Converting from Threads to Vbull soon! Troubleshooting

[Jenlm]

Hello!
This is my first (I think!) maybe second post, here. (Edit: Oops! Third!!!)

I have been madly working in the background, trying to learn Vbull before I introduce it to my members.

I'm getting the permission set up, and man, there is alot to learn! I'm actually nervous about the final change, the day I introduce it! Yikes!

We have a big board, and it's going to take some time to do the final import. I think we'll have to close for a day or so.

Anyhow, I want to be able to answer all my members questions about it and I'm sure there will be many.

I have a test version set up for my mods to learn, and for me to learn the admin side of it. Soon, I will invite 10 members or so to learn and to ask questions so that they can help answer questions from others moving over for the grand opening.

OK, now for my question, (and any other tips are certainly welcome!!!)

Has anyone that has already done this written a FAQ for the change over?

As far as I can tell, the biggest thing will be that in Vbull, users no longer have the confusing login name vs. the display name confusion. (Thank Goodness!)

Other than that, what questions might they have?

If anyone has written a welcome to the new board post, I'd LOVE to see it!

Thank you ahead of time. I'm very excited to be moving to such a robust program and I'm really looking forward to learning more about vbull.

No kidding, I am nervous! That's for sure! I'm not good at coding, and have to hire out for hacks, imports, all the important stuff. I just don't have time to run the board, and to keep up with how to do hacks. (I'm a pianist, not a code monkey-- although I wish I were both!)

I hope this is in the right forum. Please move it if it's not. I really need help. Can you tell? :laugh: I'm nervous and giggly about this all!

Jen

[Jenlm]

PS: I would love to hook up with someone who has been through this change. I'd certainly be willing to pay someone to help me, if that is the route I should go.

I just want someone to hold my hanny. :o ~~~!!!

This is SO scary after 8 years with one company!!!

[Jenlm]

I have a quick question. Why the extra step, here?

Why, where it says "Quick Reply" on Vbull, does it say, "Please click on the of the quick reply icons in the posts above to activiate Quick Reply?"

Why the extra step? Why not just let folks quick reply? Since I'm just learning this software, I always have a devil of a time trying to remember where to click to enable it. It just seems like an unecessary extra step. I'm sure there is a reason for it, though. Right?

I have so many newbie questions. Which forum do I search to find the answers?

I'm' also having some firefox problems, like not being able to right click and paste into the quick reply boxes. Where do I ask these questions, or which forums to search?

OK... I'll quit and listen, now. Please forgive my giddy questions this morning. I'm just excited and looking forward to learning.

This board is so much better than what I'm used to! :)

Jen

[feldon23]

I have a quick question. Why the extra step, here?

Why, where it says "Quick Reply" on Vbull, does it say, "Please click on the of the quick reply icons in the posts above to activiate Quick Reply?"

Why the extra step? Why not just let folks quick reply? Since I'm just learning this software, I always have a devil of a time trying to remember where to click to enable it. It just seems like an unecessary extra step. I'm sure there is a reason for it, though. Right?
You'll notice at the top you can view the thread in "Threaded" mode. This means you'll see which posts were in response to which questions in a Tree view. Like Slashdot and other forums. If you don't tell vB which post you are replying to, it won't know the relationship.

This is optional on your forum. I have it turned off.

I have so many newbie questions. Which forum do I search to find the answers?
Depends on the question and type of question.

I'm' also having some firefox problems, like not being able to right click and paste into the quick reply boxes.
Firefox and Internet Explorer don't recognize the WYSIWYG post/text editor that vBulletin created as a place where you can Cut/Copy/Paste. Fortunately you can just use the keyboard shortcuts which have worked since 1984: Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V. ;)

Where do I ask these questions, or which forums to search?
I would search "firefox paste" maybe "firefox wysiwyg paste".

[feldon23]

Has anyone that has already done this written a FAQ for the change over?
Every forum import is different because users expect buttons and features to be in a certain place and you are moving them. I have written a brief document for people going from EZBoard to vBulletin, but that wouldn't help someone coming from another forum to vB. The best thing you can do is what you are already doing: install a test forum, have your moderators and a few others test it and learn it, and then you guys can educate everyone else. I would write a "Where'd everything go?" FAQ post/thread/article that points out the top 10 things like "How do I change my avatar?" based on the perspective of how your forum USED to work.

As far as I can tell, the biggest thing will be that in Vbull, users no longer have the confusing login name vs. the display name confusion. (Thank Goodness!)
That's funny because people ask about once every 2 weeks here "How do I add display name & nickname?" :)

No kidding, I am nervous! That's for sure! I'm not good at coding, and have to hire out for hacks
Fortunately on vBulletin, a lot of the types of addons and changes you might want can be done by uploading an XML file since vBulletin has a Plugin system. Hacking up the original PHP files shouldn't be necessary unless you are doing a really advanced mod or trying to link to Joomla, Coppermine, etc. Hopefully vBulletin 4 will fix this! :)

I hope this is in the right forum. Please move it if it's not. I really need help. Can you tell? :laugh: I'm nervous and giggly about this all!

Jen
This is the Pre-Sales forum. If you've already bought it, then specific questions about how to do a specific task go in How Do I. But so far your questions here seem of a general nature about vB.

[Jenlm]

Wow! Thank you so much, so far, Feldon! Now I'll graduate to "How do I" under 3.6, I take it.
Thank you again, so much for your answers to my questions.
I'm still going to be nervous doing the plug ins. I've never done this kind of thing!
I'll give it a try on the test board, I guess!!

Thanks again!
Jen