Is Vbulletin a full time job for Jelsoft ?

[Sharg]

Hi, I just wish to know if Vbulletin is a full time job for Jelsoft (John) ?

Thanks,
Benj

[doron]

I would guess so. I mean, they must have invested some money into the redesign.

[chrispadfield]

Personally, i would guess not - John hastn't even been at the forums once for about a month? (well not posted anyway) but i know James does manage this side of things - still i see that as a bit strange. If you create a community type product i would think you would want to be more part of it and exchanging ideas with the people who use it. The reason i assume he does not do that is because it is only a part time thing, or hobby, and he is too busy. A shame really.

[werehere]

I believe it is a full time venture for them basically. I know John also runs a large site which would have to take up some time as well, but they have obviously spent a considerable amount of time into this!

BTW - I am not speaking for John or Jelsoft. I am only a moderator and not speaking on their behalf, only my opinion :)

[Chris Schreiber]

Originally posted by chrispadfield
John hastn't even been at the forums once for about a month? (well not posted anyway) but i know James does manage this side of things

I actually prefer this arrangement myself.... I've managed teams of developers before, and have found that writing code is MUCH more productive if you keep the developers and end users apart. Now this doesn't mean John shouldn't know what is going on in here, but as long as James stays on top of the bugs and enhancements requests here, I feel that's a better way to handle things.

-Chris

[chrispadfield]

Yes, i see that that would make sense so long everything is passed back to him. I just know if it was my product i would want to see what was going on the whole time. Perhaps he does but dosen't post or it would open the flood gates of requests!

I just wonder if the development team (1) should be expanded. VBulletin is clearly becoming one of the most popular boards but there are still alternatives (wwwthreads and opentopic spring to mind) and new features (and performance) would surley take some of their customers. I just wonder if the update time is because it is too much work for 1 person?

[Chris Schreiber]

Originally posted by chrispadfield
... or it would open the flood gates of requests!

Yup! Either that or people would complain why he wasn't working on the next release :)

I just wonder if the development team should be expanded.

I really can't comment on this, but it is certainly possible that they may need some added help in the near future, especially with vB's growing popularity.

-Chris

[Sharg]

I would like an Official answer please.

Thanks,
Benj

[James]

Hi Benj,

Yes - Running Jelsoft is a full time job for both of us. However. vBulletin is only a part of what we do... we also maintain a large content site dedicated to Visual Basic programming (http://www.vb-world.net).

At the moment John is working mainly on developing the next version of vBulletin (and tackling a few of the trickier support issues). I'm spending most of my time working on vBulletin support, as well as a few ongoing projects (vBulletin new template designs, new Jelsoft corporate site and support system email integration).

In conclusion - we're both pretty busy :)

For a quick synopsis of the company, please check out http://www.jelsoft.com.

All the best,

James

[chrispadfield]

Hehe, you guys are based about 5 mins from where i used to go to school :)

[JimF]

Didn't you guys used to sell PC security programs at that site or something?

[James]

JimF,

Yes, we used to sell a couple of shareware security products - but they've now been discontinued so we can concentrate fully on vB(world and ulletin) :)

All the best,

James

[Sharg]

Ok, thanks for the answer.


Benj

[eva2000]

always nice to know the company that's making such a great product :)

[thetakerfan]

yup, always good to be informed

[john2k]

I'm currently a UBB user & learned about vBulletin a few months ago. I visit this website very regularly & now rarely go to the UBB website... I even participate more here than I did there. I know that sometime relatively soon my UBB days will be over...

I've been patiently waiting for the new release of vB before I make the transition from UBB.

Chances are that there are many other people like me who are also waiting for the new release/version before purchasing.

So, my prediction is that once the next version of this software is available there will be many new purchases which will result in an increased end userbase & vBulletin becoming more widely known among the web development community. As purchases of the software increases Jelsoft will have more money to hire additional support & development staff for vBulletin. With the additional staff the cycle will become even more efficient with faster development times, tech support & growth of the userbase.

I think we all know that for medium & large websites vB is clearly the best program and hopefully Jelsoft will take the necessary steps as more money begins to come in to take this product to the next level. In the long run, I don't think that vB will remain the #1 software program in this category if it remains a 2 person operation (not that John & James aren't doing very well now, because they are). vB is a relatively new program, I think it's only been around since April 2000 or so - once the momentum with the business surrounding vB starts I believe we will all be pleasantly surprised.

[Chris Schreiber]

Originally posted by john2k
I think we all know that for medium & large websites vB is clearly the best program and hopefully Jelsoft will take the necessary steps as more money begins to come in to take this product to the next level.

Very well said! I'd have to agree that vB is the best choice out there for mid-large forums, and I am just waiting to see the influx of new users when the next release is available :)

-Chris

[Aquamarine]

Death to ubb.

[DVD Plaza]

Unfortunately there are a lot of issues highlighted in these forums, and several e-mails I've sent to both James and John, that have gone without any official stance or response at all - worse of all bugs or issues where I would have expected Jelsoft to be advising they'd immediately implement the fixes/changes in the new version.

To that end my intention of defecting to VBulletin is dieing very very very quickly.

InfoPop has an absolutely outrageous attitude towards support, it's nothing short of disgusting (and if they were here in Australia I'd probably take action over it) - but at least it exists. From what I've seen thus far, and experienced myself, the only support here is from end-users...absolutely not good enough, I want to see official replies to all the problems being reported that they ARE fixed in the next releas - perhaps even a reply to two week old e-mails :(

[Freddie Bingham]

Yes that is the problem with vBulletin, the support does come from the end-users. For those of us who love to hack this is the perfect forum, for everyone else though I would have doubts. This is a topic that has been beaten to death though. You either accept the support for what it is and hope it gets better or you stick with ubb.

I do not think it is very wise of John to decide that he will go into "seclusion" and work on another version and just ignore support in the interim.

[James]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your message - official support does exist for vBulletin using the contact form on this page:
http://www.vbulletin.com/support/

All messages posted using the support form are answered within 2 working days (usually a lot quicker though) :)

If you have sent any emails that have not been responded to, please resend to support@vbulletin.com, and it'll be automatically submitted into the new contact system.

Regarding forums, it's not currently possible for me to answer all support form issues and read all forum posts (I can't be everywhere at once!). I encourage anyone who wants to draw my attention to a particular thread to drop a quick note to support@vbulletin.com.

As always, support is important to us (and something I am always working to improve).

All the best,

James