I love IPB's but I would never pay for one. I don't use FTP for anything and I'll admit, I've never used it. I can't find IPB in Fantastico, has it been taken out of our add-on selection?...

I am so familiar with IPB that I don't want to have to start learning the in's and out's of another forum software nor learn the usage of FTP .

Is it possible to make my life as a webmaster here easier?

The clear answer is no. Since the launch of version 2, it is is possible to download 2.x series for free.

I suggest you to use Quicksilver Forums, a fast, easy and very modular forum board. Easy to learn too !

Oh, and it's way faster than IPB, IPB is bloated.

xboxrulz

Hmm, looks like I may have to learn how to use FTP I guess...

Guess I was a little idle when version 2 came out...I don't care what anyone says, I enjoy IPB and to learn how to modify another forum would frustrate me.

Well, I guess I'm always up for learning how to do new things

Don't use IPB. As I experienced here, IPB is slow, and has lots of hard to find features. I personally use SMF (Simple Machines Forum, www.simplemachinesforum.org), which is fast and easy to use. It takes just a bit of learning to use, but the interface is very organized, and it's really fast. Bs=est of all, it's free and can be installed in Fantastico.

Otherwise, there's another very popular forum package called phpbb, which can also be downloaded from your fantastico menu.
Personally, I don't like this a lot, but I don't really use forum applications anymore. I don't have a purpose.

I used to use forum software a lot, the best i've come across is vbulletin, but obviously for free, it's got to be phpbb now that ipb no longer owns a free downloadable version.

Hope this helps :-)

http://www.punbb.org/ is a decent looking, free forum. Its less gfx based then like phpbb or ipb, so it should be a bit faster. Though i can't say i have any first hand experiance working with it. (just phpbb/vbulletin)