I'm planning on rolling out some special interest sites and want to use the most user friendly software that non-programmers (me) can manage with minimal headaches. Disregarding cost, which would you suggest for simplicity, ease of use, features and reliability? TIA...

 

I run both, so...

minimal headaches, non-programmers, cost not a factor, definitely vbulletin. Vbulletin is harder to tweak the look of (style/skin), but much easier to install on most hosts and has more built-in features. Both have extensive support, phpbb is nicer in some regards, but overall, Vbulletin is a better product, especially for a non-programmer.

 

I am partial to VB software naturaly since I admin this site.
VB is really easy to tweak colors, styles, ect.

Check out this site I made for a friend a few weeks back, click into the forum area.
www.allprogamer.com

I setup the whole forum including two color choices and the catagories in under an hour.
Be aware if you click into the threads over there some contain not so nice language

It is a gaming site, and some of the users are young and love to lip off.