Can you link to some larger VB 5 forums?
 

I am going to be studying if moving from VB 4.2 to VB 5 would be wise for our community.

I'd like to know some pros and cons of that, for example:

1) Can we transfer all data for a smooth transition?

2) Does VB have all the features VB 4 does as far as the back end management? Or is 5 much more simplified? VB4 has grown to be pretty feature rich and we depend on many obscure features.

3) How easy is VB 5 to skin compared to VB 4? We use and 3rd party skin which is highly customized.

4) What wizbang features does VB5 offer to make a transition from 4 inevitable?

In any case, I want to go check out any forums that run on VB 5 if they are larger and see how they operate and the features they use.

Our current stats are:
Threads: 98k+
Posts: 1.3kk+
Members: 35k+
Active: avg 700-1000 online. Most 2.5k+

We get more less around 200 posts a day.

I'd like to look around forums this size if they run VB 5 if you know of any. And what benefits we'd have for upgrading.

I will not be able to answer your questions but vBulletin 5 only has 53 released add-ons, compared to almost 2000 of vBulletin 4. It's more work to customize vBulletin 5 and has its limitations when it comes to that.

The code itself may be up to the current standards but for you, as a customer, it doesn't matter. It needs to work well for you. You will definitely not be able to use your current vBulletin 4 skin for vBulletin 5, someone will have to remake it from scratch.

If you want my personal opinion: don't do it. It will be too much work and a waste of time.

Someone else made a thread about this recently with bad experience: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=315689

It would be unwise.

What is the compelling reason to violate "if it ain't broke don't fix it?"

It would be my personal opinion to stay with vB4 as well. :)

If you go with vb5 you will be back here not long after installing it asking for help. Many here have installed it and wish they never you have been warned

I would go with vBulletin 4 if it were me.

Once they invest and redo the plugin system to where its back to its former glory days we saw in vB3 and vB4 then you'll see more modifications and plugins come out but imho they're moving in that direction *cough *cough vB Cloud but who knows when we'll see that and until then you'll be directed here for outside the box vBulletin questions and sadly we can't offer much support for vB5 when the plugin(what some call hooks) system is not up to par or well sorta non-existent in a sense... basically some simple mods and changes using plugins are not possible in vB5 when they were in the past in previous versions, lack of a decent plugin system is the cause of this.

Follow the link in Ozzy's signature to vote for the plugin system to be completed and re-included into vB5 - http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBV-10333

I agree with everyone else. It took vB4 awhile to get to where it needed to be (if I recall correctly) and it will likely be the same with vB5. 4.x is by no means outdated or outclassed by 5.x, and in fact many forums today still run 3.x series. I would stay with 4.x until 5.x is in a much better place (might be awhile).

Pretty much as said above, based on your post, you would not see any benefit, in fact you would lose a lot of what you have (custom style, features, customisations, plugins etc).

so much negativity on vb5. I don't know how it will grow with this mindset.

I think the mindset of the developers of vBulletin 5 need to change in order for it to be a success.

For example; if they added a hook/plugin system such as the one in vBulletin 4 since its release, there were more vBulletin 5 add-ons and probably more sales as well. No one wants a stock and empty looking vBulletin 5 forum without any useful add-ons.