Very Reluctant to get vBulletin

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  • Alan Greenwich
    New Member
    • Jun 2010
    • 3

    Very Reluctant to get vBulletin

    Hi so I'm very familiar with Jelsoft's old product and surely thought vb4 was the way to go, but it seems since then a lot has change for the worse! Everywhere I look on your forums I see negativity and problems with the new takeover (I'm surprised this hasn't all but destroyed your sales).

    In any case I still have faith but Id like to see a list of problems and bugs with the current "stable" release of your software before purchasing a full license and running it on a commercial site. Is this possible?

    PS, just a small piece of advice, vanity images like this do not help your corporate image: http://files.vbulletin.com/images/cart/vbhero.png
  • Reeve of Shinra
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2001
    • 4325
    • 4.0.0

    #2
    I hope I don't get slapped with an infraction for this but its not just the current bugs, its the new bugs that get introduced with each new release. I've been using vbulletin since 2.0.1 came out in 2001 and even though I had a ton of mods installed, I never ever had issues upgrading until the vb4 series. With the vb4 series, things will randomly not work.

    A great example of this is if you go to the usercp (settings on the top of this page) and click the little arrow -- it should take you to the first unread post but its broken. It worked fine before that. If you could see the licensed members forum, you could get a better idea of the level of frustration we (customers) are having but that really would hurt sales so they keep the feedback hidden.


    Here is a link to the common issues people are experience with the upgrade from 4.0.3 to 4.0.4:


    You can click on the "tracker" link and see all the bugs reported for the 4.0.x series
    Plan, Do, Check, Act!

    Comment

    • Mike Anime
      Senior Member
      • Oct 2004
      • 1841
      • 3.7.x

      #3
      Originally posted by Reeve of Shinra
      I hope I don't get slapped with an infraction for this but its not just the current bugs, its the new bugs that get introduced with each new release. I've been using vbulletin since 2.0.1 came out in 2001 and even though I had a ton of mods installed, I never ever had issues upgrading until the vb4 series. With the vb4 series, things will randomly not work.

      A great example of this is if you go to the usercp (settings on the top of this page) and click the little arrow -- it should take you to the first unread post but its broken. It worked fine before that. If you could see the licensed members forum, you could get a better idea of the level of frustration we (customers) are having but that really would hurt sales so they keep the feedback hidden.


      Here is a link to the common issues people are experience with the upgrade from 4.0.3 to 4.0.4:


      You can click on the "tracker" link and see all the bugs reported for the 4.0.x series


      i have been with vB since 2004. vb 4 was a HUGE let down for me and i even sold off my licence. i use other software now and i am happy with it. Internet Brands is NOT Jelsoft. There is some progress going on here but it is not enough yet IMHO

      Comment

      • we_are_borg
        Senior Member
        • Aug 2004
        • 5454
        • 4.2.X

        #4
        Well i would recommend wait till 4.1 if you are not in a hurry the 4.0.x versions till now are disappointing, there bugs on bugs as you have seen. The problem of some bugs is some are not that bad but others can be a pain is the ... it depends on what your going to use.

        Comment

        • Alan Greenwich
          New Member
          • Jun 2010
          • 3

          #5
          Thank you guys for the helpful responses! Hilarious that IB relies on its users to answer these questions and doesn't even do so itself! Yes, I'd say vBulletin's public relations have gone down the drain unfortunately - I'll certainly recommend alternatives to acquaintances!

          That said, I've decided to go with Invision Power Board! Congrats IB, you killed beautiful software and lost another customer!

          Comment

          • 0ptima
            Senior Member
            • Jan 2002
            • 1557

            #6
            Originally posted by Alan Greenwich
            That said, I've decided to go with Invision Power Board! Congrats IB, you killed beautiful software and lost another customer!
            Just went to the IPB site and what they offer is very interesting and reasonably priced. You can get the forum, gallery and CMS for less than $240.00!
            Last edited by 0ptima; Sun 4 Jul '10, 8:56am. Reason: fixed typo

            Comment

            • Garthilk
              Senior Member
              • Dec 2009
              • 144

              #7
              Originally posted by Alan Greenwich
              Thank you guys for the helpful responses! Hilarious that IB relies on its users to answer these questions and doesn't even do so itself! Yes, I'd say vBulletin's public relations have gone down the drain unfortunately - I'll certainly recommend alternatives to acquaintances!

              That said, I've decided to go with Invision Power Board! Congrats IB, you killed beautiful software and lost another customer!
              I think you've made a good choice.

              Comment

              • calvingarfield
                Member
                • May 2010
                • 48
                • 4.0.x

                #8
                I was deciding on which software to choose IPB or VB just last month and I decided on

                IPB for one of my forums solely because it's much more stable, intuitive, and has an amazing gallery and blog system

                I however had to go with VB for my other forum, because of some mods available on VB, but i am now regretting that decision and i am ready to let go of the functionality of those mods and go with IPB for my second forum as well. I haven't had any problems with vbforum as such, but the vbcms is just awful. The blog system is ok, but ipb's blog system has more features.
                ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Visit India's technology discussion forum at TechCentral.in

                Comment

                • 0ptima
                  Senior Member
                  • Jan 2002
                  • 1557

                  #9
                  Originally posted by calvingarfield
                  I was deciding on which software to choose IPB or VB just last month and I decided on

                  IPB for one of my forums solely because it's much more stable, intuitive, and has an amazing gallery and blog system
                  Have any links handy with forums that use the gallery?

                  Comment

                  • PhoenixRising21
                    Member
                    • Feb 2010
                    • 35
                    • 4.0.x

                    #10
                    I like the vbulletin cms package myself and have no complaints but also it is my first forum anyway and i am a novice. As i mentioned elsewhere there are some very tech savvy people around on here who expect to achieve a lot more with their forums with mods and stuff who are running into bugs issues so for them it is obviously frustrating but with time the bugs will no doubt get resolved.
                    I am having a problem with message sending however but that is a fault of the server not the software. I am not sure yet how to sort that one out!

                    Comment

                    • Arkham
                      Senior Member
                      • Mar 2001
                      • 2233
                      • 4.1.x

                      #11
                      Originally posted by 0ptima
                      Just went to the IPB site and what they offer is very interesting and reasonably priced. You can get the forum, gallery and CMS for less than $240.00!
                      Renewals/support is $50/yr($25 for 6 mo.), Content is $30/yr ($15/6), Blog $20/yr ($10/6), Gallery is $20/yr ($10/6). It can all add up. Then with vB's next-version renewal/upgrade, it's probably a wash as far as how much either costs.

                      Of all the points of comparison between the two platforms, price really is really the weakest.

                      Comment

                      • JamieinNH
                        Senior Member
                        • May 2004
                        • 393
                        • 3.8.x

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Arkham
                        Renewals/support is $50/yr($25 for 6 mo.), Content is $30/yr ($15/6), Blog $20/yr ($10/6), Gallery is $20/yr ($10/6). It can all add up. Then with vB's next-version renewal/upgrade, it's probably a wash as far as how much either costs.

                        Of all the points of comparison between the two platforms, price really is really the weakest.
                        With the exception that IPB alllows you to skip cycles while vB won't.

                        Two Examples under both licenses. I will use the same version number for both even though they are different, just for simplicity sake...

                        Under vB if you like 3.8 and want to run it you can.. when vB 5.0 comes out, you will have to pay the full price, or a discounted price if they offer a presale or a sale for active license holders.

                        Under IPB if you like 3.8 and want to run it you can... when IPB 5.0 comes out you only have to pay the support fee for one term (6 months or $25) to get the latest and greatest.


                        The main difference being that vB will force you to upgrade at a higher price (be it the full price of a presale discounted price) and IPB only requires you to pay for 1 term of support which is $25 to upgrade.

                        There are tons of people that were running IPB 2.3.6 and when they released 3.1 all they had to pay was $25 to receive that version. Some of them hadn't paid anything in years, but was allowed to run they forums legally and when the upgrade came that they wanted, only had to pay $25 to get it.

                        When selecting any forum software, there are a ton of variables to consider.. and price is still one of them.

                        Jamie

                        Comment

                        • Arkham
                          Senior Member
                          • Mar 2001
                          • 2233
                          • 4.1.x

                          #13
                          In the end, paying (arbitrary here, for illustration) an avg of 50/yr for renewals over 3 years, or 150 bucks every three years, is the same amount of money. It might not fit everyone's cashflow situation, but it's the same amount of money.

                          Again, I was just normalizing some numbers for illustration (though I expect to see some replies from the Bu-Bu-$300-in-2yrs-to-Upgrade crowd. The only point of my original post was to point out that there is a substantial fee per year for a features-comparable IPB product. e.g. it's not just one lump sum for IPB for everything. Taking it all into consideration, the pricing is similar for both.

                          I'm not even talking about 3.8.x series - it's irrelevant to this situation. We're talking about new purchases of current versions.

                          Comment

                          • JamieinNH
                            Senior Member
                            • May 2004
                            • 393
                            • 3.8.x

                            #14
                            Originally posted by JamieinNH
                            Two Examples under both licenses. I will use the same version number for both even though they are different, just for simplicity sake...
                            You missed this in my post... I used the same versions, even older version just for simplicity sake... I could have used any version and the outcome would have been the same..

                            Originally posted by Arkham
                            In the end, paying (arbitrary here, for illustration) an avg of 50/yr for renewals over 3 years, or 150 bucks every three years, is the same amount of money. It might not fit everyone's cashflow situation, but it's the same amount of money.

                            Again, I was just normalizing some numbers for illustration (though I expect to see some replies from the Bu-Bu-$300-in-2yrs-to-Upgrade crowd. The only point of my original post was to point out that there is a substantial fee per year for a features-comparable IPB product. e.g. it's not just one lump sum for IPB for everything. Taking it all into consideration, the pricing is similar for both.
                            The point you're missing or at the very least not stating is you DON'T have to pay for support every six months unless it's needed under the IPB plan. You can pay every six months if you want or need support, but if you're running fine, you can skip any number of cycles and only pay for it when needed. So you're $150 every three years isn't a fair statement.. it could be that that Admin only needed support once in that period and that cost would be $25.

                            I agree with you that if you pay for support every cycle the fees are comparable, but you don't have to pay the fees unless you need something.

                            Like I said in my OP, there were users that had IPB 2.3.6 running that hadn't pay for support in years, (They had paid NOTHING) and when they came into the forums and asked what it would cost for them to upgrade and move to IPB 3.1 it was only $25.

                            Originally posted by Arkham
                            I'm not even talking about 3.8.x series - it's irrelevant to this situation. We're talking about new purchases of current versions.
                            Again, you might have missed the point.. my example was based off a version.. it would have been the same for any version.. but the only two we know about are 3.8 and 4.0 which was why I choose those two to base my example off of.. No one knows what the cost of vb 5.0 will be...

                            Bottom line is, when it comes to pricing, if support is renewed every cycle, then it's compatible.. but under the IPB license it's structured to be pro customer more so than vB's license structure. So, again like I said before anyone looking to buy a forum should look at ALL the variables and price is one of them. It's not a 'wash' like you would imply.

                            Jamie

                            Comment

                            • Arkham
                              Senior Member
                              • Mar 2001
                              • 2233
                              • 4.1.x

                              #15
                              Trust me, I didn't miss your points.

                              But to receive regular updates, you have to pay the fee don't you? As far as I know you need to pay that amount for updates (when I said 'support' i was factoring updates).

                              If that's not the case, and people don't mind not having the current version if released every six months, then yes, the cost can be cheaper over time.

                              Still the cost isn't drastically different, and as I said, there are many other more substantial points of comparison between the two. E.g. I'd kill for the IB.Content functionality, as the content-type funtionality for vB4 is practically worthless in it's current state.

                              Comment

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