Does the new release offer any increased spam protection?

Henry Sudhof: With phpBB3, we have implemented tools that make it easier for forum moderators to get rid of the spam posts. Ideally, the spam would get caught before it is posted, but there we are having the same problem as with emails -- software isn't really able to decide that. We have also introduced a new visual confirmation, which will see regular updates to ward against developments. The real improvements however are the new moderator tools. A good team is the best spam-protection there is and phpBB3 makes it so much easier for them to do their job.

How long have you guys been working on this release, and what would you say the most significant upgrades, additions or changes are?

Adam Reyher: phpBB3 has been in development for quite some time. It was originally intended to be phpBB 2.2, and development started in 2002 after version 2.0 was released. Should phpBB have actually released version 2.2, it most certainly would have been released far sooner. However, as development progressed it became clear that the things the project wanted to accomplish with the next version would not have been able to be done without breaking virtually all compatibility with version 2.0. It was therefore decided that we would change the version number to 3.0. This was both good and bad; good because it allowed the developers to accomplish things that otherwise wouldn't have been possible; bad because, in combination with several people leaving and joining the development team, it would cause the release time frame to be severely extended.

This, we think, is one of the greatest upgrades to the software. It allowed the developers to make the software much more powerful but at the same time add many layers which made it easier to use for forum browsers, administrators, and even MOD developers. It also allowed security measures to become a massive part of the code.

What are the enhanced collaboration features?

Adam Reyher: One of the goals of, and indeed, the very motto of phpBB is "creating communities." When developing phpBB3, the intention was to not only provide an easy to use, yet highly powerful and customisable bulletin board, but also to allow online communities, which use the software to really come together. New private message features allow users to more easily communicate with each other on the forum; the Friends & Foes feature allow users to quickly isolate commonly contacted members of the forum (friends) or members who they may not wish to see as many posts from (foes) and build forum preferences around these; Jabber integration allows users to receive notifications of changes to the board without even launching the Web site. All of these things and many more are focused on the idea to help bring online communities, not just bulletin boards, closer together.

You have included optimisation for mobile devices and search engines. Are you seeing an increased use of phpBB in these areas?

Meik Sievertsen: phpBB3's compatibility on mobile devices has been not so much downplayed, but hardly mentioned at all. Given some statistics of team member's boards, there has been an increase of people using phpBB on mobiles since Olympus was released - many of our members expressed their thankfulness for this in phpBB3. But there is still a lot room for improvement.