Remote Control from External Software/Websites.
No.
Cache System
Cache pages to optimize bandwidth and load times.
Yes
Template Engine
It is easier to theme a forum using a known template engine (more docs & examples,...).
  • Custom Template Engine

To enable Friendly URLs, simply set the PATH_INFO setting to true (Global Configuration / General Settings) and use a template based on the path_info feature. However, note that these friendly URLs are not that friendly, as they contain cryptic IDs, not human-readable, unlike the classical topic/title you may find in real friendly URLs.

User Profiles & Options

Some details about FUDForum 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.
Yes
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

Moderation & Users Management

Shadow Topic, which are links to a topic that has been moved on its original position, are available on FUDForum, that even let you defining how long the link should be displayed. Look for Moved Topic Pointer Expiry in the Global Settings Manager for more information.

Moderation & Threads Management
Moderation
Pre-Moderation In pre-moderation, every post needs to be validated by a moderator before being published.
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.
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.
Yes
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.
Yes
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.
Yes
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.
Yes
User Banishment Yes

It is possible to limit the publishing of links in message under a given number of posts submitted. A really nice feature to avoid one-post-users, often full of spam.

Administration & Support

Database Management
Backup Database
Backup forum datas that you could store somewhere else.
Yes
Prune Database
Remove old and unused datas from your forum.
Yes
Restore Database
Restore a backup of your database if the previous install crashed.
Yes
Administration Tools
Statistics
Statistics about posts count, users, traffic...
Yes Error/Notice Log Viewer
Forum Logs could be consulted.
Yes
Tasks Scheduler
Maintenance tasks are regularly launched and could be scheduled.
Yes 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.
Upgrade Wizard
Updates Notifications
The Admin Panel informs you when a new version is released.
Yes
Forum Migration
Convert an existing forum to FUDForum.
Yes.

The Cache System FUDForum provides is quite interesting, according to the comment of its main developer:

Frank wrote:
Besides, index.php and all php files are in fact cached copies that
can be re-generated at will. For example, if your site gets hacked, no
problem, just rebuild (redeploy files from DATA to WEB Accessible
directory). What other forum can do that!

As usual, the task scheduler is quite important for planning important tasks, like backups, consistency checks, sitemaps generation, tables optimization, new forum versions checks, USENET posts importation, Mailing List Messages importation, etc.

A template engine is also present, and even if it might be considered by some as a bit archaic, it is functional, and anyway, there is plan for improving it someday.

The Official FUDForum Converters Section provides several way to migrate an existing forum platform to FUDForum.

The following are supported: SMF, MyBB, YahooGroups, IPB, vBulletin, IkonBoard, phpBB 2/3, UBB Classic, XMB,...

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.
Yes
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

User Bad Behaviors can be easily detected and avoided using several parameters:

  • Flood Triggering
  • Minimum Message Length
  • Moderate user's first N messages
  • # Messages Before Allowing Links
  • and many other settings...

Vulnerabilities Advisories Criticality

Secunia Criticality

Secunia Advisories severity affecting FUDForum.

Vulnerabilities Impact

Secunia Impact

Secunia Advisories impact affecting FUDForum.

Customization & Social Networks

Customization
Plugins
Add new features to your forum installation.
Yes.
~200 Available Plugins.
Installation: [++[ Easy
Themes
Modify the style of your forum easily.
Yes.
Custom BBCodes Yes Smiley Packs Yes
Custom
Thread Icons
Yes Additional User Profile Fields
Ask more about your members with custom fields.
Yes
Integration with Applications, Social Networks, Intranet...
Social Networks
Users can share information from their social network account...
CMS / Blog Bridges
Integration with existing Web publishing tools.
  • Drupal
  • Joomla
  • eGroupWare
User Accounts Integration
Do users be able to log in with their corporate, Google, Facebook,... accounts?
Content Aggregation
Forum allows to integrate news and content from other website, using an aggregation protocol (RSS, RDF, Atom,...).
  • As a new Forum Topic

FUDForum could be plugged with:

LDAP integration is supported using the LDAP plugin. If you need something more specific (like plug in FUDForum with your internal intranet applications), FUDForum provides a Login API.

FUDforum can import RSS, RDF, Atom formats, as well as supporting USENET protocol and e-mails, which makes it particularly useful for integrating external data. More details on the Syndication Management page.

W3C Norms & Accessibility

Norms & Accessibility
HTML / XHTML Markup
HTML 5.
HTML 5
Click to see if it respects HTML norms.
CSS Stylesheets
CSS 1.
CSS 1
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 AA level.
AA
UTF-8 Support
Default encoding used to support all locales and countries.
Yes
Conformance to W3C Norms
Does FUDForum correctly follow (X)HTML and CSS norms?
Yes.

Unique Features

Key points and major differences that make FUDForum unique:

  • Supports Mailing Lists
  • Supports Usenet NNTP protocol

Final Words


Great!

FUDForum is a classic and good forum software, which provide many features by default.

Since FUDForum 3.0, the installation system and the general process of updating is now more usable and easier.

Once installed, it clearly provides many controls to your forum, with hundred and hundred of settings to tune precisely your installation. Of course, the inherent consequence is that the Administration panel and configuration parameters list could be difficult to interpret and use for new users.

Syndication, private messaging, moderation and FAST Template using make this forum software as good as a standard phpBB 3, with nice adding and surprising features, so do not hesitate to use it for your community!

We cannot conclude without speaking about FUDForum support of mailing list and Usenet, as it's really rare to find a web forum supporting this way of discussing (that, unfortunately tends to disappear in the benefit of web-only applications).

Additional Resources:

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Comments (17)

Friendly urls can be enabled

Friendly urls can be enabled by editing the current theme and using something called PATH_INFO instead.

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lastnico's picture

Hi, Thanks for your reply,

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, you are right, it works pretty well. I've updated the review with this information.

FSR Admin - Vote for 2012.

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“Fast Uncompromising

“Fast Uncompromising Discussion Forum” software!

Dare to be different, FUDforum is not for everyone but if you are an independent minded person who wants it your way, do it the FUDforum way.

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"You will also need to make a

"You will also need to make a copy of your configuration file if you want to install it on a Windows platform (FUDForum needs symbolic links)."

This statement is inaccurate: sysmlinks are not required at all! FUDforum will only use symlinks on Lunux/Unix platforms and only if it isn't disabled by the host.

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FUDforum 3.0.0 is already

FUDforum 3.0.0 is already available.

This review needs some serious updating!

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This review is so full

This review is so full ridicules statements and inaccuracies it's not even funny!!!

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lastnico's picture

Okay, but instead of

Okay, but instead of complaining, why won't you try to explain what is "so full of inaccuracies"? I think it would be more interesting for FSR and the entire community as well.

FSR Admin - Vote for 2012.

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You need to update your

You need to update your reiview... it's version 3.x now...

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I am sunsettommy.Who just got

I am sunsettommy.Who just got an e-mail today.Despite that it was dated back to April 18.

The e-mail was about my one time log in.To then make a new password.It failed totally.Still can not log in.

Then I tried to get a new password sent to me from the log in box area.It never send me one by e-mail.

How about DELETING my account instead?

I am tired of this absurd run around.

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lastnico's picture

Hi, Yes, I am aware of this,

Hi,

Yes, I am aware of this, and I feel really sorry. As written here, our mail server was stuck for more than 45 days (April 18 doesn't surprise me though): https://twitter.com/#!/forumsoftware

This is now fixed, so if you still have problems, do not hesitate to report them.

FSR Admin - Vote for 2012.

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Its really a nice information

Its really a nice information you have posted here. I think you are right here. Keep it up.

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Do you say FUDforum does not

Do you say FUDforum does not have hidden topics because you don't see a forum setting that says "hidden" on it? Is that the criterion that must be met to say whether or not a forum software has hidden forums? If so, that's short-sighted.

There are at least two ways to hide forums in FUDforum.

1) Delete it. It goes into the "trash can" and is hidden until it is assigned to a category.
2) Set permissions so it is not visible to whatever group of users you want to hide it from - for example if it should only be seen by Administrators and is otherwise "hidden," if only the Administrators have the visible flag set then only Administrators will see it - bang, it's hidden.

Extending the "hidden by setting it not visible in group permissions" thing to the category level - if all forums in a category are not visible, the category is also hidden.

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Actually almost any script

Actually almost any script available on the Internet to empower a website includes RSS functionality, whether we are speaking of a forum, blog, CMS or even social networking software. However, the nature of forum websites should be put aside to analyze carefully its potential.

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In addition to the Posts by

In addition to the Posts by email ability, it has mailing list integration (http://cvs.prohost.org/index.php/Features#Mailing_List_and_NNTP_Integration). All posts in a given forum can be sent to a mailing list, and all emails in the mailing list will be imported into the appropriate forum.

I need this functionality in order to replace the mail2forum software I'm currently using with phpBB2. It's development has stopped and I need a replacement forum software and mailing list integration. So far I've found just this on and Phorum.

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The current release is 3.0.4

The current release is 3.0.4 - no "rc"

It now has a user "karma" feature, whereby users are rated on the quality of their posts... In addition to assorted feature enhancements & bug fixes.

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lastnico's picture

Updated, thanks!

Updated, thanks!

FSR Admin - Vote for 2012.

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hitechito's picture

In fact, almost all the

In fact, almost all the scenarios available on the Internet web site includes features RSS, this is a forum, a blog, CMS software or social network. However, the nature of our sites should be delayed to carefully analyze their potential.

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