Thinking of switching to vBulletin from IPB, but...

[thedevilman]

i currently use the IPB system 2.0 from when it used to offer a free unsupported version. now that they have gone to a pay only system and i am actually thinking about forking over the cash, i am looking into some other 'pay' solutionz.

the main thing i am looking for iz flexibility and community support. let me explain. i have a lot, i mean a hell of a lot planned for my site and it would require a lot of modificationz.

i need an irc chat module, very flexible portal system, very customizable skinning, the ability to add entire new tablez to the forum layout, customized bbcode buttonz, etc, etc, etc. oh and fairly easy installation of existing modz.

the IPB community haz been pretty good in helping me to set up what i need for my IPB forum and since i am totally new to vB i would need an even heftier pool of info, reference metarial and community.

i guess my question iz mostly to those of you who have done some crazy thingz to your forums. have you been able to find the answeres you needed and get good help from vB and it's community?

i have looked around a bit here and already see some add-on modz that i think will help a lot with some of what i am trying to do but there iz still a lot that i just kn0 iz too 'my site' specific and i'll need some serious help.

thX a lot to anyone that haz opinionz to offer. from what i've seen so far i am fairly impressed with vB. i just need a lot more input b4 i would decide to switch an entire system that i am so familiar with.

i guess ideally (in a perfect world, heh) i am looking for what IPB and it's community offer but much more. here'z to dreaming, heh.

[thedevilman]

p.s. with vB... when updates come out (i.e. 3.0.3, etc) will i need to reinstall all of my modz az iz the case most of the time with IPB?

[Brad]

You can find alot of portal systems released here:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=82

There are multiple irc hacks around that allow you members to chat in irc via java on your forums (we have a similar hack installed here at vB.org). There are also hacks that will take the list of users from your irc channel and put them on the forumhome page like the who's online box dose for online forum users.

All design changes can be made from the admin cp via the styles/template system. I find the system included in vB for template editing much better then what I have seen in ipb, you can try it for yourself by opening an admin demo:

http://www.vbulletin.com/admindemo.php

As for the community, I love it. After using alot of commercial forum software I always felt that the vB community was the most helpful and included some of the most experanced people around when it comes to managing a forum. I guess thats the reason I have stuck around for so long

You can find the technical vB manual here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/

[C_P]

Hello thedevilman,
Actually, not to long ago I was in your same spot...
Read this for why I switched.
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=69002

[jd-inflames]

The vB support is MUCH better than IPB. When I forked over the 85 bucks, I really got what I paid for so to speak

As for mods, 3.0.0 mods work for 3.0.3 for the most part, you might have to change some coding around, but if you ask around you can get answers fairly quick. As for 2.x.x mods, I'm not too sure about that one. It was a different software alltogether.

As for skinning, I find vB MUCH easier to skin than IPB...and the code is a lot easier as well. I'm currently writing a more server friendly version of the Affiliate mod as we speak. I don't know if I will release it just because my needs might not be up to par with others, beings the other affiliate mods here are FAR more powerful...but overall with vB coding vs IPB coding, it's MUCH easier.

Oh, might I mention, if you get vB, they have Impex. A nice little tool to convert your current IPB database to vB, so you won't lose anything...other than a few hours making sure that everything is squared away. It's really nice though, and I recommend it.

[thedevilman]

i must say i am fairly impressed that people here are so willing to help me off so quickly. i have also had more time now to take a look around at some of the modz and hacks and like what i see a lot.

i am in the process of a big server upgrade right now that took all of my sites budget for the moment. but the community at my forum iz gr8 at raising money for a good cause.

i am going to spend a bit more time here looking around and if thingz continue to go az well az they have so far, a switch to vB should be right around the corner. thX everyone for your advice, suggestionz and help so far.

p.s. i could just do a search but since i am already typing... iz there a mod or built in feature that makes it so that if i want i can restrict access to memberz until they agree to the new tos (terms of service) and disclaimer? i update it a lot and this would be a big plus. thX again.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by thedevilman

p.s. i could just do a search but since i am already typing... iz there a mod or built in feature that makes it so that if i want i can restrict access to memberz until they agree to the new tos (terms of service) and disclaimer? i update it a lot and this would be a big plus. thX again.

Not stock, but it would not be hard to hack in.

[rharbison]

I use Vbulletin on 3 different forums, so I guess you could say I like the program enough to buy it 3 times over. What really sets it apart is the customer service and support.

This week I moved to a new server. I was able to get instructions on how to to do that quickly and easily on the Vbulletin site. Migrating was easy, and went quite well.

I did have one problem, the thumbnails looked terrible. Posted a note at the support forum on Saturday afternoon, got a reply in minutes asking about a certain component, answered that, and was told "OK, check this". He was right, it fixed the problem. So, it took maybe 2 hours, half that time was waiting for me to reply. This was on a Saturday mind you.

You can't be support like that, and that's why I continue to use this forum.

Oh, and it's quite robust too, my busiest forum averages 100 people online at once, 24/7.

[Mark.B]

One piece of advice though...drop the silly txt spk and the z's at the end of words.

May people, myself included, find such posts extremely difficult to read and thus tend not to bother reading them.