1 Yr Later: Is vB4 Better than vB 3.8?

[Idawg]

I installed my first 4.0 forum in Feb 2010, and upgraded my 2 biz sites in April. The install of 4 went well, BUT the upgrades crashed BOTH sites, to the point I had to install my current backups 2x before it finally ran. And the mods had not caught up yet, and I had to leave a lot of the mods out. I was and still am VERY disappointed in the upgrade system.

I would recommend a fresh install, but be VERY wary of upgrades from 3.8 to 4.x.x

[conradk]

I should say, that I've only a couple of times gotten over 100 active users at one time. So who knows if it scales the same. But I'm finding 4.0.8 is about as fast and stable as 3.8.x was. And I have a chatbox + sidebar + gallery-what's new on the forum home. Page loads are not generally a problem though I've turned off some 4.x features to speed things up on the forum index - but I didn't really need those anyways. (Should say here that vB3.x was equally inefficient in displaying 'who's on')

Had to turn off Facebook Connect, but that was due to the hang loading the fb logo and fb bots - not a vB problem. Had to restrict Guest access due to bots following all links and causing SQL cpu usage to spike. I'm lucky in that the bloated (due to post/thread cache) file size of the db is not an issue with the hosting provider.

[SamirDarji]

Great feedback guys! I've been sticking with the vb3 platform and will probably continue to do so. I think with the evolution going on in the world of communities, I may drop a forum format completely and go with something else if I can find a product and a company that will back it properly.

[RedWingFan]

Originally Posted by shaqoneal

When vBulletin 4 came out back in December '09, there were a lot of compliants of how it's not as good as vBulletin 3.8. Well, it's been over a year now.


In your opinion, is vBulletin 3.8 still better than vBulletin 4?

Bought the 4.x license just to keep updated with the 3.7/3.8 series. Set up a test 4.x forum--the moderators don't like it, and the test users didn't like the sluggishness. As the site admin and developer, I don't like the code bloat. And with no native Sphinx support, and a lack of time to dink around with trying to get Sphinx working on 4.x, It's a definite pass.

Short version: "No." vB4 is the last time we buy a license.

[Joey805]

So what happens now that they have stopped allowing maintenance renewals for VB3? Once that expires, we can no longer receive patches and security updates. We are basically FORCED to goto VB4. I did a test upgrade yesterday from VB3.8 and it did not go well. A bunch of errors but I worked through it. I have the test forum up and running now but I do notices freezes and hangs which my VB3.8 forum does not experience. Overall, it just performs slower. I've also run into a few random bugs within the admincp as well.

[Brandon Sheley]

vBulletin 4 works fine for me, if it didn't than I wouldn't of upgraded..

No one is FORCED to do anything.. You always have options
Those that say that, are just looking to argue in my experience

[misuse]

I have been running a dev server since it came out. So far I see no reason to upgrade from 3.8.
The skinning/styling is near impossible for an intermediate user let alone a company that is one of the best template designers in the VB world. They have had their hands tied with template design since before the gold versions came out.

The ad spots are very limited! For those of us that make a living off our sites the spots and ability to ad new spots (there is none) makes VB4 a definate NO UPGRADE.

I feel like IB took over and wants everyone's sites to not make $ and all look the same. It would mean less customer support issues.

It seems now that they are trying to force us to upgrade. Great....

I want to use the new tech but not at the cost of losing $ and dealing with managing nightmares.

I have 3 dedicated servers running my site. My host said they would not support VB4 if upgraded to. Too buggy for them, this was yesterday!

[Joey805]

Originally Posted by misuse

I have been running a dev server since it came out. So far I see no reason to upgrade from 3.8.
The skinning/styling is near impossible for an intermediate user let alone a company that is one of the best template designers in the VB world. They have had their hands tied with template design since before the gold versions came out.

The ad spots are very limited! For those of us that make a living off our sites the spots and ability to ad new spots (there is none) makes VB4 a definate NO UPGRADE.

I feel like IB took over and wants everyone's sites to not make $ and all look the same. It would mean less customer support issues.

It seems now that they are trying to force us to upgrade. Great....

I agree 100%

[Chase]

I've gone back and forth probably 100 times whether or not I want to upgrade to 4.1.2. Right now I'm on 3.8.4, very happy with it, at the very least I would upgrade to 3.8.7.

I set up a test forum for 4.1.2 and here are some things I've noticed.

- Page load lags... seems to take a little longer to load normal pages, doesn't seem as fluid as 3.x... I am on a semi-dedicated server so it can't be that.

- Editing styles can be very challenging... this could especially be true for new owners with no experience. vB took away the simplicity and made things harder to customize, of course IMO. What drew me to vbulletin 9 years ago was the simplicity of the software... not to bash the developers, but I don't think they took us into consideration. Not everyone is an expert in design and customization.

- Adding tabs or nav links aren't as easy. Shouldn't this be a rather simple procedure? I don't want to deal with crazy conditions.

- And like many others have already stated, it seems like 4.x is more bloated than 3.x.

[Boofo]

Originally Posted by Chase

- Page load lags... seems to take a little longer to load normal pages, doesn't seem as fluid as 3.x... I am on a semi-dedicated server so it can't be that.

I agree. But you also have to remember how much more is going on in vb 4 than in vb 3.

Originally Posted by Chase

- Editing styles can be very challenging... this could especially be true for new owners with no experience. vB took away the simplicity and made things harder to customize, of course IMO. What drew me to vbulletin 9 years ago was the simplicity of the software... not to bash the developers, but I don't think they took us into consideration. Not everyone is an expert in design and customization.

Yes and no. CSS is always the best way to go for most things. The only drawback is that there are some things you still cannot do via CSS that you can do with tables.

Originally Posted by Chase

- Adding tabs or nav links aren't as easy. Shouldn't this be a rather simple procedure? I don't want to deal with crazy conditions.

Once you do it, it is not as daunting as you think. It gets easier.

Originally Posted by Chase

- And like many others have already stated, it seems like 4.x is more bloated than 3.x.

True, again. But, as I said above, there is more going on in vb 4.