Is it the software or their attitude?

I've been a member here for a few days and managed not to rant
Whoops - I caved.
For me the alarm bells started ringing when a couple of the original team left. And when news broke that Kier was off, I knew I had to consider vBulletin a new product and all trust in the ability of the development team and the integrity of the code was lost.
I posted comments to this effect way back then.
As far as I'm concerned, putting the original development team in a position where they felt they had to leave was a catastrophic, idiotic blunder. At that point I stopped updating vBulletin. I wouldn't touch 3.8.4 with a barge poll, and I wouldn't upgrade to 4 if you paid me.
And my fears have been justified. The release of vB4 was a complete foul up of the highest order, and the code is (I am reliably told) diabolical.

In my opinion, anyone upgrading an important forum to version 4 is a fecking idiot.

Instead of the complete rewrite that vB4 should have been, it is a rushed, ineptly cobbled mess coded by people unfamiliar with the intricacies of the code, managed by people who don't know anything about forum development, and led by people who are more interested in reporting to investors.
Internet Brands has several forums on the vBulletin platform which make tens of thousands of dollars a month. Way more than the sale of vB licences. What does that simple fact say to you about their motivations for buying Jelsoft? Internet Brands might well serve their investors better by tailoring the product to suit their vBulletin businesses and to hell with everyone else.

It's a great shame that Internet Brands have so completely [****][****][****][****]ed up my favourite forum software and turned me, a loyal customer of 9 years into a resentful, angry, unhappy customer on the lookout for an alternative product.

The stability and reliability of the software behind AVForums.com is vitally important. It provides income for eight full time and two part time employees of two companies and it affects my ability to put food on my children's plates.
So I am bound to feel passionate about this topic.

When I first heard that Internet Brands had bought Jelsoft, I was also warned that they turned companies to shit. Unfortunately that warning has proved to be very true in this case.

Rant over. For tonight.

 

Oh and something else. They don't even know how to *run* a forum properly.
Why? Because if you want to give a member a strong message that their posting style is unwelcome, you don't ban them permanently! You ban them for a few days. Then a couple of weeks. Then a month.
But what do they do at vBulletin.com to customers complaining loudly (and legitimately) that Internet Brands and vB4 are crap? They ban them permanently. No temporary ban, noooooo. They probably don't know that the temporary ban feature exists. No, it's a permanent ban.
I'm not banned myself, but only because I saw people being banned around me and gave up.
They don't have a clue. Not a clue.
Rant over properly for tonight.