Why not vBulletin 7 ?

[Master Of Unive]

Originally Posted by ProSportsForums

Your statement said nothing about large forums.

When you're done moving the goalposts let me know and I'll answer the question.

My goal for this thread is done in some previous replies.

I don't have any more questions for you.

[webmastersun]

Originally Posted by Master Of Unive

I don't have numbers of their sale of course. But look at the vb5 ecosystem, do you see thing? Do you want to use a forum full of bugs and have no more than 100 extensions? Are you willing to pay for all modifications you need? Also as I stated, it's just an expectation.

Why skipping 6? Just a funny example, php 7, windows 10 and so on.

I like this answer

I am sure he wanted to say it will have no difference between vB 5 and vb 6 so it is better to have vB7 in mind.

[meissenation]

I've been running my site on vBulletin since 2005, I'd consider myself an average forum user for a small website (~2500 registered users). Forum activity has been way down so I thought I'd upgrade to the latest and greatest version of vB in hopes that a new look and feel, new functionality, etc might spark some interest to the member base.

With how long vB5 has been out, admittedly I didn't do enough research and just jumped in full steam. Big mistake. Bunch of bugs to work out in the installation - steps failing, bunch of legacy menus from vb4 showing up in AdminCP even though I started vb5 in a fully clean directory to ensure no files transferred over. Lots of refreshing the install page to get it to finish.

Once I did get it installed and running, the first time I did was come here to grab the add-ons that my user base had grown so accustomed to (Shoutbox, Top Statistics, etc). I totally applaud DBTech for bringing out so many of the "essentials" for vB5. But that said - the lack of add-ons and customization really, really makes me regret upgrading to vB5.

Even reading the responses here from vB support or hardcore vB folks talking about how they aren't upgrading to vB5 (just like this forum is still on vB3) - to me that speaks volumes at what a flop vB5 is. Just my two cents from an average small/medium forum owner. Had I done more research, I wouldn't have upgraded.

[final kaoss]

Originally Posted by Mark.B

Making a brand new version from scratch would take years, and would require users to buy new licenses.

If it means a better product, with features & flexibility that are leaps & bounds above the "current generation" of vbulletin software, then I don't care if it takes 10 years of development from scratch. Waiting is obviously inevitable.

I've seen the "it would take forever" excuse a bit too much. Suck it up buttercup, if it means a better overall experience.

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by meissenation

With how long vB5 has been out, admittedly I didn't do enough research and just jumped in full steam. Big mistake. Bunch of bugs to work out in the installation - steps failing, bunch of legacy menus from vb4 showing up in AdminCP

Why did you upgrade anyway, what issue did you have with the previous version ?

I've not seen upgrade steps fail for a while, did you note and/or log the failures ?

Not entirely sure what you mean by "bunch of legacy menus" from vB4, but the ACP hasnt been altered really - unless you mean some options that no longer do anything are still there. I think they are slowly being removed (where its been decided the option will never return).

Originally Posted by final kaoss

I've seen the "it would take forever" excuse a bit too much. Suck it up buttercup, if it means a better overall experience.

You realise that Mark has no say in such matters ?

[final kaoss]

Yes I do realize that and it wasn't really aimed at him in general. The overuse of saying "oh it would take years, it would take forever, we cant do that without a total revamp, starting from scratch" is more what my post was aimed at, not one person in particular.

[cellarius]

Originally Posted by final kaoss

we cant do that

Given the track record of vB since the IB takeover that seems to sum it up nicely...

I wonder why you would think that vB7 would be worthwile, when vB4 had serious, serious issues after initial release, and vB5 was what I would call a desaster? I notice a trend there...

[meissenation]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Why did you upgrade anyway, what issue did you have with the previous version ?

I've not seen upgrade steps fail for a while, did you note and/or log the failures ?

Not entirely sure what you mean by "bunch of legacy menus" from vB4, but the ACP hasnt been altered really - unless you mean some options that no longer do anything are still there. I think they are slowly being removed (where its been decided the option will never return).

Was seeing errors in my PHP log about bad code with 4.2.x so I wanted to upgrade to the latest and greatest. I figured it'd been enough time that vb5 had been out so it'd be stable - which for the most part it is - I just didn't realize how much of a shock to the system it'd be.

For the ACP menus - I have a blank row that takes me to what appears to be an add-on from 4.x even though I didn't copy any files over from vb4. I might have been mistaken with vB Spell and vB Survey not being a legacy product, but Google Analytics menu is completely useless - I put in my analytics information and it didn't add analytics to my site at all. It took me a little while to realize it, so in the analytics screenshots at the bottom of my post you'll see it go dead for a period of time -- that was while I had my analytics code in the "Google Analytics" settings before I realized it wasn't working and I manually added it into my footer template.
Attachment 156008
Attachment 156009



Here's the real tale of vBulletin 4 versus vBulletin 5... In almost every metric on Google Analytics - my YTD metrics are down by half. The *only* change was from vb4 to vb5 and being down during the upgrade and that's it. As stated previous paragraph above - I didn't realize the "Google Analytics" settings menu doesn't actually do anything... so while I thought Analytics was monitoring my site it really wasn't, hence the period where the metrics are 0. Once I realized it wasn't measuring I manually put the analytics code into my footer.
Attachment 156012
Attachment 156011
Attachment 156010

[Dave]

Originally Posted by meissenation

Was seeing errors in my PHP log about bad code with 4.2.x so I wanted to upgrade to the latest and greatest. I figured it'd been enough time that vb5 had been out so it'd be stable - which for the most part it is - I just didn't realize how much of a shock to the system it'd be.

For the ACP menus - I have a blank row that takes me to what appears to be an add-on from 4.x even though I didn't copy any files over from vb4. I might have been mistaken with vB Spell and vB Survey not being a legacy product, but Google Analytics menu is completely useless - I put in my analytics information and it didn't add analytics to my site at all. It took me a little while to realize it, so in the analytics screenshots at the bottom of my post you'll see it go dead for a period of time -- that was while I had my analytics code in the "Google Analytics" settings before I realized it wasn't working and I manually added it into my footer template.
Attachment 156008
Attachment 156009



Here's the real tale of vBulletin 4 versus vBulletin 5... In almost every metric on Google Analytics - my YTD metrics are down by half. The *only* change was from vb4 to vb5 and being down during the upgrade and that's it. As stated previous paragraph above - I didn't realize the "Google Analytics" settings menu doesn't actually do anything... so while I thought Analytics was monitoring my site it really wasn't, hence the period where the metrics are 0. Once I realized it wasn't measuring I manually put the analytics code into my footer.
Attachment 156012
Attachment 156011
Attachment 156010

Was your forum down for almost a month? That might explain why there are less visitors.
There's like a big gap of no sessions.

[Mark.B]

Originally Posted by meissenation

Was seeing errors in my PHP log about bad code with 4.2.x so I wanted to upgrade to the latest and greatest.

See, this is your issue right here.

A few errors in the php logs does not a valid upgrade reason make.

Upgrading is not a magic wand that fixes all known issues. A broken site that gets upgraded more often than not results in an upgraded, but still broken, site.

When this happens you need to investigate what the errors are, whether they even matter (most php errors are actually warnings of some sort and aren't of any consequence), and then try to fix them.

An upgrade should be because you want something that's in the new release. Not to run the 'latest and greatest'.

Upgrading to vB5 does not magically stop people visiting your site.

Sorry to sound brutal but 'rushing to upgrade for no reason' is one of the things I rail passionately against. People do it for the wrong reasons and often end up killing their boards because they didn't think it though.