VBulletin, love it or hate it?

[dno]

I had a discusion with someone on another thread about vBulletin. As many of you may be awere I recently moved the site to a different server in the process I upgraded to the most recent version of the software. There does appear to be some issues with the moving and converting.
 
For me, I'm not impressed with this software, it's not the most user friendly and from a management side it's downright tedius. I had considered moving the site to SMF when I did the move but that still required having this software installed and if we were going to go through the expense of buying our own license just to move to a free forum software we may as well stick with a version of what we have. Personally I'm not opposed to moving to the other software, I think we will eventually anyway, so for me sooner is better than later.
 
At this point with the corruption in the data that exists, if I do it sooner from the most recent download from the other server at most we loose a few days of recent posts... I small sacrifice to have something that may be potentially better and certainly easier for me to manage.
 
I don't want just a couple of people's opinions to shape my decision so I would like to know from as many people as possible how you feel about this current software and if you think we can do better.

[austinado16]

Don't like it, and never really have.  Here's why:

Let's say a handful of us are "talking" on one particular thread.  People are responding back and forth, and let's just say, that the last time you checked on the thread JimS had commented.  Between then and now, 10 poeple could have commented, but if JimS was the last one, if you look at the thread without actually opening it up, and scrolling all the way down to the bottom, you'll still see JimS as the most recent poster.  So unless you've remembered that last time he posted, he was "response number 6" and now the overview of the thread shows he's response #20, you won't know if his message is "new-to-you" unless you go into the thread and scroll down.

Multiply this by 10-20 threads that you may be either interested in, or participating in, and you spend a lot of time "checking in."  I read and post here every day, so I spend a lot of time in the mode of: "Okay, lets go to "campfire" and then scroll down through the list and see where are the threads I've been reading are particpating in, and then lets open each of those up and scroll down to see if there's anything new in each one."

And rarely if ever, do I get the "Instant Email Notification," so I have to check back with each thread.

That's my take on vB, and I've used it for years now on forums like //www.vwvortex.com and others.

Ultimately, I think you need to do what makes this whole thing easiest for you to maintain.  But if this is a site that generates revenue for you, I think it's important to use what brings in the users and keeps them.  Obviously, people love it here because you've got a great group of continous users, and almost daily, the site brings in new members.  Those are good signs that you've been doing something right.

But in forums like these, sometimes change is not a good thing.  It would be like owning a nice little coffee place that we all meet at every day, and then one day we come in and you've turned it into an expresso bar.  Same chairs and tables, same owner...........but a whole new feel and vibe.  Generally, that's deal breaker for your long-time customers.

Here's a brief description of what recently happen when Audiworld put a version of vB into our long time Kawf powered community:
http://iedei.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/audiworld-is-dead-long-live-quattroworld/

We formed our own site and 3,000 of us left in a matter of a couple of days, with ranks now up at around 5,000+ members I think.

I'm not saying that people here are going to do this (leave and go to another site or form their own).  I'm just saying, here's an example of how much people like their old ways, and how dedicated they can be to the friendship and knowledge base of a solid online community (like this is).

[Dee4j]

hmmm..the answer I have probably won't be helpful since I don't have much experience out there with message boards I really don't know whats out there. This looks alot like what they use on RV.net but not 100% sure. I think my issue is with my own comfort level..I learned to use this and everything is automatic. My issue now is with the PM's I'm used to looking for it one way and it has changed. I will eventually learn the new way.  It seems to do everything I need to do.

[bonscott]

Latest version of phpBB is really the way to go.  But vBulletin isn't bad.  What is on here now is better then what you had, it reminded me of forums 10 years ago.  

[dno]

There seems to be some issue with this installation and the conversion of the data from the early beta version of the forums. I know there have been several different programs that were used in the past including snitz, I will say the snitz software could use some upgrading as well.

[JohnandLeann]

Seems that some of the old pathways around the site are gone.  Maybe it can be fixed.  The threads used to expand across the top of the page so I could see which forum section I was in and what thread I was looking at.  Now it just says "pop up times arvee club array".  Sorry if it seems petty.  Is it possibly a setting that I can change?

[dno]

I'm trying to figure out all the changes, the vb administrative section is a bit different and I'm trying to understand what settings do what. I'm not seeing who is on line any more and have not found a setting that turns that on yet either.

[Dee4j]

I'm trying to figure out all the changes, the vb administrative section is a bit different and I'm trying to understand what settings do what. I'm not seeing who is on line any more and have not found a setting that turns that on yet either.

You're right I forgot to mention that one too. I miss that....I'm just glad I'm not you :compumad::banghead: