I just think phpbb looks non professional (no offense to those who like it).
agreed.
in truth, i organised someone set up a board for me on their server. its almost exact to the beta, except it has a few tiny tweaks. the admin panel is still a mess, hard to navigate, and the permissions are SO HARD to work out -they are gonna have a field day to teach that to noobs...forums need to be noob friendly because noobs will try to run them...and with their systems they are gonna need a nice thick manual, and tolerant support teams
and speaking of support, i spent 2 years with phpBB...in that time, and the 4 months ive spent here, i can honestly say this;
support for mods, and ANYTHING here is SO MUCH BETTER.
the support team is SO MUCH nicer.
and the community actually wants to help.
phpBB may be better known, but their reputation compared to SMF is better kept in the closet.