I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

[Czechs Mex]

So I'm in the process of creating a website, and I'm wondering how everyone feels about the VBulletin forums (i.e. these things we're currently using). I'm especially curious how the folks on the back end (Valk, etc.) feel about its flexibility and ease of use.

Strengths? Weaknesses? Do tell.

[Caciss]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

Well I like it.

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

Yaaaaay.

[Dusk Raven]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

I like it, if only because it's familiar to me. The only other kind of Internet forum I've seen are these Proboards thingys. I can provide a site as an example, but does it count as site advertising if I'm the only one that visits the site anymore?

[Valkysas]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

It has it's ups and downs. database errors can be a very common thing if traffic gets too high, and those database errors can be a pain in the ass to fix if they don't go away on their own when traffic dies down. that's the only problem with it really. oh, and security holes. I havent upgraded the forum software in a long time (despite malfunctioning calendar) because what we're running is currently the only truly secure version of the software. everything past 3.6.1 (which I've already patched extensively) still has some holes that require frequent patching. 3.6.1's holes have all been found and dealt with.

oh, and it's somewhat expensive.

other than that, it runs very smoothly and isn't that much of a system hog. the entirety of the pavilion is only 1.02GB. that's every game, pm, rep comment, avatar, sig, forum, topic, etc. seems big, but this is a big place. vBulletin also has a built in-function to copy other forums. I could have brought both our EZboard's content over here when we moved, but it would have added 2 gigs to the load, so I didnt.

there's a ton of mods you can do to it yourself, or download. to see some of the best, go to http://www.vbulletin.org/

[Trebsay]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

Invisionfree.com


It's free. Easy to use. I prefer VBulletin when it's set up like the Pavilion. Some VBulletin sites I go on suck. No changing markers when there's new posts... It makes browsing the site annoying! You don't know where you've looked and if anything new has happened. I guess tehres a New Posts button for a reason. But I never feel the need to use it on this site. Also something that I think is a feature Valk added. Is the Rep System... You don't realize how much you like using the rep system until your on a site without it.

Anyways back to pros of Invisionfree. Like I mentioned it's free software. It's easy to use. From Skinning to-Making Forums. The only hard thing I've found is making your own skin. But theres a HUGE amount of skins you can find on the internet. Buttons are annoying, but yet easy. New member groups, Member ranks... It's all easy. It probally takes you 2-5 hours to make your site complete.

[JPS]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

http://www.phpbbforfree.com

I use this and invisionfree, but phpbbforfree is by far easier if you just wanted a simple forum, but the forums are moderated, whereas I dont think invisionfree is.

Plus you cant have a "Playground" section on free forums

[Jamos]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

Well, whenever you solve this problem, be sure let us know when the site is up. I'm would gladly stop by.

[Valkysas]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

the rep system and the new post marking are default features of vBulletin. you can enable them or not. most communities don't use the rep system, since some people take it way too seriously.

most of the custom stuff I've done here involves the site-forum integration, a lot of which was done using vBulletin CMPS from vb-advanced.com

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

i am using a ghetto old version of invisionboards or something. it went out of production ages ago and now you have to pay if you want to upgrade it (which i didnt feel was worth paying 300 bucks plus a by annual fee of 50 bucks). so ive kept the out of date stuff and updated it myself as i go along.

i dont recommend buying any of the boards on the market unless your going to get serious use out of it plus have a community who will support the cost. if my section of the web was interested in upgrading them id be happy to buy something snazzy providing they chip in to pay for it sort of like we did for the ezboards gold crap.

also note theirs the first generation hybrid of forums out there, forget whats its called but its looks like this

see whats out there and match it to your needs.

[JPS]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

eck...I cant stand hybrid mode, its all frustrating to deal with, I like the fancy stuff

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

the good part about those forums is you cant really take a post off topic, you can just reply to someone and it shows that its a reply to a person rather then the topic. i love going off topic anyway so its not my style either.

[Caciss]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

I hate those kinds of forums, ugly and confusing.

[Jamos]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

Yeah, they are a jumbled up mess.

Guy: "So what do you think about the war in Iraq?"
Dude: "I think its horrible."
Moron: "I like bananas!"
Dude: "It just doesn't feel right."
Moron: "Bananas?"
Guy: "Especially when they start bombing."
Moron: "You can't bomb using bananas!"
Dude: "You're a dumbass!"
Guy: "Sorry, for hating the war, asshole!"

[Czechs Mex]

Re: I'm starting up some forums. VBulletin - yay or nay?

Thanks for the help guys, I went with VBulletin.

yay!