Features Missing in vB

[ArunOnline]

I have more experience with Invision Power Board as I have been using it in my forum. I am taking up one more forum now from my friend and it is using vBulletin Board. I noticed that vBB lacks some very useful features in comparison to IPB.

One of the feature is the option to assign Search Engine spiders/bots with Member privillage, so that boards having forums with members only privillage can be indexed by search engine bots. Currently, vBB treats search engine bots as Guests, that they will see "No Permission" page when they hit such Members only forums. I noticed that a mod is available for this, but since mods are not officially supported, I am not very keen on it.

Another option that is missing is the ability for Moderators/Administrators to put members on moderation. i.e., whenever such a member posts in the forum, his/her posts have to be approved by a Moderator to make them visible in the forum, till then it will be invisible to other members.

[Steve F]

Another option that is missing is the ability for Moderators/Administrators to put members on moderation. i.e., whenever such a member posts in the forum, his/her posts have to be approved by a Moderator to make them visible in the forum, till then it will be invisible to other members.

It is actually quite possible with standard installation of vBulletin, with usergroup settings.

[ArunOnline]

Steve, I guess that is applicable for the "usergroup" and not per user/member, right ? Well, anyway that workaround is ok to accomplish the task, though requires more steps.

[mcm-never-dies]

One of the feature is the option to assign Search Engine spiders/bots with Member privillage, so that boards having forums with members only privillage can be indexed by search engine bots. Currently, vBB treats search engine bots as Guests, that they will see "No Permission" page when they hit such Members only forums. I noticed that a mod is available for this, but since mods are not officially supported, I am not very keen on it.

It isn't a good idea to use that anyways. Anyone could pretent to be a seearch enigine by editing a few browser settings, meaning that they can read everything without registering on your forum.

And also, vb has a lots of features which ipb doesn't have, likea plugin system to install modifications without editing files, a better template engine, much more settings to tweak your forum the way you like it. Take a look at the admin demo, and you'll see

Steve, I guess that is applicable for the "usergroup" and not per user/member, right ? Well, anyway that workaround is ok to accomplish the task, though requires more steps.

You can set it for each member, or for each usergroup, however you want

[derfy]

This would also be 'cloaking', would it not? Giving search engines more data than guests would see?

[Cromulent]

One of the feature is the option to assign Search Engine spiders/bots with Member privillage, so that boards having forums with members only privillage can be indexed by search engine bots. Currently, vBB treats search engine bots as Guests, that they will see "No Permission" page when they hit such Members only forums. I noticed that a mod is available for this, but since mods are not officially supported, I am not very keen on it.

That can get you kicked off the search engines for manipulating the data that they have access too. Search engines are only meant to see what a normal every day visitor to your site would see.

Basically that is a very bad idea, especially if someone reports you to Google and you get permanently banned from their listings.

[Quillz]

It isn't a good idea to use that anyways. Anyone could pretent to be a seearch enigine by editing a few browser settings, meaning that they can read everything without registering on your forum.

And also, vb has a lots of features which ipb doesn't have, likea plugin system to install modifications without editing files, a better template engine, much more settings to tweak your forum the way you like it. Take a look at the admin demo, and you'll see


You can set it for each member, or for each usergroup, however you want

Actually, IPB does have a plug-in system, although it's not used the same way that it's used in vB. And saying that vB has a "better" templating system is matter of opinion. I agree that it's easier to use, but I also know many others who prefer IPB's method.

[Floris]

You are free to use whatever forum software you wish to use. vBulletin is the marketleader and I recommend to use that. It has basically everything IPB has recently added in their commercial product. And probably a lot more. It's a matter of which software solution you think is best for your particular site.

[draligus]

i completely agree with floris