[thincom2000]

Originally Posted by EliasAlucard

I'm definitely interested in VaultWiki, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have any shortcomings. I'm posting in this thread because I want answers and possibly a discussion, if the developer(s) is active enough.

VaultWiki's vBulletin integration makes it a serious alternative to MediaWiki. That's its strongest point. Had it not been for that, I wouldn't even care about VaultWiki. That VaultWiki is cross platform too (XenForo and IPBoard) makes it even better. But other than that, I don't see any other major pros, and it's mostly cons aside from its forum integration.

VaultWiki would have been a lot more stable, mature, feature rich and powerful, had it been open source. What happens if the main author/developer dies in a car accident tomorrow, for example? Who will maintain the proprietary source code? VaultWiki will die out in such a scenario.

VW's vBulletin integration is very compelling, but I think the best thing thincom/pegasus can do, is go GNU GPL v3 and ask for donations. I and many others would happily and much rather, fund VaultWiki with such an approach.

The parent company (Cracked Egg Studios) is currently in charge of licensing, and I doubt they are considering a public license for the full product anymore. It was originally released in late 2007 as a public license, and was changed to a proprietary EULA in summer 2008, because a significant outcry of its user base said that it should NOT be offered for free. In 2010, VaultWiki was given a little more autonomy as VaultWiki Team was formed, but we still have to answer to CES. Throughout that entire time, the product, its image, and feature set have only improved. It tends to be a rule with VaultWiki: if something changes, it doesn't change back.

If there are features that MediaWiki has (vanilla or not) that VaultWiki doesn't have, you are welcomed to make feature requests. We recognize MediaWiki as competition, know it sets the standard, and that we have to exceed that standard when we can. VaultWiki was created by CES in 2007 after they used MediaWiki for a year and decided it didn't have the features they needed (granted that was MW 1.4 versus MW 1.22 or whatever it's up to now). Ignoring the forum integrations, there are many aspects VaultWiki (full) now has over MediaWiki: BB-Code, better permissions, language/translation management, book/chapter management, easier media insertion.

I'm currently compiling a list of feature comparison between MediaWiki and VaultWiki. This is what I have so far (for MediaWiki, these are all "Yes" for VaultWiki). If I'm incorrect on any of these points, please let me know. If an Extension lets you do it, let me know, but the final list would only include popular and active extensions (e.g. Extension:AutoLink is no longer maintained).

Here's the MediaWiki list:

New Licenses: FREE
Free updates: Yes
Pages indexed by forum search: No
Automatically create links: No
Store link data: Yes
Syntax uses BB-Code: No

Pages use tabs: Yes
Post comments: No (a talk page isn't the same as individual user comments)
Show comments below: No
Multiple Discussions: No
Collapsible sections: No
Split content: No
Auto-TOC: Yes
Fully parsed preview: No

Editable by multiple users: Yes
Edit paragraphs: Yes
Protect pages: Yes
Blacklist titles: Yes
Pages show list of contributors: No
Create categories: Yes
BB-Code variables: Yes

List of all edits: Yes
Fully parsed versions: Yes
Compare two edits: Yes
Approve edits: No
Revert a page: Yes

Post reusable attachments: Yes
Easily find, insert, upload: No
View, compare, undo: Yes

Write pages in any language: Extension required
Translate pages: Extension required
Easily switch between translations: No

Keep your pages organized in multiple areas: No
Use prefixes to keep similar pages unique: Yes
Icons show new articles, comments, edits: No
Place wiki content on other forum pages: No
Moderation tools for handling multiple pages simultaneously: No
Anonymous pages allow stand-alone pages: No

Create synonyms: Yes (VaultWiki also lets you create them in reverse, and set expiration)
Create templates: Yes
Integrate templates with content using arguments: Yes

Customize keyword-rich URLs: Yes
Makes use of canonical URLs and 301 redirects: Yes
Use RSS syndication to keep users informed: Extension required
Promote wiki content with Facebook: No

Add pages to Books: No
Read book collections with simple navigation: No
Place chapters in any order: No

View statistics: Yes
Look up recent edits: Yes
Pages meeting various criteria: Yes

List of edits made by any user: Yes
User contributions in user's profile: No
User can have wiki preferences: Yes
Utilize wiki usage data for trophies or other promotions: No

Users can subscribe to pages or discussions: Yes
Users can organize their subscriptions: Yes
Notifications can be sent instantly, daily, weekly: Yes

Pages maintained by group members: No
Private pages for group members: No

Control CSS for each forum style: No
Change image paths for each style: No

Quickly jump to other wiki pages: Yes
Watch recent wiki activity live: No
View technical analysis of each page: No
Find similar or related wiki content: No
Customize the sidebar: No
Use wiki sidebar in forum sidebar: No

Specify which Special pages each usergroup can access: No
Allow usergroups to edit, protect, and undo edits: Not forum usergroups
Define moderators to manage new and existing content: Yes

Import wiki information seamlessly: Yes
Various settings let you fine-tune look and feel: Yes

Fully phrased using the forum language system: separate system used
Developer hooks through forum plugin system: separate system used