Where vB is going wrong

/me know nook and cranny... they are in vacation 'til the Hacks dB is out!

[Mark.B]

Originally Posted by Borgs8472

Just to chip in, I am firmly in the 'tell your members to get real...' camp on this issue.

In which case, they go to another board. There are plenty about.

The statement that 'most 3.0 hacks will eventually by ported' statement was frankly wrong. You have to sort out porting the major hacks before upgrading, not after.

This means service requests.

That's what I've tried to do. But there are far too many that haven't been ported and clearly aren't going to be. Service requests are now pointless, they are either ignored, or else someone charges you, takes the money and clears off without doing anything.

Originally Posted by HBRadio

I agree, vB doesn't provide a lot of hands-on support; they just treat you like you know a lot about their software, and I don't.. this is just my opinion.

If you're referring to vBulletin official support on the vBulletin.com website or via the support ticket system, I couldn't disagree more. They are spot on. And there's plenty of user-to-user support there too.

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by Mark.B

Service requests are now pointless, they are either ignored, or else someone charges you, takes the money and clears off without doing anything.

Sorry, but I take exception to that. I respond to a small number of service requests, and do not rip off anybody.

[SuperJETT]

I'll chime in with a possibly "fresh" outlook on this. I've been admin for several boards over the years, seen one (with over 15,000 members) rise to the top of it's area of interest in the world, peak, then become a haven for negative attitudes, started my own board that has taken off dramatically, etc etc.

At some point, things get old for the senior members, answering the same questions time/time again and they either move on or stick around and make bitter posts. (happened on elementownersclub.com in recent history)

I'm not sure how to correct it honestly except for possibly staying on the attitude of the board from day one.

However, I've recently switched from phpbb to vb and so far love it, including vb.org. I've been able to FIND all the info I needed to install hacks just by reading/searching/using my knowledge&experience except for https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=187 !

I don't see an attitude here yet, but then again I haven't been around long either.

[Revan]

Originally Posted by Chris-777

[high]* Chris-777 thinks Princeton should try the search.
[/high]



/applaud, well said.

As far as requests going ignored, one trend I've seen more lately than before (I've actually been a member here for almost 3 years, just a new S/N), is that people don't take the time to even properly format their questions.

"iwant to make vb pages work wit template wut shud i do??????"

I'm not an expert, but I've run vB sites for about 5 years and I know my way around the templates fairly well. 50% of the time, unless it's something quick, I ignore posts like that. Call me a grammar nazi, but if people can't take the time to type their requests in a way that I can read them, I'm not going to spend 10 minutes looking for an answer.

Additionally, any time I post a question (and I do, quite a bit), if I figure out a solution, I try to make a habit of going back and editing my post with the fix, so that anyone else searching will see my answer.

.2c

And a well spent .2c it is.
Theres nothing that pisses me off more than people typing in "i no u guyz no dis, LOL". Also, it's highly annoying to see a post with nothing like "Edit: fixed the problem".

People (not referring to anybody in particular) can complain all they want about coders being the bad guys (or vBGals), but I for one get a genuine smile on my face when I can see a thread that goes on like this: "Hello, Im having a problem here. I tried to do x and this error happened: y. I tried searching about but nothing turned up. Got any idea?" which ends up with me WANTING to help this user. I don't ask for $500 through Paypal nor do I want him to kiss my anuses, but I do want more than "I hvae prb. [error message solved in the FAQ .5 inches further up]."

[Borgs8472]

Originally Posted by Mark.B

In which case, they go to another board. There are plenty about.

I however got the hacks ported.

That's what I've tried to do. But there are far too many that haven't been ported and clearly aren't going to be. Service requests are now pointless, they are either ignored, or else someone charges you, takes the money and clears off without doing anything.

You should have evaluated this before upgrading.

[Mark.B]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Sorry, but I take exception to that. I respond to a small number of service requests, and do not rip off anybody.

Not everyone rips you off Paul, but a significant minority do.

You only have to look at the number of threads about this, or the number of people with comments in their sig about "never pay anyone til they've done the work".

There's clearly a hardcore of dodgy people who are sullying the name of genuine types such as yourself.

Originally Posted by Borgs8472

I however got the hacks ported.

You should have evaluated this before upgrading.

I *haven't* upgraded!

I've got a test board running, on which I ran the upgrade and am now gradually trying to get as many hacks as I can ported across, with a *view* to upgrading the live site.

But as yet this is some way off, and only because of silly minor things, like smilies in quick reply. Major stuff like arcades and the like are all done, bar a few minor tweaks I can do myself.

But as yet my live site remains firmly on 3.0.X because I cannot justify the upgrade at present.

I am becoming tempted to leave it until vB4 eventually comes along.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by Michelle

This is because you are looking at it from a different POV.
It's really annoying to have to answer to the same question for the 10th time.
It's really annoying to try to explain to someone who doesn't even know what "upload the X file to the Y directory" means.
It's really annoying to be bugged by IM or PMs for support.
It's really annoying to read people reporting bugs that don't exist because they didn't read the instructions.
It's really annoying to read feature requests that are already in the product
It's really annoying to hear things like "how do I make a link in HTML?" by a forum admin! Gosh, someone is supposed to know some things before starting his own forum!!
And the list goes on and on and on...
Wouldn't YOU get mad???

I couldn't agree more.
That and lack of time are the reasons why I don't get involved much lately.
I read through my Hack threads, but I don't answer "This does not work!" for the 10th time when the user just didn't upload the files properly, forget to make settings, etc.

[S@NL - BlackBik]

I'll chip in a few cents too

I've been running vBulletin for about three years now.
The support on Vb.com is excellent. Bugreports are always attended within a few hours and you'll always get an answer.
It's pretty recent that I wanted to upgrade my board with a few of the hacks that hang around here. I started lurking here about 1,5 years ago and it's just recently that I post a bit more. Help where I can or just be amused by some threads.

As for coders go: there are some that are extremely helpfull, but there are some that never look in one of their hackthreads ever. Mostly that is solved because someone else posts the sollution for a problem. Sometimes it's not and did I have to uninstall an otherwise nice hack, because I couldn't get it running.
There are also some coders who have, as we say in the Netherlands, "long toes". They get agrevated when there are to many complaints. Well it's only human, but to place people on a ingnorelist in stead of finding a sollution is a bit brute, isn't it?

As for people that are asking questions, they realy should read a thread or use the "Search in thread function". To many time I see the question "Does this work on vB 3.5.3". Answer, "Yes it does". Than three posts further on someone else asks "Does this work on 3.5.3?" Shoot! The answer is just above his post, but he clearly didn't make an effort to read the thread before asking. That tips me off, sorry

So I think it's something both sides have to work on. I myself think this is an excellent forum with excellent hacks and reasonable support. Just what I could aspect from people who are doing this for a hobby

[peterska2]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Sorry, but I take exception to that. I respond to a small number of service requests, and do not rip off anybody.

Seconded, I also never take payment until the work is completed. And then I support the work undertaken for a period of time suitable to the work done. The minimum support time I provide is a week, and that's for a simple minor modification install.