I'm a member of an ezboard-style forum, and I quite dislike the way I sometimes have to go back many pages to find the beginning of a conversation. Sometimes I can't find it at all. The quoting function is better than nothing, but it doesn't always provide the context I need.

Another factor is the self-imposed size limits on threads. As Joel mentioned, opening a wotmania thread with 150+ replies can take a while for dial-up users. The hidden benefit there is that we rarely have gigantic threads (okay, some notable historic exceptions ). I haaaate it when there are 300 pages of comments on one topic at the other site.

I also like how our posts are ordered according to when they were written, not the most recent reply. There are so many things that I like! And I agree 100% with Camilla that the MB format is a primary reason that the community has developed so interestingly over the years.

Ultimately, it may just be a matter of what you're used to, and of course wotmania was the first place where I spent much time on the internet. But seriously, there are real advantages. Possibly the aesthetics could be cleaned up a little, but we'll be thinking about that more as the site gets off the ground.