Quote Originally Posted by Loony BoB
That was an attempt to speed up the db, yes. If we were using phpBB with attachments being stored in the db, it would have had the same chunk of bytes.
But phpBB doesn't use DB attachements nor does it use DB avatars for that very reason: doing so is deathly slow and inefficient. Having the avatars in the database could mean as much as 25 extra database connection per topic page which is such a waste of CPU and disk resources. phpBB stores them as normal files on the server. This is one bad feature of vB that they have doggedly clung to for so long. I'm glad they finally give the option to use normal files instead.

Instead of having to do everything via FTP, why not have an inbuilt system where you can just hit 'save' or whatever on your page and have it save directly to the server where you can see the results? Oh, wait, that's what vB does. I don't see how that's a disadvantage. In fact, I'd say it's an advantage.
phpBB2 does have a template editor built in. There is a more comprehensive and powerful one being included in v2.2 (which will be out soon W00t! )

It doesn't look like there are many usergroup options.
What?? phpBB was the board that invented the enhanced user group system. In other words, it was the first board to even allow members to be subscribed to multiple user groups at once (with permission precedence). vB and IPB finally added (copied) that feature in the latest releases.