Agora 
Version
3.0.157 (last update on Mar 5, 2012)
Rating
Compatibility
Votes
Favoured
10
License
GPLv2 or later
Non-Commercial
Type
Views
507028
Date Added
3 March 2007
Editor's Note
- This extension requires registration to download.
- v3.0.141 is a security release - free patch is available from v3.0.13
At its heart, Agora Forum is all about facilitating conversations and quite frankly, it's the easiest way to have a conversation on a Joomla web site. But don’t be fooled by its simplicity and ease of use. Agora has all the power of a stand-alone bulletin board without all the fuss of a bridged forum solution or a full-blown social networking suite.
In addition to a rich feature-set, Agora’s famous set of risk-free migration tools makes it easy to migrate from existing forums such as Kunena, PHPBB3, SMF and ccBoard.
Images
I wish I installed Kunena at first.
Agora seems an abandoned project and you can find very hard to manage you community once it increases.
Often you can't edit the topic title and must go through database table to do it. Or, for example, if can enable or disable post editing for users but this in not timed, so the can edit it even after months or after you edited it with a moderator note.
I'm stuck on it and I can't migrate to anything because there are no migration tools around. There is one for Kunena but has erros, so I am forced to keep using it and keep saying to my stuff and users "sorry, I can't migrate to a proper platform, for now"
Agora seems an abandoned project and you can find very hard to manage you community once it increases.
Often you can't edit the topic title and must go through database table to do it. Or, for example, if can enable or disable post editing for users but this in not timed, so the can edit it even after months or after you edited it with a moderator note.
I'm stuck on it and I can't migrate to anything because there are no migration tools around. There is one for Kunena but has erros, so I am forced to keep using it and keep saying to my stuff and users "sorry, I can't migrate to a proper platform, for now"
Well, when I first installed agora, I had problems with errors in my admin area but this was not the fault of agora. I simply hadn't updated my joomla version in such a long time that it needed to be updated and then the admin area problems were solved. Agora were helpful in this regard. I just want to point this out so future users keep their joomla versions updated :-)
Once that was solved, a few niggles appeared with the BB board not displaying properly. Agora were quickly on the case as were joomlart whose template I was using. Turned out to be just a conflict between the jascocial template and agora. Agora devs, in this case Jimie and Wombat advised me on what I needed to do to remedy the problem quickly.
I was even given clear instructions on styling issues that I felt could be tweaked. Not being a css guru I was grateful for the help.
In the above, I have pointed out the fact that I had some minor problems simply to underline the fact that if you do have such niggles, then the agora team will be there to solve them and guide you.
I had been using Kuena for a couple of years and was pleased with that but now we really needed more oooomph to our forum, especially poll options which didn't require hacks to work and agora filled this need.
I was worried about importing all my data from Kuena but this was a breeze in the agora admin area and all data moved over quickly and correctly.
Also, I allowed myself time in my project to run the new forum privately, test it, iron out minor problems and then set the forum live for my members on time. ( I never understand when I read some posts that say, I have just installed component x this morning and its not working as I wanted and its to go live today. :-/)
ANYWAY, overall, agora is a powerful piece of kit with a good team behind it who are there to help you. As for the price, I know the joomla world is meant to be all open source, free etc but not enough ppl donate so what are developers to do?? AGORA IS WORTH EVERY PENNY!
Once that was solved, a few niggles appeared with the BB board not displaying properly. Agora were quickly on the case as were joomlart whose template I was using. Turned out to be just a conflict between the jascocial template and agora. Agora devs, in this case Jimie and Wombat advised me on what I needed to do to remedy the problem quickly.
I was even given clear instructions on styling issues that I felt could be tweaked. Not being a css guru I was grateful for the help.
In the above, I have pointed out the fact that I had some minor problems simply to underline the fact that if you do have such niggles, then the agora team will be there to solve them and guide you.
I had been using Kuena for a couple of years and was pleased with that but now we really needed more oooomph to our forum, especially poll options which didn't require hacks to work and agora filled this need.
I was worried about importing all my data from Kuena but this was a breeze in the agora admin area and all data moved over quickly and correctly.
Also, I allowed myself time in my project to run the new forum privately, test it, iron out minor problems and then set the forum live for my members on time. ( I never understand when I read some posts that say, I have just installed component x this morning and its not working as I wanted and its to go live today. :-/)
ANYWAY, overall, agora is a powerful piece of kit with a good team behind it who are there to help you. As for the price, I know the joomla world is meant to be all open source, free etc but not enough ppl donate so what are developers to do?? AGORA IS WORTH EVERY PENNY!
Owner's reply
JED response: Thanks for the detailed review Gundog. We are glad it worked out for you so well.
Since you posted your review, we’ve added some great features for overriding both the CSS and the forum templates. It really lets you customize the forum like we did here: anything-digital.com/forum.html
Best of luck in your work.
I Purchased Agora forums a short while back.
There are some things that need to be addressed like user titles and also the permissions.
But when trying to make the forums better by adding ideas and also requesting help they state they have a professional team working it which is not the case at all.
Until they offer better support and also fix the small issues the forum system does not work 100% as a forums.
There are some things that need to be addressed like user titles and also the permissions.
But when trying to make the forums better by adding ideas and also requesting help they state they have a professional team working it which is not the case at all.
Until they offer better support and also fix the small issues the forum system does not work 100% as a forums.
I purchased Agora shortly after it went commercial because it is 'slightly' better than the alternative Joomla! native forums. However, I was sadly disappointed that the attachments feature was wrought with bugs. I stopped using it and went with one of the bridged forums. Well, it's been several months and a few subversions later, and the attachments feature is still broken. Granted, the price is more than fair, especially since I purchased it when they had the promo that included membership to a very popular template club, so I got a really great deal. But still, I expect when an extension goes commercial some very important issues should be addressed in a timely manner, like "before" it goes commercial. A properly working attachments feature, in my humble opinion, is critical to any forum. If you don't need attachments, then I guess it works okay. But then, so does it's very popular rival, which is free. I don't want to bash Agora forum, as they are some good people behind the development. However, I post this review along with a "Very Poor" rating in hopes that it will inspire them to get on the ball with fixing the attachments feature once and for all. Please quit dilly dallying around and fix the darn thing!
I have been using Agora for over a year after I tried Kunea and Fireboard. Agora is the most versatile and complete forum, and easy to setup and use. I got it when it was free but I will gladly pay to get the security upgrade. I have not had any problems. As far as not having a login, that is not necessary. Once a person logs into your site Agora can be made available. It simply does not need a separate login.
Without a doubt Agora is the best Joomla forum.
Pros -
Settings are more substantial than any other Joomla forum.
Comes with pms or integrated pms.
Simple gallery
attachment download
enhanced attachment upload
special settings for your users with slow connections.
Cons -
No login module
No previews of modules / plugins
Pricing is sketchy! It's gonna cost $89 to get the forums completely integrated with your joomla articles.
It's going to cost $50 to get a template and $89 to integrate into Joomla articles. I don't like the pricing scheme but this forum is definitely worth the price.
Pros -
Settings are more substantial than any other Joomla forum.
Comes with pms or integrated pms.
Simple gallery
attachment download
enhanced attachment upload
special settings for your users with slow connections.
Cons -
No login module
No previews of modules / plugins
Pricing is sketchy! It's gonna cost $89 to get the forums completely integrated with your joomla articles.
It's going to cost $50 to get a template and $89 to integrate into Joomla articles. I don't like the pricing scheme but this forum is definitely worth the price.
Planning to move away from our bridged Joomla/phpBB3 setup, I decided to give Agora a try. The result was miserable. Our community is based on photography and relies heavily on attachments. Unfortunately, the current version of Agora has a long-standing bug regarding attachments which made it aggravating to use. Then there's the awful inflexibility of the styling system, and the lack of proper extensions.
In addition, the developers are incredibly unfriendly and unhelpful. Instead of trying to fix or acknowledge problems, they blame the user for daring to use a feature that's buggy (?!?). They leave support requests dangling for days without bothering to respond, even with repeated requests for help. They don't inform users of the status of bug reports or support requests, they just expect everyone to assume all is being worked on.
And to top it all off, they've changed to a commercial model where you must pay for this terrible extension. Considering all the high quality alternatives out there (Kunena, standalone forum software, etc.), there's really no need to be subjected to this kind of abuse. Bypass Agora altogether and try other alternatives instead.
In addition, the developers are incredibly unfriendly and unhelpful. Instead of trying to fix or acknowledge problems, they blame the user for daring to use a feature that's buggy (?!?). They leave support requests dangling for days without bothering to respond, even with repeated requests for help. They don't inform users of the status of bug reports or support requests, they just expect everyone to assume all is being worked on.
And to top it all off, they've changed to a commercial model where you must pay for this terrible extension. Considering all the high quality alternatives out there (Kunena, standalone forum software, etc.), there's really no need to be subjected to this kind of abuse. Bypass Agora altogether and try other alternatives instead.
Make very sure you want to use this forum forever. Once you build your community you will not be able to change to another board. There are no converters available, no way out.
Owner's reply
Hello and thank-you for taking the time to leave a review. Just a quick note to say that, like all extensions, migrating to an alternative usually requires a migration utility. For example, K2 imports Joomla content. Agora can import from numerous bulletin board applications such as Kunena, ccBoard, PHPBB3, PHPBB2, SMF 1.x, SMF2.x, vBulletin, Simplest Forum and Joo!BB. There are some migrators also available for folks moving away from Agora but in our experience, once folks make the migration, the usually return as Agora’s feature set is unmatched in the Joomlasphere.
I completely disagree with anyone who says the Agora Forum is not worth this small licensing fee. Agora is by far the best solution for Joomla forum software. I have one of the largest sites I know of running Joomla and I have tried SMF and Fireboard and both were complete disasters. SMF was ok but didn’t integrate well into Joomla and Fireboard ran so slow it crippled my site.
Since coming across and using the Agora Forum I would pay 10x’s what they are asking for support and upgrades. Agora has some of the best features, is super easy to administrate and runs fast under load. I am happy to know that by paying this small amount, this product will have the funding to be supported and hopefully continue to grow and improve.
Don’t let tightwads steer you away from this component. For free people loved it but for $30 people all of a sudden hate it? Come on now. I have tons of “free” components on my site that are no longer supported at all and now I am stuck paying my own developers to fix them when they break. I can think of 5 other things off the top of my head I am using that costs me thousands of dollars to be maintained because the developers couldn’t keep giving away a free product and free support.
Agora forum is the best choice, don’t listen to the reviewers who only liked it when it was free. It takes money to make money, they should be happy to know their investment will result in a better product for all of us who happily use Agora for our sites everyday.
Since coming across and using the Agora Forum I would pay 10x’s what they are asking for support and upgrades. Agora has some of the best features, is super easy to administrate and runs fast under load. I am happy to know that by paying this small amount, this product will have the funding to be supported and hopefully continue to grow and improve.
Don’t let tightwads steer you away from this component. For free people loved it but for $30 people all of a sudden hate it? Come on now. I have tons of “free” components on my site that are no longer supported at all and now I am stuck paying my own developers to fix them when they break. I can think of 5 other things off the top of my head I am using that costs me thousands of dollars to be maintained because the developers couldn’t keep giving away a free product and free support.
Agora forum is the best choice, don’t listen to the reviewers who only liked it when it was free. It takes money to make money, they should be happy to know their investment will result in a better product for all of us who happily use Agora for our sites everyday.
Owner's reply
Thank-you for taking the time to post and supporting Agora.
We've been using Agora from Day 1, the Devs over at jVitals & Anything-Digital are very quick and professional in answering and solving our Agora Issues. Now Agora has gone commercial, it will be alot more powerful and quicker for any bugs to squash or new features to be built in the future. More Power to jVitals & Anything Digital. Thank you for always being there for us since Day 1. If you haven't upgraded to the latest Agora, Then please do so as soon as you get a chance. It's worth it. AGORA FTW!!!
Owner's reply
Thanks for your support!
I had submitted a review recently not knowing they were going commercial. So I want to take the time again to say that we have always been fully satisfied with Agora. Amongst the forums on offer, this has to be the best choice. We use it on all our sites by now including our two major projects. We have started with kunena but made the move a year ago because agora offers so many more useful features.
I can't even understand how so much development has gone into this forum and it was kept free for so long. They surely have our support and the price you pay is a give-away for the quality, feature-set and support you receive from these guys. I am sure that with additional funding this will become an even greater extension.
To the JVitals team I can only say: keep up the dedication and hard work you guys have been showcasing in the past.
I can't even understand how so much development has gone into this forum and it was kept free for so long. They surely have our support and the price you pay is a give-away for the quality, feature-set and support you receive from these guys. I am sure that with additional funding this will become an even greater extension.
To the JVitals team I can only say: keep up the dedication and hard work you guys have been showcasing in the past.
Owner's reply
Thanks for your kind words. Indeed the development work has been extreme for the last 3 years. Now we expect to be able to support continued development and more rapid innovation. As you can see on the new support forum, issues are still being resolved quickly and efficiently and we are close to yet another release with more fixes and features.
So they made it a paying extension - 3 plans, all affordable, for a forum system that is incredibly clean and fast to set up. I got my forum up in 30 minutes including basic categories and forum zones, imported users and a custom template (mimic) that somehow chameleon-ed itself to my site's css. Yes there are little quirks here and there and fixes needed but for perspective, I made 5 posts and within 6 hours had gotten replies to all of them from 4+ moderators, and several replies to some -- on a weekend. I see Agora going commercial as a positive since they will be able to pay people to refine this already impressive package. NB No full fledged moderation available at this time but is coming soon, but there is a third party mod to email posts into the system and possibly another mod under development to email posts out. 5/5 love it!
While the developers may not agree with me, the entire community that has used Agora for free up to now will. jVitals have supplied the community with a buggy forum for several years and for quite a long time now they have been promoting their v3.0.14 on their site which everyone who knows the audacious bugs that exist in 3.0.137 has been waiting for as 3.0.14 was meant to adress the lack of a good working forum in previous versions. Unfortunately jvitals never once mentioned to their community that they would be making the very much awaited 3.0.14 version commercial. This placed a lot of websites into chaos today as many were waiting for this version to fix their site and are now forced to either pay for this new version or to completely lose their current forum and posts members have made in order to look for a new forum. It is very poor behaviour from jvitals and a very huge disrespect to the community that supported them. I myself have had my company website affected by this where I now have to look for another forum to change to and lose all the posts my members have made. It is a disgrace that jvitals would treat it's community that way and I myself will be seeking legal action against jvitals as this has severely placed my company site into chaos. Not to mention, v3.0.14 still has bugs including the attachment bug that existed in 3.0.137 and before.
DO NOT purchase this product before being 100000% sure its going to be fine because its not fine at all. Very poor work jvitals, if you had only let us (the community) know you would make it commercial, I myself at least would have been more willing to support, but you kept us all thinking it would come for free, bragged all over your website how agora is the best FREE forum and then you go and do this when your community expected this release so heavily.
-10/5 stars
DO NOT purchase this product before being 100000% sure its going to be fine because its not fine at all. Very poor work jvitals, if you had only let us (the community) know you would make it commercial, I myself at least would have been more willing to support, but you kept us all thinking it would come for free, bragged all over your website how agora is the best FREE forum and then you go and do this when your community expected this release so heavily.
-10/5 stars