I remember talking to Derek and that in the shoutbox a few days ago about possibly introducing HTML to the site instead of BBCode Markup and discussed the main pros and cons having HTML and the biggest risk is viruses being implemented into HTML and spreading. My question is, does this software for the forums come with anti-virus/malware software? Because if it did, it'll easily be the resolution to the viral problem concerning HTML
The forums don't work like your normal Windows operating system. You don't really just get infected and then wipe it away, without any consequences. The danger of allowing HTML is possibly allowing hackers to gain access to the site by using an exploit, possibly steal your information (aka your password), and maybe even damage the site so it's down for a while. Or, I'm sure you'd love an iframe injection that gives you a virus (i've seen this before, not pretty). So really, the danger isn't limited to the website, but to users also. There's absolutely nothing wrong with BBCode, and forums everywhere use it. I don't see any reason to use HTML over BBCode, as it's only a difference between typing [] and <>. Plus BBCode is more extendable too.
Yeah, its just far too risky. We got hacked a few years ago when we used to have html and it wasn't pretty.