presales questions

[lottidah]

Good morning. I've noticed a few folks who had the same question about converting from PHPBB2 to vbulletin. I understand that I will be able to do so without losing any posts nor my user database. That's good news.

My first question is: Would the conversion create a separate (second) database from my current phpbb2 database?? So that my phpbb forum would be unaffected till I pull the plug?

I have a few more questions on functionality...

Some of the complaints I receive about my phpbb2 forum are:


Posts that are unread are marked as read upon the next login.
The View Newest Post icon doesn't consistently take the user to the newest post.
No spellcheck.
No ability to turn off avatars or signature images.
Please let me know if these items are addressed with VBulletin??

[Floris]

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in the vBulletin forum software and for contacting vBulletin sales.

Q: Would the conversion create a separate (second) database from my current phpbb2 database?? So that my phpbb forum would be unaffected till I pull the plug?

A: No, it will not touch the phpBB database and if you install vBulletin with a table prefix you can use the same database as the phpBB database without overwriting any phpBB tables. Note that if you pull the plug on the phpBB database to only remove the phpBB tables, and not the whole database.

The vBulletin mark posts read system is more advanced then the phpBB system, so you should experience less problems.

vBulletin unfortunatly doesn't have a spellcheck feature yet, but there are customers who released an addon for this on vBulletin.org (note we do not provide support for it).

You will have the ability to control nearly everthing in vBulletin - like avatars, signatures, etc per usergroup.

I invite you to try out vBulletin's admin control panel by requesting an admin demo here: http://www.vBulletin.com/admindemo

We are looking forward to your purchase.

Feel free to ask more questions if you have any.

[lottidah]

Thanks for your response. One more question. I ran the server test and everything passed with this exception:

magic_quotes_gpc - Fail

Can I get more information on how this would impact performance if I can not change this setting?

[Floris]

vBulletin will still operate, it is a minor setting - my own sites have it OFF too.

[lottidah]

Thanks again. I have purchased a license. :) I have also downloaded the VB code as well as the importer script. What I'm unclear on is where to start? Do I install VB first then import my phpbb2 board to it? Is there a thread with instructions somewhere?? Thanks

[Steve Machol]

Answered here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124136