Why vB and not InvisonBoard

[Curll]

Does anyone else think that vBulletin has become a status symbol of sorts? It seems to me most boards that want to look "professional" use the software. Am I crazy?

- RiZ

[filburt1]

It's definitely one reason people buy it because it shows that they are indeed dedicated towards their site such that they're spending money on it.

[Andrus]

It's easy for me... In the past 7 years I have gone through UBB, Ikonboard, PHPBB and VBulletin board systems, and all of the problems with stability and flexibility stopped when I started using VB in 2001 for my high traffic sites. I hear Invision boards are pretty good, but I am not about to fix what ain't broke.

[sheepdog]

Had to jump in on this.. I have gone through board hell in the last year...

Here is what I have noticed..

Yabb/UBB...
just does to seem to have a lot of functions I wanted. So I never installed them. If I need mroe than 5 patches to get what I want, its too much. Things can get buggy.

Ikonboard...
While it seemed nice, it just was not going to work for me for various reasons. Corrupting the DB on instal is not a good way to start though. I did like it though for the 2 weeks I ran it.

PHPbb..
I liked., I really did . Worked great.
However, it was VERY taxing on ther server. Its a very inneficient forum. It brought down the server too many times.. Which is why I now run Invision. Like someone else said, once the database hit around 50 megs, things started happening.. If you run a small site, this is the board for you, really. Just watch your resources. As soon as you start to grow, skip straight to VB. Really.

Invision.
Great prog... Kinda Dropped my resources compared to PHPbb (75% bandwidth, 15% cpu approx). Too bad it has loads of small problems. I could probably fix them, but frankly, I do not want to spend anymore time on it. It will hold me through untill I can get a copy of VB going. I think its troubles are holding back my site at this point.

VB...
I only got to test it out, it was not my board. But its less resource intensive, more stable, and just plain works like it should. I have seen some massive sites running it with no trouble.

I also tried some other less known ones, but most were more like a Beta than a release.

I too hate the thought of shelling out that kind of money, but after the problems I have had, if it works like I know it will, its worth it. Its a drag having to constantly fix databases, and errors all the time. Frankly, in the end I think I will be kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

[Smoothie]

I have installed IPB 1.2, and let me tell ya, it seems pretty slick.

[insanctus]

Bottom line at the end of the day.

Vbulletin is the best and the best support.

Sure they are costly (one time fee) but worth it. They are a company who wish to make money hence the word of their valued customer’s means more to them then if this was some weekend procject they do between a full time job.

I seen some saying "scripts should be free" well then so should any program since it was just "writen by someone".

Like many have already said. If you want a real "community" then buy vb or lease it for a year and see how you like it.

As for people talking good about it just becuase they "put out the money" that is foolish seeing as they have nothing to gain by posting they like it. They had serious sites and wanted a serious board.

[Lacrosse Boy]

03-12-03 at 11:21 PM Keptic said this in Post #15
To get someone to develop a forum for you, may I assure is most likly 10x the price of a full owned liscense.

Anyways, I have been analysing the age gorups, type of site, dedication of many of the members both here and at the official site.

vBulletin targets more long-term based, mature, dedicated audience it seems, well the majority of the time. vBulletin is made to give a proffesional look, at the same time give you all and more of the features you get/don't get else where.

Most of all the 'legit' boards are all dedicated, and have proffesional appeal to them. Then there are all the pirated boards where you see the difference. For them, freeboards are made in majority, these sites are temporary, don't want to invest into there site to make it grow, but just want to start a site for the heck of it.

I can go on, but I know in general many get this point, though it may not be the main point.

Now to convince, I am a phpBB user, well was, and when I got the power of vB under my belt, the possibilities were endless, the coding is secure, and clean, I am able to make all possible modifications I need, when I want to and when I need to. The Template System is geniously coded, if you see other board software, they are individual files, and are usually needed to be downloaded to be edited, vB packages this all in a nice template system, which I love. I am hooked on vB, love the hacks, love the support, love vB.org and plan to dedicate a nice amount of time here.

Also if you are not sure what you want, test, and even if you want start off with a free board, there are plenty converters available, and I have seen many sites that start off with free board and convert to vB.

OK enough typing for me

I fully agree. Although I am not a PHPBB user (Ikonboard is my free board of choice) I'd have to say that so many of the boards that are setup with an Ikonboard forum are just made by someone saying "OH! A free board! Let's see what I can do!," while paying for vB seems to make people dedicated to having their sites work.

Not that Ikonboard is bad, far from it, I like it very much. It's just that vBulletin's all around the net have a community presence of some sort. I never have seen an empty one that just sat there dead. $160 is too much to pay for that.

I converted from Ikonboard to Invision (someone sweet-talked me and I regret it) to vBulletin when I got the coffers up, and we are debuting vBulletin as the new "Today's Music Forum" and are completely changing the concept of our site.

I, like all other vBulletin owners, am commiteed and dedicated to making my site work. Plus, I love the "customability!"

[msimplay]

06-30-03 at 09:28 AM Smoothie said this in Post #55
I have installed IPB 1.2, and let me tell ya, it seems pretty slick.

yeh i agree 1.2 version of Invision is excellent

http://sensations.wambam.net for my invision side :P
i would say its better then the standard vb 2.3 but i can't find my hacks on it

plus i think it needs more standard bbcode like vb3 has standard left align right align and has features that resize images

[gooldman]

:surprised:

[RandyP3]

phpBB: phpBB was the first ever board that I ever chatted in, which lead to my first board I admin-ed [on a subdomain] and from there, the experience just grew. The hacks took me several days to complete, the instructions weren't really clear, but thats not all. For the schemes, they are not really customiable, and a lot of graphics to do with. They do not have collasable categories/forums and that proved a hindrance because of the activities in my forum. The permission settings can go konky sometimes and ordinary members could see my admin's forum from time to time.

ETA: You have to change templates in the file itself, so it doesn't really serve its purpose.

Ratings: 6 half/ten

Ikonboard: Collapsable forums were a plus, but besides that, there wasn't much to modify and the feeling just wasn't there for me.

*Shrug* I only used Ikon for 2 - 4 days, so.. Yeah.

Ratings: six/ten

Invision: I've tried both invisions [on the free server, and on my own] and the only thing I dont like was how the header couldn't be modified - There was always the image that couldn't be removed. The hacks were relatively okay, and I could get some good support, but some people were hostile and I stopped using invision after a few months.

Ratings: 8/10

vB: What I am using now. Definitely customiable, great support for both the board and hacks, and the best of the lot. Modification of the templates were easy enough, and with some help, I installed the hacks pretty easily.

Ratings: 9 half/10