question before i purchase

[vibes]

hi there

a few months ago i got some webspace for a forum and installed a version of vbulletin some guy gave me to test.
I know its wrong but I assure you it was just for trial purposes.
I messaged you guys to try and get a better price but it got me no where and 180$ is a lot to fork out for something you know nothing about.

anyway i want to get my project underway and so i want to purchase but I have one question.

say I get a total of 100 members. 100 new threads started every month, each with with at leat 20 replies. (so about 2000 posts)
how much hard disk memory would that take and how much traffic (in megs) will it generate?

I know v.bulletin will run as I tested it. I just dont know how it will hold up with what my allowance is with my host.

finally, for the love of god, how about a student discount?!

thanks
Vibes

[George L]

okay a few anwsers and points for you

1. vB owned license is US$160 not 180
2. there are no student discounts but there are discounts on bulk orders of 3+ vB licenses
3. as to disk space usage

vB uses both

- web disk space which is the web space your web host quotes as providing which stores vBulletin's php files and images used for vB such as smilies and icons and folder images

- mysql database space - this space on most web hosts is separate from web disk space.... this is where vB's posts/member and thread data is stored and this is the real space you should be concerned about.

using my own vB as a guide only

web disk space for vb's php files will be between 2 - 5MB depending on what other icons/images you use

mysql database space i have

520,000+ posts
4,550+ members
44,000 private messages
5,000+ attachments (max 75kb in size)
32,500+ threads
660 avatars
800 custom avatars

occupying 650MB of mysql disk space

so when you ask a web host how much disk space they allow, ask them for how much mysql database space do they allow as well as web disk space

i'd say for each 5,000 posts around 8MB of mysql database space (which is separate from web disk space)

[nuno]

only for A students

[vibes]

hehe well no A student here!

well thanks for the long response eva2000 answered a lot.
just one final question ( seriously my last ) say i went with the rental one for one year, during or after that one year, can I pay an upgrade to own it in full?

[George L]

if in the first 30 days after buying the leased license, you want to upgrade, you can for $85 (instead of $160). But there is no discount if doing it after the first 30 days. Inside the member's area is a link marked "Renew/Upgrade" next to each of your license(s). Click that link within 30 days and it will give you details for such an upgrade.

[vibes]

cool thanks.
you know a little more flexability would do a world of difference to the level of customer service people precieve you guys offer them before buying.
for me the only question thats left is if I should lease or buy. I would of prefered to lease it and when I found that I would really use it for more than a year, upgrade to the full and continue with the 30$ a year upgrades. a 10$ surcharge to upgrade ontop of the difference is understandable. but forcing an already paying customer to have to pay 160$ after the 30 days in order to own it, is not good customer care.
I mean people said no to the 'dark side' (warez) and come to pay for your service. no need to run them dry!

[vibes]

I bought it. Owned copy.
if warez users are considered pirates, I have been Captain Cook for more than 3 years.
This is the first piece of expensive software I have purchased since Windows 95/98 Upgrade.
hehe
buying expensive software is a genuinely new feeling.
friend says I bought it cause im older now... I just feel better about it. it feels....... fuzzy.

[Kaizen]

Seems to be a lot of warez people coming out of there shell recently and buying licences.

FBI Raides ** cough, cough **

[vibes]

naa FBI raids are nothing new.
they do it about once every year or 2 to let people know they are doing something about piracy.
Unfortunately most good things are corrupted.
For instance in my former ring, we encouraged people to purchase what they used and liked.
the whole point was a 'try before you buy' policy. Some did, others didnt . I bought most of my software, but as I said, I had bought nothing at the 160$ range for a long time. The only big software I used and didnt pay for was Windows and Im proud of that because i kept buying the same thing only the bugs were fixed. however winxp is an exception and ill buy that after sp1 release because they finally made something worth my money.
anyway I really dont want to talk about the rings themselves but Ill just tell you I know they are still around and will never go away. however not all rings are bad and not all have 100+ people and open to the public. some are as little as 5 people who use it privately to try the software to see if its good. they discover it, test it and if they like it, they might just show up to a website, ask a few questions and buy it. *cough *cough

[Kaizen]

My post wasn't personal to you. No need to defend yourself.

[vibes]

well your post implied that I bought it because of the crackdowns on warez sites (1 ring).
And I simply wanted to say that firstly, they will Never go down and also it was because of warez. I found out about v.bulletin to begin with and came around to buy it here today.