Give me a reason to buy vBulletin

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  • LaWebdiva
    New Member
    • Feb 2008
    • 1

    Give me a reason to buy vBulletin

    Hi,

    I've just installed and customized phpBB at www.pcsga.org/member_furum/ and it's not exactly what we need, although it's pretty close.

    We need something VERY simple to use and navigate. Our members are busy farmers, not too tech savvy, often with slow connections on older computers.

    We need the forum to be secure, with only selected forums viewable by the public, the rest private for our members only. Only our members will be able to post. (Up to 200 members.)

    Our members won't post much, just watch for announcements mostly, so automatic email notification of new threads, with full text, is a must. So is an extremely simple UI. For instance, the one for this forum, with all its whistles and bells, would scare them away in droves.

    They're used to using a Yahoo! email group, and most like it just fine because there's no effort on their part. It's just not private or secure enough.

    Can vBulletin be set up to work nearly like a Yahoo group? Can selected users or moderators be allowed to post via email? Can it be set up to be bare-bones simple?

    I'm looking for reasons why I should buy rather than go with the open source solutions . . . and to throw out all the work I've done already to set up phpBB . . .

    Thanks!
  • Chazel
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2007
    • 589
    • 4.0.0

    #2
    vBulletin can do everything you need it to do, but if you're looking for a simple (and I mean simple!) forum, then I'd recommend something else.

    You're going to find the most possibilities with vBulletin, but if you don't like the current GUI, then this isn't what you want.

    Comment

    • Onimua
      Senior Member
      • Apr 2005
      • 4572

      #3
      Originally posted by chaselafon
      vBulletin can do everything you need it to do, but if you're looking for a simple (and I mean simple!) forum, then I'd recommend something else.

      You're going to find the most possibilities with vBulletin, but if you don't like the current GUI, then this isn't what you want.
      No, not everything. One thing it doesn't do is post via email; you need to come to the forum to post to it.

      Many features of vBulletin can be disabled so that they don't appear at all (it depends on what you don't want to use) so everything you see now here won't actually be there if you disable them. You can also modify the templates to make them much more simple if you want, such as replacing all the images with links. vBulletin is very secure, and if any exploits are discovered it is patched within 24 hours or less and released.
      Congratulations on the death of vBulletin, Internet Brands.

      Comment

      • astrat
        Member
        • Jan 2008
        • 33

        #4
        I'll give you one simple reason ............ SUPPORT !!!

        The VB crew, along wth the others here on the forum are amazing !

        I just bought VB and had/have many "newbie" questions. All of mine were not only treated nicely, they were treated FAST ... even within hours !!!

        Art

        Comment

        • beishe8
          Senior Member
          • Oct 2005
          • 6782
          • 4.2.X

          #5
          Originally posted by Onimua
          No, not everything. One thing it doesn't do is post via email; you need to come to the forum to post to it.
          Yes,it lacks terribly posting in email and receiving new posts by email.
          As soon Jelsoft would build into the system that feature,sales would increase I believe and the OP's farmers would be very happy with a really secure,easy to use software.


          vB5 is unequivocally the best forum software, but not yet...

          Comment

          • Mr_Bob
            Senior Member
            • Sep 2004
            • 438

            #6
            Originally posted by beishe8
            Yes,it lacks terribly posting in email and receiving new posts by email.
            As soon Jelsoft would build into the system that feature,sales would increase I believe and the OP's farmers would be very happy with a really secure,easy to use software.
            Actually, that's half right .

            Members can subscribe to a thread or a whole forum and choose to receive instant updates on all activity via E-Mail. However yes, as far as adding new threads or replies using E-Mail, currently not built into Vbulletin *for a temporary solution I could have sworn I saw a plugin on vbulletin.org a while ago that acomplishes this, not 100% certain on it though*.

            Comment

            • beishe8
              Senior Member
              • Oct 2005
              • 6782
              • 4.2.X

              #7
              Originally posted by Mr_Bob
              ...I saw a plugin on vbulletin.org a while ago that acomplishes this, not 100% certain on it though*.
              Yes,there is one but it needs improvements.


              vB5 is unequivocally the best forum software, but not yet...

              Comment

              • Dilly
                Senior Member
                • Mar 2005
                • 1812

                #8
                Yes,it lacks terribly posting in email and receiving new posts by email.
                It doesn't lack. It's an online discussion forum, not an email group.

                Comment

                • beishe8
                  Senior Member
                  • Oct 2005
                  • 6782
                  • 4.2.X

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Dilly
                  It doesn't lack. It's an online discussion forum, not an email group.
                  In my opinion it does.
                  Just for an online discussion forum there would be no need for vBulletin 3.7's features at all. vBulletin is much-much more than that,and hopefully going to be even more in the future.


                  vB5 is unequivocally the best forum software, but not yet...

                  Comment

                  • Gullian
                    New Member
                    • Dec 2007
                    • 25

                    #10
                    I'll second what someone else said and say support! No rock goes unturned! Most questions that I've had in my mind have already been answered on this site. What more could you ask for?

                    Comment

                    • doubleclick
                      Senior Member
                      • Jun 2004
                      • 218

                      #11
                      Hello -

                      After visiting your site (which is awesome, btw), unless you intend to expand the scope, it seems you don't need a forum, but rather a classified ad script. Your discussion areas are Help Wanted, Seeking Work, For Sale, and Wanted.

                      vBulletin is a great script that I highly recommend under the right circumstances. It has a seeminly infinite array of features, both for admin, as well as for end users. However, all these options and "forum lingo", (thread, post, avatar, etc.) might intimitdate your users if they are as low-tech as you describe.

                      In your case, even if you add new discussion areas beyond the four you have now, if you choose vBulletin and "dumb it down" to the level you're talking about, it seems to me that you would you would be buying a race horse to pull a plow.

                      .02,
                      DC
                      Last edited by doubleclick; Fri 8 Feb '08, 4:15am.

                      Comment

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