Having administrated a phpBB forum for the better part of two years, a couple of things have always bothered me.

The first is the weird and wonderful templating system. Why attempt to separate PHP logic from the HTML layout when the template tags are more complicated and less flexible than straight PHP would be? A direct consequence of this is how themes need to be edited before plugins are displayed: usually mod-makers detail which bits to change, but this is far from ideal. The problem comes when the creator of the mod hasn’t provided said instructions; this is partly why almost all phpBB themes are structurally similar to prosilver or subsilver2 (the default ones provided). It’s a case of ‘code for non-coders’ limiting the development experience for those who know what they’re doing.

The other is the relative complexity of the user/group/forum permissions. More settings usually mean more power, but not if the system is overwhelming and counter-intuitive. For example, why don’t administrators automatically have all of the permissions of the global moderator group, when the hierarchy implies that they should?

Either way, I think I’m going to have to have a stab at making a forum software I’m happy with in order to express my gripes better. I have a few thoughts on what current forum systems are lacking, but I’d like to get some of them down and working over the summer before detailing them.