Use the latest version of https://www.simplemachines.org/ .

This is the same forum software that powered Bitcointalk, Silk Road, etc.

It has many advantages over every other platform out there:

1. It has great anti-spam prevention tools.

2. It gives you the tools you’ve requested with respect to moderation (individual moderation accounts with customizable permissions).

3. It is simple to use.

4. It is pretty and well designed, and allows you to organize threads and forums really well (unlike Discourse).

5. It doesn’t make unnecessary use of JavaScript (unlike Discourse), and therefore works well with all search engines (present and future).

6. You can self-host it, and migrate it to another server if needed, allowing the community to maintain full control over the data (unlike Microsoft/Github).

7. It supports great search functionality.

8. It is open source, and has many community plugins.

9. It runs anywhere PHP runs.

10. It is fast.

11. It has a well established history of powering Bitcoin communities. It has been with us from Day 1.

After using phpBB for years, researching other forums software, I switched to SMF, and stuck with it. I’m happy I did so. I recommend it.

Kind regards,

Greg Slepak