I have nothing against vBulletin people.
One of the biggest hangups I have with every web-based forum I've ever used, including the Swamp, is the need to "click, read, back, click, read, back, click, read, etc." in order to read multiple threads. With a newsreader I can select the message to read, do so in the lower pane, click the next one to read, read in the lower pane, etc, without ever needing a "back" button.
And if I ever wanted to re-read that message, even offline, I just have to scroll back to that message and read it. not relevant to current discussion, sorryFWIW, I really don't like the AUGI forums, either, and those are powered by vBulletin. Perhaps it's the layout, I don't know...they seem fast, and do allow inline images...sort of, normally have to open in new window to actually see them... but I don't frequent them very often for some reason...