<s>
This	O
article	O
outlines	O
the	O
general	O
features	O
commonly	O
found	O
in	O
various	O
Internet	B-Application
forum	I-Application
software	I-Application
packages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
highlights	O
major	O
features	O
that	O
the	O
manager	O
of	O
a	O
forum	O
might	O
want	O
and	O
should	O
expect	O
to	O
be	O
commonly	O
available	O
in	O
different	O
forum	B-Application
software	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
comparisons	O
do	O
not	O
include	O
remotely	O
hosted	O
services	O
which	O
use	O
their	O
own	O
proprietary	B-Application
software	I-Application
,	O
rather	O
than	O
offering	O
a	O
package	O
for	O
download	B-Application
which	O
webmasters	O
can	O
host	O
by	O
themselves	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CreatorLatest	O
release	O
dateCurrent	O
stable	O
versionProgramming	O
languageSupported	O
databasesLicense	O
bbPress	B-Application
WordPress	B-Application
Foundation	O
;	O
PHP	B-Application
MariaDB	B-Application
,	O
MySQL	B-Application
GPL	B-License
Beehive	B-Language
Forum	I-Language
Project	O
Beehive	B-Language
Forum	I-Language
Developers	O
2016-11-05	O
1.5.2	O
PHP	B-Application
MySQL	B-Application
GPL	B-License
Discourse	B-Protocol
Civilized	O
Discourse	B-Protocol
Construction	O
Kit	O
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
Ruby	B-Language
,	O
JavaScript	B-Language
PostgreSQL	B-Application
GPL	B-License
Discuz	B-Protocol
!	I-Protocol
</s>
<s>
FlatThreadedUser	O
selectable	O
themesUnread	O
message	O
trackingWYSIWYG	O
EditorExport	O
,	O
portabilityEmail	O
/	O
NNTP	B-Protocol
interfaceLanguagesSSO	O
bbPress	B-Application
Beehive	B-Language
Forum	I-Language
(	O
using	O
TinyMCE	B-Application
)	O
Discourse	B-Protocol
Discuz	B-Protocol
!	I-Protocol
</s>
<s>
FluxBB	B-Language
FUDforum	B-Protocol
For	O
admins	O
:	O
http://fudforum.org/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=120851	O
Native	O
NNTP	B-Protocol
gateway	O
:	O
http://fudforum.org/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=120406&goto=167140&#msg_167140	O
Invision	B-Protocol
Power	I-Protocol
Board	I-Protocol
Only	O
3	O
languages	O
updated	O
in	O
one	O
year	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
https://invisionpower.com/files/category/107-language-packs/?sortby=file_name&filter=file_free&sortby=file_updated&sortdirection=desc&page=1	O
(	O
LDAP	O
,	O
OAuth	O
,	O
Others	O
)	O
MyBB	B-Language
Phorum	B-Protocol
phpBB	B-Application
(	O
LDAP	O
,	O
OAuth	O
)	O
PunBB	B-Language
Simple	B-Protocol
Machines	I-Protocol
Forum	I-Protocol
PM	O
:	O
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?action=search;basic_search=export	O
Vanilla	B-Language
Forums	I-Language
Attachments	O
:	O
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/myattachments-pluginAdmin-only	O
:	O
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/porter-core	O
2	O
languages	O
100	O
%	O
translated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
vBulletin	B-Protocol
vB	O
4	O
:	O
https://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showpost.php?p=2489379&postcount=1069	O
XenForo	B-Protocol
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/categories/xenforo-translations.14/	O
Available	O
translations	O
for	O
latest	O
version	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
https://xenforo.com/xf2-docs/manual/connected-accounts/	O
OAuth	O
SSO	O
provided	O
by	O
Connected	O
accounts	O
feature	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Slashdot	O
or	O
reddit	B-Application
)	O
,	O
or	O
in	O
commenting	O
systems	O
like	O
Disqus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
comparison	O
table	O
shows	O
whether	O
a	O
forum	B-Application
software	I-Application
allows	O
forum	O
administrators	O
to	O
customise	O
the	O
"	O
template	O
"	O
of	O
the	O
forum	O
(	O
or	O
specific	O
sections	O
thereof	O
)	O
without	O
altering	O
the	O
released	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unread	O
message	O
tracking	O
refers	O
to	O
the	O
way	O
that	O
is	O
used	O
by	O
forum	B-Application
software	I-Application
to	O
track	O
and	O
display	O
messages	O
that	O
have	O
not	O
yet	O
been	O
read	O
by	O
the	O
current	O
user	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Full	O
—	O
forum	B-Application
software	I-Application
which	O
records	O
in	O
the	O
persistent	O
database	O
what	O
messages	O
have	O
been	O
read	O
or	O
unread	O
by	O
each	O
user	O
,	O
regardless	O
of	O
user	O
session	O
expiration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
forum	B-Application
software	I-Application
also	O
allows	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
'	O
mark	O
as	O
unread	O
 '	O
,	O
so	O
that	O
they	O
can	O
come	O
back	O
to	O
a	O
message	O
later	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
column	O
judges	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
allow	O
users	O
to	O
export	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
from	O
the	O
forum	O
installation	O
and	O
then	O
import	O
it	O
in	O
new	O
installations	O
of	O
the	O
same	O
software	O
(	O
cf	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
right	O
to	O
fork	O
and	O
data	B-Application
portability	I-Application
)	O
or	O
feed	O
it	O
to	O
data	O
conversion	O
tools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Software	B-Architecture
portability	I-Architecture
is	O
a	O
key	O
assessment	O
criterion	O
for	O
the	O
choice	O
and	O
procurement	O
of	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whether	O
the	O
software	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
standard	O
Email	O
or	O
NNTP	B-Protocol
clients	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whether	O
the	O
internationalization	B-General_Concept
and	I-General_Concept
localization	I-General_Concept
of	O
the	O
software	O
are	O
sufficient	O
to	O
both	O
allow	O
and	O
actually	O
provide	O
grammatically	O
correct	O
support	O
for	O
the	O
native	O
language	O
of	O
the	O
target	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
prevent	O
loss	O
of	O
content	O
from	O
browser	O
crashes	O
and	O
the	O
like	O
,	O
forum	B-Application
software	I-Application
may	O
be	O
equipped	O
with	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
automatically	O
save	O
unfinished	O
posts	O
as	O
drafts	O
,	O
like	O
some	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
and	O
text	B-Application
editor	I-Application
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
some	O
forums	O
,	O
when	O
the	O
user	O
types	O
a	O
new	O
thread	O
subject	O
,	O
the	O
forum	B-Application
software	I-Application
brings	O
up	O
similar	O
threads	O
automatically	O
on	O
the	O
side	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CAPTCHAs	O
are	O
a	O
common	O
feature	O
used	O
among	O
most	O
internet	B-Application
forum	I-Application
software	I-Application
and	O
are	O
often	O
used	O
to	O
prevent	O
automated	O
registrations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Banning	O
or	O
deleting	O
membership	O
should	O
come	O
as	O
standard	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
blacklist	O
the	O
username	O
,	O
email	O
address	O
or	O
IP	B-Protocol
address	I-Protocol
for	O
variable	O
time	O
spans	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Reference	O
to	O
an	O
anti-forum	O
spam	O
database	O
can	O
be	O
built	O
into	O
the	O
forum	B-Application
software	I-Application
,	O
or	O
offered	O
as	O
add-ons	O
for	O
specific	O
databases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Human-friendly	O
forum	O
URLs	O
do	O
not	O
have	O
a	O
query	B-Protocol
string	I-Protocol
and	O
instead	O
contain	O
only	O
the	O
path	O
of	O
the	O
topic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
.php	B-Application
)	O
that	O
do	O
not	O
matter	O
to	O
the	O
user	O
and	O
could	O
change	O
if	O
the	O
forum	O
is	O
reimplemented	O
using	O
a	O
different	O
programming	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
general	O
this	O
is	O
accomplished	O
via	O
URL	O
mapping	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
historically	O
in	O
many	O
forum	B-Application
software	I-Application
packages	O
,	O
human-friendly	O
URLs	O
are	O
an	O
afterthought	O
implemented	O
via	O
URL	B-Protocol
rewriting	I-Protocol
,	O
and	O
URLs	O
often	O
contain	O
a	O
numeric	O
ID	O
which	O
represents	O
the	O
thread	O
,	O
while	O
the	O
remainder	O
of	O
the	O
URL	O
can	O
in	O
reality	O
be	O
any	O
string	O
:	O
http://example.com/forum/12345/lets-use-friendly-urls	O
and	O
http://example.com/forum/12345/bogus-path-actually	O
point	O
to	O
the	O
same	O
thread	O
,	O
http://example.com/forum/12345/	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
only	O
non-controversial	O
counter-argument	O
to	O
using	O
user-friendly	O
URLs	O
is	O
that	O
they	O
would	O
be	O
leaked	O
in	O
the	O
HTTP	B-Protocol
referer	I-Protocol
header	O
field	O
when	O
a	O
user	O
clicks	O
on	O
an	O
external	O
link	O
from	O
a	O
post	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
undesirable	O
for	O
private	O
(	O
sub	O
)	O
forums	O
,	O
since	O
a	O
URL	O
derived	O
from	O
the	O
topic	O
title	O
could	O
convey	O
sensitive	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
issue	O
can	O
be	O
resolved	O
by	O
rewriting	O
external	O
links	O
to	O
point	O
to	O
a	O
redirection	O
page	O
that	O
performs	O
referer	B-Protocol
hiding	O
.	O
</s>
