As part of another question that did involve programming (I assure you), someone suggested I ask a community wiki question as to why your forum software of choice was the 'best' one for you.
I'm looking into providing forum software as part of an install of a web server and web application tailored for a medical support group and I wish to know all the pros and cons for any forum software you've had exposure to.
It must run with Linux and Apache.
How about PHPBB ? Immensely easy to setup and configure, and does automatic imports from previous pbpbb versions (like from v2 to v3)
PHPBB 3 has also a very good captcha system, unlike the v2 one. In phpbb2, using a captcha when registering, we got about 600 bots a day registering automatically.
When we upgraded to v3, we got no bots, and we still have not registered bots (the new forum was deployed about 2 months ago, and no bots yet)...so apparently, they improved the captcha images.
I highly recommend it.
Btw, it's Open Source and written in PHP (duh!). It also has a wide community, with a huge variety of downloadable themes and styles.
My first recommendation would be Invision Power Board. I've tried out some open-source software like PHPBB and SimpleMachines, they work well enough but as they are not backed commerically you may not get a quick fix to any board problems should you encounter them. One of the main feature I liked about IPB is also their flexible user permission system. It's hard to describe, but basically it is based on permission masks. You can create groups that utilises a single or multiple masks, and each member can belong to a single or multiple groups. If that's not enough, you can also specify the permission masks a person can use on a per-person basis. Of course, if you don't need that flexibility you can just use the basic groups that are there by default. IBP isn't free though, and for some it may be considered quite expensive.
I got a lifetime and perpetual license back then when they had them that guarantees lifetime updates and support. Well worth the money.
The other solution I can recommend is ExpressionEngine from EllisLabs. EE is an extensible Content Management that you can get addon modules for at rather affordable prices. One of these official addons is a forum module. With one forum license you will already be able to create multiple instances of forums. You will be able to set up your main site with the main CMS portion, and build your forum around it, and they can share login/membership if you want. Another system I well recommend.
Invision Power Board.
Not least because I managed to inherit a lifetime license :D
That being said, I find it the most intuitive when it comes to both using and administration.
My fav is Simple Machine Forums. Easy to setup, helpful community, and easy to modify.
FoFou is my favorite forum software because it makes it easy for people to post questions and answers.
A visitor shouldn't have to register, fill out a bunch of preferences and check their email before they can leave a comment. FoFou doesn't make them do any of that. Forums For Yo**u** was designed for websites that host open source software so the whole point is to encourage users who may only visit once or twice to submit feedback and answer each other's questions. FoFou provides all the functionality of a slick forum, without the confusing bells and whistles.
FoFou is open source, easy to set up and uses Google's App engine thus you can either host it yourself or use Google's free cloud hosting.
Read more from their manifesto.