I downloaded the demo of UBB Threads 6.2 and have it on my 'testing web space'. A few questions to those in the know;

How much web space does this forum have? The volume of data must be huge after so long.

How much space should I have (minimum) if I estimate 100 users with moderate posting.

Why can't I get my bbs to look at cool as this one? Has this one been totally modified from the UBB Threads original files? Mine looks like all others out there, but this one looks unique.

I have a baby zebra spider living on my flatscreen and it keeps looking at me. Should I be concerned?

Cheers

Living on your flatscreen? Just stare back at it, it won't make a move if you're looking at it

Should I be concerned?

According to that site, you'll be safe as long as you don't look too much like another male Zebra spider, or show it any mirrors .

Why can't I get my bbs to look at cool as this one?

You should be able to, with an appropriate amount of pounding on the stylesheet code. I assume you're referring to the purple background with the orange links?

this one been totally modified from the UBB Threads original files?

Not totally. There have been a few minor tweaks here and there, but nothing major in terms of code. The main thing you should know... The purple/orange color scheme used to be one of the original default color schemes for this software back before UBB bought out WWWThreads and took over the code. I don't think the purple color scheme is even present in newer versions. We've deliberately kept the color scheme in place as we upgraded because (a) it's so cool, and (b) we all got into the habit of quoting people in orange, and that doesn't look good except in this color scheme.

Also, the original WWWThreads software was a lot simpler and has a much cleaner interface than the newest UBBThreads stuff. When UBB bought them, they added a lot of clutter and bloat. We've actually held off on doing certain upgrades because we didn't want to add bloat and clutter that couldn't be disabled to "make it work like it used to work". I think that the most recent versions allow for us to disable some of the more irritating features, and I think Tom's been talking about patching up again. Each time he's patched up in the past, he's been careful to make sure all the existing style and features are kept in place.

So basically, what you're seeing here (in terms of looks) is an old version of WWWThreads.

I currently use 6.3.1 on the site I do webmastering for (actually, it's more of "webmongering"..)
Having gotten used to these forums, I made the recommendation of getting the UBB.Threads to my 'employer' for the site, and they made the purchase. I was suprised to find major differences between this version and my version- However, I didn't realize that the threads were under "different management", before the version that I got.
For modifying your forums, you can
1. Learn PHP. THe forums got me started in it, now I do almost all my pages in PHP. I've made personal mods to my forums this way.
2. Go check out ThreadsDev. They have many mods, including Table wrappers and Image Borders, as well as add-on Image Libraries, New Index Pages, Chat-Room page, etc etc. You usually have to apply the mods yourself, but if you follow the instructions, it's simple and you can't really screw up. (Save backups, however!)

I haven't tries running the other forums out there, the only one I've had experience with was VBforums or VBthreads or something like that, and personally, I hate the feel of that one..

[Note: Regarding the spider, sorry, can't helkp you there. but.. is it in 3D?]

Me.

Unless it's because you just really like the style of these forums, I can't see why you would want to pay that amount of money to start one yourself. phpBB is a great, full-featured system, and has plenty of features that I wish these forums had, although this BBS offers more options when it comes to how you view it.

Basically, if you view everything in flat mode, I can't see why you would want to spend $229 over FREE.

I've tried others but they just don't 'click' with me. I suppose I'm just too used to these forums - i don't frequent any others. They are very well managed and laid too out so thats proberly a major factor.

What would be a good way to modify/create stylesheets? I'm not great with html by any stretch of the imagination, and use Dreamweaver MX to make pages - this doesn't work too well with css files though. Any ideas?

You can use the trial of TopStyle.
There's also the free Java based Morphon CSS-Editor.
And of course, CoffeeCup StyleSheet Maker.

These all have graphical preview windows. There are tons of other editors that just do syntax highlighting, but that probably isn't what you want if you're just starting out with CSS.

Thanks for the links. I'll take a look.