3rd party software

They have announced it here: http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2099641
and it is a result of their experiences here: http://blog.phpbb.com/2010/07/28/oscon-2010/

I think whilst normally we want to improve the core forum module, this feels like it could be different. If the phpbb team are working on an official bridge they have the ability to change the code of phpbb itself to make it integrate generally. (Which they appear to be doing anyway).

When trying to import external forums into Drupal, I've found the main difficulty is a single fundamental difference between Drupal forums and the rest of today's forums.

It's the same one difference that for example makes common administrative tasks such as splitting or merging threads (while keeping chronological order), etc., easy in well-known forum systems but so difficult in Drupal forums, core and Advanced; difficult with Comment Mover, and even directly editing the database. Drupal forums are good and usable in most cases, with most normal functions similar to other systems but, for more advanced moderation, they are not yet ready.

Why? What's that basic difference? We can see it in the support forums of the currently most popular forum systems, such as vBulletin, phpBB, SMF, and Invision Power. Or we can install them and look at the tables where posts and threads are stored.

Drupal have modules for threaded and flat forums, so this is not the main difference. Most current forums are linear/flat by default, but part of them admit both linear and threaded display modes.

The basic difference is another one, truly simple but with fundamental effects:

Dear All,