Good for a new site, not for existing ones

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  • galerio
    Member
    • Jan 2011
    • 60

    Good for a new site, not for existing ones

    How to loose members? It's simple answer, just upgrade your vbulletin 3 o 4 to this new piece of s.. ..oftware.
    How to fear members? The answer is the same as above.

    Only if you consider to start a completely new website you can install this vb 5, because this is not a forum software (or it doesn't seem). I perfectly know that every innovation can alarm people (= us, webmasters), but our scope is to offer the best web experience to our users, and to dramatically change things is not what we want to.
    That sayed, I personally never upgrade to it if it continues to look so different from a forum.

    The other things I hate is how it compose the page... too slow and users will see interface change while page is loading... too bad.
    A forum should be as clear as possible, it is something where an user can find a thing whithout difficulty, with just a simple look at homepage!

    A thing that I was expected to see is a responsive layout. Another mess.

    I really hope that development of vb4 will continue as there are many things to fix...
    Last edited by galerio; Thu 13 Sep '12, 9:06am. Reason: sorry for errors
  • Warden
    Member
    • Mar 2007
    • 60
    • 3.8.x

    #2
    I agree with you 100%.

    Comment

    • manebe
      Member
      • Jan 2011
      • 49

      #3
      Originally posted by galerio
      I really hope that development of vb4 will continue ad there are many things to fix...
      Absolutely agree !

      vB5 does not seem to be a "forum discussion board", instead of upgrading from vB4 to vB5 I am afraid I should start to look around.

      The worst thing is that vB Connect looks like a strange mix between Facebook and a classic forum, I am really not able to understand what is vB Connect for.

      Sad.

      Comment

      • galerio
        Member
        • Jan 2011
        • 60

        #4
        I want to explain what I mean with "A forum should be as clear as possible": with this VB5 there are pages full of things, everything seems mashed into a single page, but a forum user is someone that is looking for just one info! That's why we need to present every page with the essential information needed. Then, if the user want to look for somethingelse, we need to provide him a simple and clear tool to do it.
        This VB5 is really like facebook: a place where things are shooted over the user, and the user must superficially read and pass by. And it could interact with the threads just with some simple short message, like it happens on facebook. A forum, I think, is one of the last places where brain is still used to post messages. Places like facebook are made for teenagers who don't want to power up their brain. But where is the need of a software like facebook when there is already facebook?

        I know that to be competitive with the other forum software out there You have had just two choices: to be conservative or to be innovative. But your way to innovate the forum logic is too far from a forum concept and too similar to a social network.

        Simple and clear.

        The two words that should marked on a board platform must be them.

        Take a look at the breadcrumb of VB5: it is difficult to note that it is a breadcrumb and that you are, for example, in a sub-forum of a particular category.
        Look at other competitors' software like xenforo or ip.board: a simple and clean layout, but powerfull information if the user want to find them.

        Comment

        • Hall of Famer
          Senior Member
          • Apr 2009
          • 356
          • 3.8.x

          #5
          Well I'd agree with you from my experience with an old forum I used to own, which upgraded from VB3 to VB4. Our styles broke all of a sudden(there was no style converter back then, so...), and our assistant admins had no idea how to use stylevars and VB4's template system. This created some chaos, we managed to survive and grow but I always thought we'd be even better off without upgrading to VB4.

          VB5 is definitely targeting new customers, and I can see this from what they're doing. Hopefully the new customers they gain will be sufficient to cover the loss of old members leaving. But anyway, the future of VB depends strongly on new customers who are able and willing to pay more for their new product than old members trying to upgrade for as low price as possible. VB understands this, and most of us should too.

          Comment

          • Loco.M
            Senior Member
            • Mar 2005
            • 4319
            • 3.5.x

            #6
            Originally posted by galerio
            how to loose members? It's simple answer, just upgrade your vbulletin 3 o 4 to any beta software.

            ftfy
            -- Web Developer for hire
            ---Online Marketing Tools and Articles

            Comment

            • manebe
              Member
              • Jan 2011
              • 49

              #7
              Originally posted by Hall of Famer
              VB5 is definitely targeting new customers, and I can see this from what they're doing.
              Someone said one of the worst marketing mistake is targeting new customers
              without considering requests and needs from existing ones.

              Comment

              • Hall of Famer
                Senior Member
                • Apr 2009
                • 356
                • 3.8.x

                #8
                Originally posted by manebe
                Someone said one of the worst marketing mistake is targeting new customers
                without considering requests and needs from existing ones.
                Well I cant say I agree or disagree with you, I just point out what VB is apparently doing though. Just by looking at how much it costs to buy a new license compared to upgrading from existing license you will know what I am saying. In fact, I always see no point in upgrading, if you buy another license you will have two and you can make use of the other license based on what you need.

                Comment

                • galerio
                  Member
                  • Jan 2011
                  • 60

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Loco.M

                  how to loose members? It's simple answer, just upgrade your vbulletin 3 o 4 to any beta software.
                  ftfy
                  ahahah, yes, that's also true.

                  Originally posted by manebe
                  Someone said one of the worst marketing mistake is targeting new customers
                  without considering requests and needs from existing ones.
                  This is the trend: force user to play internet the way that the companies want. And the companies want to make profit. And the best way to make profit, is to instill in people the alienating idea that they are free to choose or decide or do, but they do what the companies want they do: stop thinking, go buying. Facebook is the perfect example: a big money machine where advertisements are masked everywhere, in fanpages, in likes, in the interests of friends (and also in the real sidebar ads).

                  For what is my forum project, I don't want to have such users on my board. That's why I will not upgrade to Vb5.

                  So, returning to the main topic, I think that no one should upgrade an existing board. But if you wanto to start a new project, this VB5 is a nice welcome.

                  Comment

                  • Hall of Famer
                    Senior Member
                    • Apr 2009
                    • 356
                    • 3.8.x

                    #10
                    In fact, it is more profitable for you to simply sell your VB4 license on a marketplace such as Digitalpoint and Theadminzone. You most likely will receive at least $100 in return, and it can be as much as $150 to $200 if you are lucky. It may take a few days to complete the transaction, but I'd say its a worthy investment. The net cost of 'upgrading' to VB5 will be much much less for you if you include the revenue from selling your old license. Upgrading is always the worst option, it has been and always will be.

                    And here's a thread I made about 6-12 months after VB4's initial release. It was even worse back in the old days, it proves again that there's no point in upgrading when you can be better off making use of your current license on something else.

                    Comment

                    • Deimos
                      Senior Member
                      • Oct 2002
                      • 1517
                      • 3.8.x

                      #11
                      Hmm, thinking on it, VB5 reminds me of one of those open source CMS applications, which has the rudimentry version of a forum built in.

                      I forget which one has that...phpnuke? something like that.

                      Only thing is, IB has done a piss poor job of creating it, bit like the CMS.

                      Why they even bothered, is anyone's guess.

                      Comment

                      • aberg
                        Senior Member
                        • Jul 2004
                        • 165

                        #12
                        I have the VB4 suite and because the tempory deal I have just buy a Vbulletin 5 license.
                        On this moment there is no CMS and for me as Vb4 suite user it is a mistake to buy this license.
                        Why?
                        My custom styles is gone and all plugins don't work.
                        It is as galerio write:
                        For existing (suite) users it is worthless to update to the new version.
                        Because this new version I think about to switching to Invision Board.
                        I know i had wait before buy this version but I had trust in Vbulletin, but with this new version that's gone.
                        With existing customers is not considered

                        Comment

                        • Wayne Luke
                          vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                          • Aug 2000
                          • 73981

                          #13
                          Originally posted by aberg
                          I have the VB4 suite and because the tempory deal I have just buy a Vbulletin 5 license.
                          On this moment there is no CMS and for me as Vb4 suite user it is a mistake to buy this license.
                          Why?
                          My custom styles is gone and all plugins don't work.
                          It is as galerio write:
                          For existing (suite) users it is worthless to update to the new version.
                          Because this new version I think about to switching to Invision Board.
                          I know i had wait before buy this version but I had trust in Vbulletin, but with this new version that's gone.
                          With existing customers is not considered
                          We announced that the CMS wouldn't be included ahead of time. Both on these forums and in an email to all customers. We've also been very explicit that styles and addons would not carry over. We also do not recommend running beta software on a live site.

                          We made these announcement specifically for existing customers. Most would update late when the functionality is what they need. This is also why the coupons offered right now are not "OMG Gotta Have It" discounts. We wanted to offer more discount to early adopters but not make people feel forced to purchase like some say they did in the 4.X Presale. We also provided an online demo to help people make decisions on way or another. Seems most decided against with the current demo. A new demo will be going online soon to showcase some of the functionality of vBulletin 5 better.

                          If you do have questions about the software, post in the proper support forums and we'll help you solve them.
                          Translations provided by Google.

                          Wayne Luke
                          The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                          vBulletin 5 API

                          Comment

                          • aberg
                            Senior Member
                            • Jul 2004
                            • 165

                            #14
                            Thanks for the answer.
                            I use Vbulletin now for years and mostly I like the new versions.
                            This is the first time I doubt of this will be a better one.
                            The lost of my plugin software and the lost of my custom template cost a lot of money and time.

                            I will wait for the final release before I update my live forum.
                            I hope that the final version will be better than this beta version

                            Comment

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