Since I'm basically responsible for the confusion here, first I'm sorry it's spilled over to the vBulletin board.

Obviously vbPortal 2.x is very difficult to install, a lot of hacking. vbPortal 3.0 as a core product requires no hacking of vBulletin it is basically plug and play, but there are options that allow greater functionality that do require hacking. So you just do what you want when you want. Start from the basic lite install, then add the other options as you gain familial with it.

But to get one thing straight, it is still a free product for the vB community and those that desire to use it, it's not for everyone. It's true I have started a members only forum, as many of the vB users here have talked about. We need to find something to help with the costs. I have not as of yet realized a profit and doubt that I ever will even break even. It's an expensive hoppy.

I have been lucky to get a bunch of contributing members all of which have not contributed money, but mostly time and advice to help make this next version, which I feel is night and day compared to 2.x.

I handle all requests to become contributing members on a one to one basis. I do not wish to let it be know as to how they achieved the membership but some very nice helpful students have paid nothing. Those that can't afford much don't pay much, those that have appreciated the work and can afford it have voluntarily been very generous.

All along all I have said it that 3.0 is not ready for public release, but will be and will be free as soon as I can make sure it is ready.
Now I feel it is very close, but not yet.

I probably should have never mentioned that it was on the horizon, but I need to generate some interrest to gain support.

I posted this on phpPortals and will again here.

If someone, sends a disclaimer that they will not distrubute the unfinished code, ackowledge it's pre-release quality, provide a verifiable web addrees with ip where it will be installed, isp email address no hot mail, and the reason they can't afford to contribute, i.e. a student, or a person that just can't afford it. I will personally install it for them over top of their existing verified lic. copy of vbulletin, time permitting for free. I do not want to keep any ligit under previledged person from trying it out. I just do not have the time or resources otherwise to cater to everyone and handle all the complaints as why it won't work. I will not cater to the dishonest. I will do this in full confidentiallity, if you can't pay so be it, I will help out.

I am also sorry that it had to spill over here... to the members, moderators, and administrators... sorry if anything I said or was sad was harsh, or unappropriate for this board in anyway..

not really for sure why this post was not self contained and confronted on the phpportals board.. but maybe it was thought to be more supported over here... ? I know it is an addon for vb.. but if there is a board specified for this addon.. I think most of the questions, concerns, suggestions, hatred should be shared there :)

I, too, have installed and run many different vesions of vbportal/phpportal. I think it is a great hack and works very well. Many people have created very good hacks for vbulletin, but most of them never release the code. Wajones has been good enough to allow free distribution of a very complex hack which has taken many hours to create and test. I have been, and am currently creating sites for various companies and organizations which is based on vbulletin/vbportal and it is very solid and very stable. Here are my latest results ... http://128.241.205.98/ .

Please give the team some time to make the latest version as good as all the previous versions. Each time, this hack gets better and better with even more features.

My 2 cents,

-JRW

you my freind are a ass. plain and simple. If you would of known how much work, and time have gone into this project, you would understand one of two things.

1) there is no fuc*ing carrot on a string approach. Those who have helped wa in the past few months, have been rewarded with even more work of debugging. I myself happen to be one of those people. If the guy who created it, says in essense "nothing is going out the door until i feel its completely fixed" than believe him. We all know since we have been in close relation to this product, and its development, that there are issues that are being addressed. Those who chose to help wa willingly, and without some sort of "i helped, now pay me" approach, is why some of you have not been granted this magical carrot.
There is alot of time and effort put forth into this project, which also means, to get it where it was before to the state it is in now, required VOLUNTEERS....
Wa was nice enough to grant some of us the option to use 3.0 for debugging due in part we helped him, with no thoughts of ourselves, or "payment".

2) when and if you ever crack open a script, and than make it work the way you want it to, than maybe you will understand the work that goes into making them do what you want them to, and if asking for a payment, or donation is to much for you to understand, than by all means, slap something together yourself.

vb has already considered it. They have stated in one thread or post here, that the possiblity may be in 3.0

either way, that is a long time off, which also shows that vb does not just thow shi* out the front door without some proper channels of testing.

Josh, its just another case of somebody feeling left out is all that it boils down to. people would rather bitch and complain about something with thier hands out for a freebie, than actually help, or promote the product they are bitching about.
Its funny...if the hack is free, people will still bitch. If the hack is a pay hack, people will still bitch, but than add more to it, because now they have a feelling of empowerment because they threw some money at it...well...look at the people who have done nothing but throw time at it...(some of us)

The person i feel bad for in this whole case is WA...i myself take pride in my work, and try to help everyone out that i can, and that is what WA has been doing. On his free time, his own expense, his own basic stance of sanity, and all I have seen lately, is people bitching about his work.
Frankly, if i were wa, i would say fuc* ya, lock down the portal site, and if you want it, you buy it.

One thing is for sure - a restricted beta will not catch all the bugs.

I always regard a first public release as a beta and you can be certain that an incremental release will have to be released to fix problems that the wider public audience will surely find.

Therefore we are not just waiting for 4.0 but really for 4.1 of VBPortal for a version that can perhaps be used with confidence of stablility.

It's because it's looks so good that this waiting is frustrating for us out here. And as I have said I would pay for it, I am no freeloader.

The ideal outcome would be for Jelsoft and WAJones to get together to build this into VB eventually as happened with the PM hacks and others.

ok, personally, not speaking for anyone else involved with portals, i am going to voice a few more comments towards your ignorance, and self absorbed opinons that border along the lines of a begger who was turned down at the soup line.

Number one thing is, that most of the questions generated in the portal project, were from members who took the time to help without any form of repayments, structured monetary amounts, or any form of royalties. In a nutshell, we volunteered our time, when the first portal was released, and than proceeded to help wa as much as we could.
The reason there is a forum, is of course for those who stood by wa in the beginning of the project to voice concerns or bugs regarding the portal system. Not because we are hiding anything from the public. All issues that are presented in those forums, are a form of support to the prior release, and of course the latest project release 3.0.

Why i bring up those points, is because the "validity" to your statements, reek of someone who wants this product to supposedly "test" when in reality, all you want to do, is take it and run with it. Lets not kid one another here. The amount of pm's, ICQ's, false enrollments at other members boards begging for 3.0, offers made in emails..etc... prompts the curiousity of most involved with 3.0 on the intentions of those who want this early release.
Offers to pay us for the hack, and other assorted trivial bs made most of the staff and crew of 3.0 realize also since these people have not enrolled at the portals board, made any contributions whatsoever at the portals board, or even so much as asked anything regarding portals at the portals board, could mean that the person who claims to be so eager to "test" this hack out, may be also willing to do a few things to make himself some money on the side. The demand is there, so who is to say you wouldnt do that?

The contributing members area, is a form of trust, and bonding that has taken place during months of development. If you were not there to throw in a loaf of bread, than you sir are not going to be eating at the table anytime soon.

The only thing that is getting shoveled around here, is your weak assed attempts at trying to force a pre-mature release, based upon a even weaker argument that "more people means better test results"
i hate to break this to you, but with close to 100 people testing it on every server config that can be virtually named, and the experiece, knowledge, support, trust, and caring attitude to providing only the best that we can for wa's project, i can assure you that we have all the help that is needed.
I guess another question would be....what exactly do you know, that the other 100 or so of us do not already? I mean, we have been around the project quite a bit longer than you have.....also,
to many chefs ruin the stew, and you seem to be the type that wouldnt mind pissing in it when our backs were turned.

Why is there so much hostility at the phpportals.com site towards "outsiders"?

Maybe you should try thinking of these people as future customers, and not as a nuisance?

What would happen if it were released to the mass public here at vb rite now?
take a wild guess. A unfinished product, hits the shelves, and now we get to sit back and listen to everybody +++++ about it.

Is any of this making sense?
What you are asking wa to do, is release a hack, that he completely is not comfortable to release to anyone but those who have taken the time to help, or chance something on thier server, because we agreed to the risks without +++++ing like some paying customer at a greasy burger joint, so that he can develop, figure out the bugs that were found by people who are nothing more than testing it, and not listen to complaints or a mass amount of +++++ing from people who know nothing about it including installing it.

Why is this so hard to understand? He just wants it to be "rite" when it is released.

Potential customers? Wa has a donation set up, but there is nothing said about having to buy it.

i think what most people who disapprove of this faction, or structure of release are not understanding, is that it is a HACK, and as such, a very involved HACK. WA has taken a great deal of time to address bugs in this HACK so that when he releases it, the HACK should be virtually fail safe. There are several installations now that have gone without a hitch, however, that does not mean that wa should go running to release it just to please curiousity now does it?

Its called responsibility. If wa did not care about what was being released, or the very fact his name is attached to the hack, than sure, everybody would get what they wished for, and that would be a unfinished product.

And no, this is not a issue of exlusion, or inclusion. A couple of people have made that a issue, when it has no bearings on wa timeline of release anyways. If you want something that will work, than sit back and wait. If you want something now, that will virtually give you headaches because the person created the hack didnt care enough to listen, because you want it now, than you are barking up the wrong tree.