[Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)]

I only used Vanilla for a couple hours. I have a knee-jerk reaction to most code and if I don’t enjoy using it right away, or have issues setting it up/themeing it how I want, it gets dumped.

And I’m not comfortable telling you strengths and weaknesses because they’re subjective. Seriously, I say it a lot but it’s true.

Me? I don’t like PMs and reporting posts, membership ‘levels’ and all that hoopla. So for me, bbPress is great because it’s small, simple and I can write plugins for it since I’m familiar with WordPress. But see how subjective that is? You may want those things and see it as a weakness that bbPress doesn’t have them.

Knowing what each products strengths and weakness will help determine if it fits needs.

I think you’re doing it backwards. Start with a list of your needs and your wants. Then go ask each place ‘Can you do this and if so, how hard is it?’