Does IPB seem more appealing vb users?

Just regged. I see the old regulars are there. Have to say I really love the style on johns new site.

 

I do too. It's nice and sleek.

 

Does it seem more appealing? No, and here's why:

Community
The IPB community is a bunch of old school individuals that will -rep you just for fun. Seriously, just for fun.
Make a post they don't like, -rep .
Criticize something publicly, -rep (in my case, I left a 'suggestion' that IPB get appropriate help so that tickets don't take hours to resolve).
Have a differing opinion, -rep.

Documentation
Oh good god don't even get me started here. Let's just say these idiots have decided to not put out a manual. So, for the IPB n00b, it's just going to take forever to figure out.

There's all kinds of articles they call documentation, but those are opinion based.
There's all kinds of missing links in 3.0, but those aren't documentation.

Navigation
I swear to god, trying to figure out what's what and what goes where, navigation wise is complicated. It's not like vB where it's pretty straight forward and tells you "go here for notices" or "go here for user management" or "go here for options", no, they throw you everywhere on the admin side.

Support
Simple support questions take 12+ hours to answer from the 'team'

Now, IPB has a few good points, don't get me wrong.
The forum permissions system is a breeze
The template inclusion system is simplistic, as compared to vBulletin's garbage

If you're looking to transfer to IPB, you will have to go after the converter and 'babysit' it, making sure it transferred everything right, if you're anal about formatting. The converter definitely didn't do any good there.

I gave IPB a shot about a month ago, thankfully it was just a leased (monthly) license, because I got rid of that as quickly as I could. Poor community, no support, no proper documentation = fail!

 

It goes way beyond that there. They have users who beg for donation in their sigs, mods, and status updates almost 24x7

Had this been 6 months ago, back when 3.0 was just getting released, I'd defend them. But its been almost 6 months since release, and there really is no need not to have more documentation readily available for IPB3.

If they can't get it done, then hire a firm who can, or hire a firm to do something else, while the knowledgable staff, concentrate on features.

Agree on both points. Things are tucked away under unecassary mouse clicks.

I agree, with most these points spot on.

The forum permissions are fantastic, actually they're beyond fantastic. The style system is decent (I've never had a problem with vBulletin system's either though)

The support is sub-par at best in regards to response time.

 

I haven't had to use their support forums for anything really, but overall I can't think of much on vBulletin 3.0 that is better than IPB 3.0 (I know, not the new vB, but its not out yet, and I doubt it'll be a holy grail like its talked up to be).

I agree its hard to find some things in the admin panel, but the actual UI for it is wayyyy better than vBulletins UI ever has been. vB recently hired a User Interface designer (and I hope she gets a say in some of this because vB has always been horrid with it)The Permission settings are much easier to use, and it will basically auto-guide you through each group which is cool.

Both vB and IPB (and just about all forum software) have horrible style management. I'd much rather see something like Wordpress where you can actually upload and download files back and forth, and they could overwrite certain areas, but since they're paid software they're scared to do that.

Right now I give IPB the edge, and the more I get used to it the more I like it.

 

Hey Gang,

I purchased a IPB "Suite" yesterday and my plan is to convert one of my smaller vB sites over.

And I gotta say, that my main motivation in moving at first, was mainly born out of frustration with vB and Internet Brands and also that I have lost confidence in vB and figure I need to broaden my horizons and not have all my eggs in one basket with them anymore.

Now having said all that, I'm really getting used to IPB and I'm liking it a lot.

IP is a lot more integrated than having vB with all kinds of add-ons. The style and feel of IPB is also is growing on me big time. The default style has a way more professional almost corporate feel to it, which I'm liking a lot.

I'm really glad I made my IP purchase. It was better to do something than continuing to sit around, wallowing around in a vB, IB mire as it were. :yes:

 

I've got my new IPB forum installed, I'm now working on importing my vBulletin 3.8 data.

The install went really smoothly, I had to putz around with file permissions a bit (mostly my fault), but other than that, the convertor worked perfectly.

 

The next forum I open might very well use Invision Power Board.

 

I've two of my sites converted to IPB, with two more to go. And I feel I took a step up with the conversions. I like the way things work within IPB and am pleased to have made the decision to switch.

 

How has your community handled it. Do they welcome the change, or are they finding things difficult

 

So far, the change has been positive. I admit I converted smaller sites first, but the members of my largest site have been peeking at the others and are chomping at the bit to make the change.

Frankly, I felt vB 4 was going to represent a pretty large change for my members anyway, so it was going to end up in change no matter which was I went.

I always liked vB for the biggest part, but I am finding I like IPB even more. (Thank goodness!! )

 

It'll be fun watching your forums after this move.

 

Mike,

I'm just working on the import of mine.

Do you take any general approach to yours?

For example, did you do it from a backup of the database? Did you do anything special with the avatars, attachments, smilies etc? As in, did you move a copy of the folder and upload it on to the local directory?

 

I think it'd be great if somebody were to write an article/tutorial on how to seamlessly convert from vBulletin to IP.Board. I'm sure it would help out a lot of people.

 

I agree it was the conversion process which stopped us from keeping the converted forum we had.

 

It really doesn't take much but running their conversion tool to go from anything to IPB, but you really REALLY want to be careful, because their conversion tool doesn't like specific spacing, paragraph formatting, or in some cases lists.

I had to go through my SMF conversion and redo everything I had specifically formatted. Can't say about vB, because I didn't try it.

Their conversion tool is pretty straight forward though, start at step 1 and complete until done.

 

Their instructions truthfully aren't as detailed as I'd like. They sorta glass over stuff.

I saw one of the complaints that get's brought up about IPB is with respect to the lack of good documentation they provide and so for, I'd have to agree somewhat. The installation instructions were decent enough and the installer was actually better then vBulletins IMO - at least as far as I remember from last I did it from scratch.

Maybe once I get my import all sorted properly, I'll see if I can set something up in the way of a general step by step.

 

Thanks, Gordie - I'm sure that will be very helpful.

In the meantime, I just happened to come across this - Converting from vBulletin to Invision Power Board | Schwarz Network
I only skimmed it, so do not know how helpful it may be, but I figured it looked worthy of sharing.

 

Someone made a vB to IPB skin port the other week, because they found the IPB instructions on skin building difficult. They might use her/his guide.


IPB 3 - How to - skinning... - Computer Help Forum

 

Yeah, I saw that and read that before I made my purchase.

Last I visited it, it seems like he hadn't updated for the ending though.

What I found is that the instructions skim over things, so if you're a newbie, you'll be left with lots of questions.

As an example, they mention importing the database, but don't really make suggestions on the ways of doing so. As in, from a backup, or from a live site, etc. Or perhaps I just missed where they pointed this out.

The installer was much more intuitive though as it helped to set up what is basically IPB's config.php file. More or less the installer walks you through the set up and updates it through the interface. That's not something I would really need, but I would think it would help more novice users.

I would put myself somewhere in the "experienced" category of users but certainly not in the expert classification.