vbulletin.org (day after tomorrow)

vb.org has certainly lost its innovative "edge", I'll agree with that.

It remains a fantastic resource but a worrying number of talented coders have "huffed off" in recent years.

It is also ridiculous that they STILL run 3.6 after all this time....madness!

That said, I have never had any problems with the site or any of the staff. I just sense that something is not right....but I could not say exactly what.

 

it remains a fantastic resource for reason, and 1 reason alone. It's members/contributors. This innovative edge you speak of is still present, it's found within the talented developers/designers/coders who submit their free work.

Looking deeper into this situation with the site stuck on 3.6 it seems to be suffering what I call the "puppet string effect" with the staff at .com dictating what gives. Maybe, maybe not which means laziness dictates and lack of motivation.

You have 1 lazy admin who doesn't care, 1 whom isn't active which to me doesn't say much about the higher end of the staff. Getting things done seems to be a discussion nightmare that they put forward to the public. Alot of their ideas which are published years ago have never seen the light of day and remain at the discussion stage. My point is, talk enough and you soon loose any productivity that you once had and possibly any motivation they had in the early days.

The only productive staff member I see present at the org is lynne and to be fair she alone cannot give that innovative edge to this resource site that everyone past and present have been asking for.

Anyway, I'm sure a select few will see this as a rant but the facts speak for themselves. We'll see what they come up with when they upgrade.

If the argument is that all the scripts are tied in together then this is very very old news and a poor excuse for anyone ready to respond to excuse their laziness.

 

I personally think my suggestion for vBulletin.org would take it straight to the 21st century, if they could even remotely be bothered to just ditch vBulletin 3.6 already.

 

As long as anyone can write something that has no QC or support and post it on vborg, by a company that pays their employees, I've got no interest in vborg unless I am in dire need.

Write something, sorta works on their 1 site, toss it up on vborg and let people make hundreds of comments on it that may or may not have needed information? The developer may or may not come back days or years later?

Not to mention the nebulous 'it is part of vb.com, but not really' relationship.


If you are considering a site apart either vborg or vbcom then for it to be of interest to me then it would need to be supported, something you may not have the resources to devote to it.

 

There have been many, many attempts at an alternative to the org over the years. Do any of you know of them or use them? Exactly my point. I'm not one to say something is impossible but I will say good luck with it, you're going to need it

 

That I will agree with. There are sites even now who try to re-create the org by supplying resources. I'm not going to say they all fail but most do and those that didn't fail have only a small proportion of the contributors contributing to them that the org has.

I would say that creating a vb.org is next to impossible. I challenge anyone that can even get 50% of what the org delivers and this is not down to the site owners but from the members who will always contribute to the official resource before any other site on the net.

As soon as you've bought that domain you've already failed if you think you will match the org. Like I said, people will always contribute to the org first. It's just a pity it's ran by a bunch of people whom I see as being lazy and not bring the org to what it could be.

Anyway, I noticed you never responded to my question Gnatser which is okay. but even as much as the alternative to to the org sounds great, you've already failed before you begin. You'll get a few people contributing. close friends, some friends and maybe some disgruntled members but for exposure they'll always use the org as the first step.

 

I didn't respond earlier as I've been out all afternoon and evening. Monthly MINI Cooper club meeting, of which I am VP, and then out to dinner with friends. I do need to get out now and again.

As to your question of who is we...At this time I'm not going to answer. I thought I was pretty clear that this is just part of a brainstorming session to determine if there is a clear need or want for such a site.

It's quite possible the others that have tried did not have sufficient vision, resources and/or drive to see such a project to fruition.

Almost nothing is impossible.

 

Many have tried, many still have their sites, many haven't both parties have failed because it doesn't match the abundance of scripts/resources that are available at the org. You could have the vision, motivation, creativity and drive for such a large scale project but they lack the people/community that the org processes which grows larger which each purchase of their software.

Fair enough, Your not answering that is your privilege just as much it's my privilege to reply with scepticism which really means realistic thinking and say it can't be done.

Prove me wrong, which you'll find that won't happen, well, not in this lifetime anyway.

 

As much as I am right. The staff basically don't need to lift a finger at the org and the site is sustained by it's members.

 

Just as you have an extremely high level of negativity and a closed mind that such an endeavor is not possible there are those out there with just as much positive energy and see the world in a more positive light.

See I may thing something will fail, tell you all the reasons but also wish you the best of luck in pulling it off....and mean it.

Thanks for your insight in the potential of such a project. All data points both positive and negative are taken into account.

 

I'm not going to lie to you gnatster. If I think, correction "know" you will fail I'll tell you that you will fail. Just like if I tried such an endeavour I would tell myself I will fail. If the expectation is to match the org then it's not going to happen.

There's no need to thank me, I know you didn't mean it because the fact is I never brought anything to the table that would help you in your brainstorming stage.

 

That's not true, you did bring something to the table. May not be exact answers to questions I asked but you did provide insight as to why you think a project such as this may fail. I did ask for comments as well and you did provide them. This is what I thank you for.

While I may not agree this does not mean I see your input as having no value. Your argument has merit and for me to dismiss it would be foolish.

 

Without this becoming a drawn out saga. I never said anything you didn't know already.

 

The community is definitely the strong point of vb.org. Just about everyone gets help on their problem or question as long as they can explain what they're trying to do and need.

The weakness has to be the staff there. Its not one in particular but just about everyone there. (except moderators who can't actually control the site).

Extensibility and your own API to make calls to and from by the developers for various purposes. It needs to support multiple mod authors and community developed projects, oh and it should stay up to date with vBulletin versions and not make excuses for not upgrading.

 

Apparently their site is offline now. Maybe they finally saw sense and realised my idea was their best future?

 

Just noticed that myself and was wondering if someone started a play by play thread.

 

LOL good idea!

 

Well it appears to be back up now. :shrug:

 

well, in all fairness to the .com PBP thread, that was boring.... lol

 

Vb.org is one of the reasons I chose VB in the first place the user community seemed really strong and devoted to the product. There are a lot of good free mods at vb.org which I like and they can be vetted out by people more knowledgeable than me before I take the leap of faith.

With all that has happened with VB I've looked around and found nothing similar with other forum s/w so having the resource center of vb.org is a definite plus for me.

As for setting up a competing site, why not go for it. If you build a better mousetrap... There will be plenty of people who will have interest. Just as I'm not 100% loyal to AA (Sorry guys ) and spend time at other competing sites many vb.org members would go to both.