And that area, unless I am mistaken, is open to the public.
You are mistaken, it's not open to the general members.
Despite it's coder name, it's actually open to any Coder or Designer over a certain RL. Also, once you have access, it's not removed, even if you no longer qualify in the future.
I doubt it. I don't even know much about "sitepoint" and I prefer vBulletin.
Sitepoint is publisher of web development books and blogs and happens to run a large web development community using vBulletin. It isn't a competitor of vBulletin. I was the administrator of their forums for 4 years when they first started.
Sitepoint is publisher of web development books and blogs and happens to run a large web development community using vBulletin. It isn't a competitor of vBulletin. I was the administrator of their forums for 4 years when they first started.