vBulletin Overkill?
 

My student engineering group has asked me to start a forum in order to make it more convenient to create/discuss new ideas for competition. I immediately thought of Vbulletin since it seems to be the most popular forum in use. However, after looking into the cost, I believe it may be a bit overkill for our application. Here is some info regarding our proposed forum:

-Max accounts ~200
-Max users online ~10
-Needs to be very secure (we don't want other competing schools gaining access).
-A built in file hosting system would be very nice (small files e.g. docs, jpegs, autocads, etc.)
-My web programming skills are limited

So do you think vBulletin is appropriate for our needs? Or is there something else out there that would better satisfy our needs? We basically just want this forum so we can communicate easier and allow everyone to get some input in the decision/design process.

Thanks!

Depends on whether you feel it's worth the cost really. It will do the job.

vBulletin can accomplish everything that you need to be done, but in all honesty, I think a open-source forum would make more sense considering the fact that they're free.

Don't get me wrong; I love vBulletin! For a two hundred member forum that doesn't need anything fancy, but only needs the basics; I'd suggest phpBB3, or MyBB. The things that you require are standard in most forums, including free ones.

vBulletin is more popular among those looking for customization, and building large communities.

Regards,

I don't think vBulletin would be overkill. I'm really happy with it, and it would definitely do all that you want. If you don't want to spend the money I'd recommend first SMF or possibly PhpBB. But, if you spend the $160 and buy vB, I think you'll be happy you did.

vBulletin is without question the best paid forum software. The question is, does he need a paid solution for a forum as simple as his?

As already mentioned before, vBulletin can do all you are asking for.

vBulletin has one of the best track records considering security, something that might not be the same for some of our (free/paid) competitors.

If it is worth the money is something only you can decide..

I've been using vB since 2002 and I must say it's one of the best forum softwares I have come accross :)

Chris

Get $1 from each member. I am sure your students can afford $1...

It has a good track record in patching security fixes. That is far more than can be said for the competition. However, it's had just as many vulnerabilities as phpBB or anyone else :) It would only take a private exploit to be discovered, an attack calculated and planned among those who know about it, and the same kind of devasation that happened a year or two ago with phpBB is possible.

That being said, if you only have a small community, I'd say stick with a simpler piece of kit :) If you have plans for a larger community, then it may be wise to invest now :)

I don't see what size has to do with it. If I were setting up a private forum for, say, my (extended) family members only, say 20-30 users, I'd still choose vBulletin, because it's easier to manage, customize etc than SMF or PhpBB.

I suggest doing your research before installing any software.

By your own comments, you already know about vBulletin. It's not an overkill to purchase something that stands above all others.

Things you should consider:

• security
• community
• support
• ease-of-use for both you and your end-user
• available features / options (eg. expanded permission system, file system, etc)

How many posts do you expect it to have? Seems you forgot that useful statistic. I personally would not think vBulletin would be a bad choice for this situation though, but it depends on which of these wanted features are most important for you.

If it's security, vBulletin could easily be the top choice. And even if it isn't, this makes vBulletin worth considering. And should also say to you NOT to use phpBB for this. After quite a few exploits in the past and exploits found in software that integrates with it by default.

As for file hosting, I'd pick vBulletin or a more modern free board like SMF or MyBB. Because as far as I know, some older, commonly used free software does not support attachments at ALL. If you used vBulletin for this, you could also use a modification like a download manager mod with it.

Finally, if you don't want to modifiy raw coding, vBulletin would be better. PhpBB would be decent adequate if you didn't want to add mods. MyBB might be okay. SMF would probably not be so good in this respect, as I hear the source code has the style formatting mixed among it.

I'll show my support...

When I started my forum that I thought would be really small 20 months ago, I used e107.org. After a few months I outgrew that and moved to SMF 1.1. After a few months on that, I wanted a premium board so went with IPB. After another couple months I decided I wanted access to all the amazing mods here on VB.org so I bought vBulletin.

I'll save you all of the hassle -get vBulletin to start with and make your life a lot easier.