There are things you can do to lessen the risk of damaging your forum, but when using custom modifications that will ALWAYS be a risk.
1st) Make sure you are doing regular backups of your site and database. Some hosts will do this for you, you should contact them and see if they are. Even they are you should also do a backup to your home computer just in case but maybe not as often as otherwise.
2nd) Setup your "test forum." Your vBulletin license allows you to install a second test forum for the purpose of testing mods and debugging software. You just have to password protect this forum from the public. All changes you would make to your live forum you would make to your test forum first to make sure it works.
3rd) Do not install any untested/unproven mods. When you come across a mod thread ALWAYS read it IN FULL- yes even if it is VERY long. It is the only way to know what problems other people may be having and if fixes are available. Don't be the first to install any new mod- even the best coders can make a mistake and release buggy software- make sure a product has a number of installs and positive comments before even attempting to install.
Follow this advice and you'll be a lot less likely to break your forum, and if you do, you *should* have a backup.
09-12-2011, 07:25 PM
Threaded Mode