Plug ins / add ons & the Big Board? What happens at VB upgrade time?

I run a 6 million page views per month, 1.5 Million posts, 40,000+ member forum..

I am wary of getting the members hooked on using add ons / plug ins as I wonder what will happen in the future when VB upgrades emerge that might not play ball with the plug ins..

I don't want a lot of bells and whistles just a few add ons in particular:

1) a classifieds section (Photo Post Classifieds?)

2) an expanded / customizable User Profile add on (still looking for the ideal product, cant decide which way to jump)

What do you big board folks recommend? Do you avoid add ons?

Pick ones that look like they will continue to get updated?

I could always continue to run a classifieds without a 3rd party software, and simply wait for Jelsoft to expand the user profile pages...

I don't personally have the coding chops to do alterations myself.



Any advice gratefully received..

I suppose what I am asking is - do big board folks keep their forums 'lean & mean' so they run better or are there big boards out there with a lot of plug ins / add ons / customizations?

Thanks in advance..

[TECK]

If you want a fast board, do NOT install any hacks. Leave it standard, the way it is.
I'm pretty sure none of the hackers have the testing power vBulletin team has.
Their software is tested in 10 servers, while using all OS combinations available on the market. Plus they also stress test the software under heavy load. Not to mention the private betas... If you install a cheap hack, you have a lot of chances to break your server, under heavy traffic.
You have no idea how many hacks are badly written, here.

Now, back to topic. Many large boards actually disable options on their forum software so they free as much possible the resources alocated.

[BamaStangGuy]

I'd hold off on any profile modifications as it seems vBulletin will soon have this feature.

[Jah-Hools]

Yeah thank for the advice both of you...

I have realized that I can grit my teeth and run a classifieds without fancy additional software...

And I hear ya re the future of the VB profile area..

Soooo tempting to grab a plug in, but its getting through to my thick skull that it's sooooo not a good idea.. The forum is getting over 2,000 on line at one time now quite regularly ...

I do want an image overhaul, any advice re skins?

Is there stuff to watch out for with templates / skins used on a big board?

Do you have to be VERY picky / careful?

Thanks again,

[TECK]

As less graphs as possible, if you don't have unmetered traffic on your dedicated rack.

[MaestroX]

Graphic wise what I would look at (if you're having load/bandwidth problems) is reducing the size of images and reducing the amount of images used (reducing the amount of http requests). This would mean optimising the use of your images (for example using 1 image and css to create rounded corners instead of 4 images and tables) and avoiding gradients and background images (though you can optimse your gradients quite efficently).

[Jah-Hools]

Thanks!

[MaestroX]

Just a update on my above post I've written a small article here: Optimise your vBulletin to reduce bandwidth and load!