What it does
phpBB is free forum software for running a community on your own hosting. Administrators can require approval for selected users or forums, and moderators handle those submissions in a shared queue. Forum administration requires a local account with the appropriate permissions.
An administrator can apply approval requirements through forum or user permissions. Those contributions stay hidden from other members until a moderator accepts them. A support area could remain open while an announcement board uses approval.
Open the Moderator Control Panel to review waiting topics and posts. An unapproved topic's icon or the notice beside a pending post also leads to its review screen. Approve or disapprove the item, optionally notify its author and add a reason when rejecting it.
The panel also separates reported posts, user notes, warnings and moderation logs. Staff can check previous actions before deciding what to do next.
Use a packaged release for an ordinary installation. A checkout of the development repository needs additional dependencies through Composer. The GPLv2 software is free; you supply the hosting. To change its appearance, upload a compatible style to the board's styles folder, sign in as an administrator and open Customise > Install styles. After installation, its Details screen lets you make it the default.
Strengths
- Approval rules can apply to selected users or an entire forum
- Moderators can notify authors and explain rejected submissions
Watch out for
- Development source requires dependency installation beyond a packaged release
Best for
- Site operators running a self-hosted forum with selective pre-publication review
Sources
- GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE (Oct 26, 2026)
- phpBB Official Development Repository (Oct 27, 2026)
- phpBB 3.3: Moderation Queue (Oct 27, 2026)
- phpBB 3.3: Moderator Control Panel (Oct 27, 2026)
- phpBB: Install a New Style and Set It as Default (Oct 27, 2026)