My loyalty to vBulletin.

I think having paid addons is good in the long run. One of Xenforo's biggest weaknesses right now is that so many of the addon developers have dropped out and/or abandoned their products. What the effect of that is, is that unless you really want to run a barebones forum then Xenforo probably isn't going to be a practical solution for you. IPB is better for someone who wants to have a gallery with their forum, for example, and a CMS, and so on. I don't mind paying for addons when it means that the developer is going to be dedicated to the upkeep of the product.

 

Hey wait, don't you work for vBulletin?

 

Nope, if you mean vBulletin Solutions, I've not worked for or with them since IB took away our distributorship for www.vBulletin-Germany.com towards the end of last year. I only work for the last vB4 Suite customers, which IB left us with to honor their ticket support. They've also put me on the global ignore list on vB.com, so I can't post there anymore. So, no. I definitely do not work for vBulletin.

Scott

 

I just remebered seeing a few posts by a 'Scott Molinari' with a vB staff avatar on vBulletin.com forums, so I assumed you still worked there

Why would they put you on global ignore?

Incidentally, that sounds awful. Why would someone sell a company to another company with a reputation like that?

 

Your first question is a good one. The answer is, it was probably the only answer they could come up with for my challenges to the upper managent to come out from behind their closed doors and take full responsibility for their actions and give customers some sign of honor, passion and competence.

I am not sure what you mean with your second question.

Scott

 

The second question is the easiest t answer. MONEY. People sell things for money.

 

Ahhh, was the question about the Jelsoft buy-out? Yes, then Joe is right. There were about 17+ Million reasons to sell vBulletin to Internet Brands, if my information is true. And at the time, IB's "reputation" was just starting and basically unknown. People weren't aware at all of where this buy-out was heading for them (except the Jelsoft devs, because they all left IB, before vB4 was released. That was a pretty big sign of the coming times).

Also, the owner of Jelsoft was never really the passion or the leadership behind vBulletin, so there were no real hard-core emotional ties for the ex-owner to cut. It was Kier, Mike, Scott and Ashley, plus the rest of the vB team that made vB great (and I like to think I and my team at vB-G.com had a small part in that greatness too and why it still hurts me to think of where it has ended up). The old vB crew actually ran vB and built it to what it was before IB took over and well, you know the rest of the story.

Scott

 

Wow @s.molinari that sounds really awful.

 

I'm sorry to step on your feet but uh... John Pervical wouldn't have founded vBulletin if he and James Limm didn't have the passion to see vBulletin through market success.

Here ya go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vbulletin

 

John and James were both passionate about vB in the early years, yes. Say pre-vB3 days. John stepped out and became a silent partner around the end of 2002 and that is where Kier stepped in as lead dev. Also Ashley took over and handled most of the business side of Jelsoft. James became less of a force in vB's direction. Being I was a partner with Jelsoft from 2001 on, I think I know what I am talking about, so you couldn't step on my feet, even if you wanted to.

Scott

 

I was trying to be nice to you. I had not realized you were a partner.

 

No Problemo Carlos.

Scott

 

Welcome to the brighter future! I'm always glad to see users switch from vB to XF. Hell, I'm always glad to see users switch from VB to anything else!

I just completely stopped supporting vB a long time ago. So you are not the only one who is fed up with them and their lousy business tactics. So please, do tell me how this all works out for you. I will be looking forward to seeing it!

Also may I ask what got you decided on switching to XenForo over other forum softwares?
I'm not complaining. I love XenForo my self, (Most preferred one of them all). However, I do like to see what other people have to say about it.

 

Wow, I was planning on giving vB a serious look for my next forum. I admit I haven't really researched them. But, most of the sites I like and am inspired by are using vB (sites like cgtalk.com). I guess I need to really do some comparisons.

Is there a list available of the main issues with vB?

 

There is actually some really good information on vBulletin.com, but some of it you will only find, once you become a customer. They have a bug tracker called Jira currently with 1700+ unresolved bugs for vB5 and a Licensed Customer Feedback forum with a lot of customers showing their passion and asking a lot of questions about the situation currently and not getting any good answers IMHO.

There is a pinned thread with all the features still missing in vB5, in the vB5 Feedback Forum which you should be able to see.

I can recommend the vB4 Forum software. If you pay for the software (for vB5, which entitles you to vB4 too) though, don't expect too much other than just the current vB4 software. You only get 30 days ticket support (forum is always available) and no one knows if they are going to continue to support vB4 with newer features. What you pay for with a new license is a lot of development on vB5, which is still a total mess currently. I also don't think many knowledgeable customers here would tell you waiting for vB5 to be great will be worth the wait either. I think you'll also be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks IB can even make vBulletin great again too.

One other thing you should think about, should you decide to run with vB4. If ever vB5 is a good or even great software and you decide to upgrade, every single customization you do with add-ons or styles will have to be completely redone and one of the biggest issues vB5 has is there are a relatively low number of supporting 3rd part developers and designers making add-ons and designs for vB5. vB5 and IB as a software development company are just too shaky for anyone to be really confident about them for reasons you've read here.

Scott

 

I don't know how you can in good conscience recommend any version of vBulletin to someone starting out today. You might make a good case for people currently using vBulletin to stay with their current version of the software, but even that isn't a great long-term strategy unless you're talking about someone with the capability of continuing to support the software themselves after it ceases being supported by vBulletin itself. Certainly, though, someone starting a new project today is better off going with a forum software that has a bright future.

 

Peter, please reread my post. I think it is pretty clear my vB4 recommendation has a few conditions added to it like, don't expect much support, don't expect further new feature releases, your not paying for vB4, but for vB5, and it is still a mess and most of your money will go into vB5's development, not in 4's. There aren't many third party devs or designers working on vB5.

Limcid can still buy vB and will get a fairly decent product with vB4 Forum. But it does stop right there.

Scott

 

Yes IPB is really interesting and it is a quite useful software. I also recommend IPB, use and get the very good experience.

 

To everyone reading about IPB:

IPB SUCKS!