My shortcodes display as shortcodes, not as the content they're supposed to render. Why?

Be careful if you are copying and pasting the shortcodes - you might need to delete tags. Click on the 'Text' tab in your content editor to see if these tags are there.

by Marketing Fire 4.6 (43 reviews)

Discussion Board – WordPress Forum Plugin

Name: Discussion Board – WordPress Forum Plugin
Rating: 4.6 (43 reviews)
Author: Marketing Fire

Discussion Board is a simple, effective way to add a forum or discussion board to your site, helping you build and engage an active community.

Discussion Board ranks #5,072 among WordPress.org plugins with 1,000+ active installations, is #279 of 3,634 in the Communication category, a 4.6/5 rating from 43 reviews, and was last updated Oct 23, 2026. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Compatible with WP 7.1.4

v2.6.1 Current Version v2.6.1

Updated 2 weeks ago Last Update on 23 Oct, 2026

Refreshed 6 days ago Last Refreshed on

#279 of 3,634 in Communication Top 10% by installs Downloads -70.5% this week Actively maintained

View on WordPress.org

Rank

#5,072

— No change

Active Installs

1K+

-64.1%

KW Avg Position

23.6

— No change

Downloads

174.5K

+28 today

Support Resolved

100%

— No change

Rating

92%

Review 4.6 out of 5

4.6 (43 reviews)

Next Milestone 2K

Total Progress 97.5%

1K+ 2K+

Ranks to Climb

Growth Needed

8,000,000

Active Installs

Pro

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Need 25 more installs to reach 2K+

Rank Changes

Current #5,072

Change

Best #

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Active Installs Growth

Upgrade to Pro

Active Installs 0,000,000+

Growth +0.0%

Peak 0,000,000

Downloads Growth

Downloads

Growth

Peak

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Unlock 30-day, 90-day, and yearly download history charts with a Pro subscription.

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Reviews & Ratings

4.6

43 reviews

Overall 92%

36 (84%)

2 (5%)

3 (7%)

0 (0%)

2 (5%)

Support Threads Overview

Resolved

Unresolved

Total Threads

Resolved

Unresolved

100%

Resolution Rate

Security History

Source: WPVulnerability

3 known vulnerabilities on record · 2 in the last 24 months · checked 3 months ago

Dec 28, 2025

Discussion Board – WordPress Forum Plugin [wp-discussion-board] < 2.5.8

CVE-2025-69023 · Fixed in v2.5.8
Oct 24, 2025

Discussion Board – WordPress Forum Plugin [wp-discussion-board] < 2.5.6

CVE-2025-8483 · Fixed in v2.5.6
Jul 26, 2023

Discussion Board – WordPress Forum Plugin [wp-discussion-board] < 2.4.9

CVE-2023-39161 · Fixed in v2.4.9

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Plugin Details

Version: 2.6.1
Last Updated: Oct 23, 2026
Requires WP: 5.6+
Tested Up To: 7.1.4
PHP Version: 7.4 or higher
Author: Marketing Fire

Support & Rating

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.6
Reviews: 43
Support Threads: 2
Resolved: 100%

Keywords

Support forum community discussion board forum plugin wordpress forum

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TL;DR

AI summary of the plugin's readme

This plugin is for WordPress site owners who want to add a community forum or discussion board to their site. It handles user registration, login, topic posting, and moderation so admins don't need separate forum software.

One-click installation and setup
Front-end registration and log-in
Role-based posting and viewing permissions
Email verification for registrations
Post frequency limits to reduce spam
Block email addresses or domains
Multiple shortcodes for forum elements
Customizer color styling with three layouts

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Discussion Board – WordPress Forum Plugin

Discussion Board will automatically create three pages for you: A page with a log-in and registration form A page with a form for users to post new topics A page listing existing topics There are further, detailed instructions for the free and pro versions on the website.

There's a demo here. Note that this demo includes some features only available with the Pro version. Feel free to register and post some content so that you can see how it works from the user's point of view. Some users are reporting that they don't receive an activation email In the first instance, ask them to check their spam/junk folders. If you've tested and you're certain emails aren't getting through, use the Postman SMTP plugin or similar to assist the delivery of email from your site. It's a more reliable way of ensuring emails are sent and received.

No.

In your dashboard, just go to Settings > Permalinks. Then everything should be fine.

We've included a helpful log-in / log-out shortcode to display a log-in / log-out link. Use a plugin like Shortcode Widget and add the [discussion_board_log_in_out] shortcode to your sidebar or other widget area of your choice. The plugin also automatically displays a log-out link under the new topic form.

Be careful if you are copying and pasting the shortcodes - you might need to delete <code> tags. Click on the 'Text' tab in your content editor to see if these tags are there.

Please report security bugs found in the source code of the WP Discussion Board plugin through the Patchstack Vulnerability Disclosure Program. The Patchstack team will assist you with verification, CVE assignment, and notify the developers of this plugin.