I have been using forum software for way too many years to count now. One of the first I used was InvisionFree. Without going into too much detail I have had a variety of communities using free software including phpBB, MyBB, FluxBB, Simple Machines Forum, bbPress (very lightly) and Vanilla Forums as well as a few paid products such as Invision Power Board and XenForo. Ironically I have only ever used vBulletin once and temporarily that one time, mainly because I don't like the layout and I find it cluttered.
My most recent move came about when I found out about @Toby and esoTalk. I transitioned from XenForo to esoTalk and have had nothing but good feedback from my community. I am also in the process of getting another project set up and everyone involved has also provided very positive feedback on the software. They have all been introduced to Flarum and we are now waiting for a stable release to again move to from our esoTalk powered community.
Berlyn What does Flarum offer that your previously preferred forum/bulletin board software does not?
Flarum offers simplicity and minimalism in its best form. It provides the customer with the fundamentals a forum software should possess and offers the ability to obtain more features or modifications through the extensions system. Despite this system not being completely up to scratch yet, I do feel that @Toby and @Franz have it in mind and in the works. An easy-to-use system where people can pick and choose what extensions they'd like to add to their Flarum forum would be amazing and will make it easy for people to transition from other major forum software.
The community is a growing one and from the day I first heard about Flarum and esoTalk I have got nothing but good vibes. Another plus is my support for an Australian-made forum software. 😃
Berlyn What are some features currently available in other software that you think could benefit Flarum, whether that be core implementation or future extensions?
As explained above, an easy to use extension system which can be built as a library as well. It should provide the name of the extension, a description, the creator (and perhaps a few details about the creator), statistics, version history, etc.
It's a lot to ask but anything to help the community would be a bonus and can only benefit the future of Flarum.