Voipo forum software

[bwyatt]

Ok... this is the "off-topic discussion" forum right?

Here's a really off-topic question:

I design my own websites and have designed a few for others. My favorite forum solution has always been the one Voipo is using right now - VBulletin. However, VBulletin has their new version in beta and is expected to go gold on December 21st. Anyone with a leased license will have to either buy the old software (which will no longer be supported) or upgrade to the new version which is drastically different than the one being used now.

I've been really disappointed in how the whole thing has been handled and just wondered what thoughts you Voipo guys have regarding your current forum solution? Do you plan to upgrade to 4.0, will you stick with the older version even after it's no longer supported, or are you considering migrating to a different solution?

Just curious about your thoughts, as I'm working through mine.

[Gene Steinberg]

Ok... this is the "off-topic discussion" forum right?

Here's a really off-topic question:

I design my own websites and have designed a few for others. My favorite forum solution has always been the one Voipo is using right now - VBulletin. However, VBulletin has their new version in beta and is expected to go gold on December 21st. Anyone with a leased license will have to either buy the old software (which will no longer be supported) or upgrade to the new version which is drastically different than the one being used now.

I've been really disappointed in how the whole thing has been handled and just wondered what thoughts you Voipo guys have regarding your current forum solution? Do you plan to upgrade to 4.0, will you stick with the older version even after it's no longer supported, or are you considering migrating to a different solution?

Just curious about your thoughts, as I'm working through mine.

I don't know about their decision here, but I have 3 vBulletin owned licenses. The support contract runs out, successively, in June, July and August of next year. So I can upgrade to version 4.0 free till then. However, based on what they are saying in their forums, I will have to rejigger the style sheet/themes I'm using, because they won't translate during the upgrade.

That, to me, is a nonstarter, and frankly it makes no sense from any reasonable standpoint, because a smart programmer ought to be able to come up with a translation mechanism. In my case, the forum style we use at our sites, which I list here with the kind indulgence of Tim Dick (which his board people can remove at any time) have relatively minor alterations from the original that can probably be fixed if we had some help on that score (anyone volunteering?), but if a company pays a bundle for a custom skin, I can see a problem. Our sites:

www.theparacast.com/forum
www.technightowl.com/forum
www.rockoids.com/forum

My personal feeling is that there's a lot of greed involved in trying to grab as much income from customers as possible and basically tossing out the previous licensing and renewal terms in the bargain. Maybe the parent company, Internet Brands, Inc., is expecting a certain rate of return from each of its properties, and vBulletin isn't delivering the goods. I don't know. But I have been looking at other forum options, such as the German-based Burning Board, for possible replacements. Unfortunately, everything involves lots of extra work to adapt our forum styles, convert content, and find mods on the new boards that replace the functions of the old.

Or sticking with what we have, with the realization that security updates will not be available to us unless we buy a new license next summer.

The free forum systems just don't have the features we need, and I've checked several of the better ones, such as phpBB and MyBB.

Peace,
Gene Steinberg

[bwyatt]

Most insightful Gene, thanks.

My lease runs out in March. I've already downloaded 4.0 Candidate 1 that was released Friday last week and installed it on my test site. The latest release fixed "250 bugs" according to VBulletin's board. I encountered two bugs within 5 minutes. My primary forum has 6 or 7 mods/plugins installed and it's my understaning none of them work with 4.0 and no mods/plugins will be developed or converted until 4.0 goes gold.

I've spent time with the free solutions and used them with good success too, but like you - they won't suffice for what I'm doing now.

[Gene Steinberg]

Most insightful Gene, thanks.

My lease runs out in March. I've already downloaded 4.0 Candidate 1 that was released Friday last week and installed it on my test site. The latest release fixed "250 bugs" according to VBulletin's board. I encountered two bugs within 5 minutes. My primary forum has 6 or 7 mods/plugins installed and it's my understaning none of them work with 4.0 and no mods/plugins will be developed or converted until 4.0 goes gold.

I've spent time with the free solutions and used them with good success too, but like you - they won't suffice for what I'm doing now.

I hear you. I tried one of the beta candidates on a single test forum update, and it was a holy disaster. Fortunately that forum doesn't get a lot of traffic so we were able to restore everything from the backup and get it back online with minimal delay.

Peace,
Gene

[bwyatt]

It's getting better. vBulletin has been around long enough that I'm confident that they will work it all out.

All said, I simply like the 3.XXX version better and prefer it. I don't want to change. So... I wonder how many will buy the dead version and live with it or how many will upgrade, or how many will switch.

I've almost decided to switch. I'll hold out since my lease doesn't run out until March... but right now I'd rather move to the alternative and have a supported system than buy a dead software, or upgrade to a new software I just don't like.

Not a good choice of alternatives, IMO.

[Gene Steinberg]

It's getting better. vBulletin has been around long enough that I'm confident that they will work it all out.

All said, I simply like the 3.XXX version better and prefer it. I don't want to change. So... I wonder how many will buy the dead version and live with it or how many will upgrade, or how many will switch.

I've almost decided to switch. I'll hold out since my lease doesn't run out until March... but right now I'd rather move to the alternative and have a supported system than buy a dead software, or upgrade to a new software I just don't like.

Not a good choice of alternatives, IMO.

I'm working with someone to run a test of the vBulletin 4 RC4 upgrade and we'll see where it takes us.

Peace,
Gene

[bwyatt]

Please do take the time to post your findings...