vBulletin 4.x Publishing Suite Pre-Sales Questions

[EGS]

Hello,

I'm debating whether or not to upgrade to the vBulletin 4.x Publishing Suite or just keep the forum software. The price is really high and I need to know if the primary functions I require are included. I'll list my questions in number format for easier answering.

1. As a vBulletin 3.x Forum customer, is there a discount if I choose to upgrade to the 4.x Publishing Suite platform?
2. Are sub-domains supported for different areas of the site, such as the CMS being the root directory, forum being on a subdomain, blog on a subdomain, etc?
3. Compared with vBSEO, is there a built-in SEO/.htaccess/mod_rewrite module?
4. In regards to the question above, how would the built-in SEO module compare to vBSEO?
5. Is it possible to manually input title tags, meta description, and meta keyword tags?
6. Can there be possible, as with the forum, for areas of the site such as the blog and CMS, to be for specific usergroups?
7. Are vBulletin 3.x Forum plugins compatible with vBulletin 4.x forum?
8. Just like premium memberships, is it possible to charge for premium listings/posts (such as sticky threads in bold/color)?
9. Is it possible to have more than one forum on the same site/domain, ie for different purposes? (I'm thinking of having two forums on two separate subdomains with shared userbase etc)
10. In relation to the above question, is it possible for specific forums to have specific unique functions? IE, one as a marketplace, with paid listings?
11. I read that it has a support ticket system, is this for forum members as part of the vB 4.x suite for our members?
12. Does the vBulletin 4.x series take advantage of HTML 5 or XHTML?
13. Is it possible to implement RSS feeds from the forum and data from the database within the CMS/homepage/pages throughout the site?
14. Is there a forum archive?
15. I read that upgrades are free, so there is no yearly fee right?
16. Will vBulletin staff help with any problems, such as bugs during upgrade process? Since migrating and upgrading servers, it seems my MySQL database has a lot of tmp tables and unnecessary infrastructure that I need cleaned out professionally.
17. I have a designed already coded into valid XHTML/CSS. Would vBulletin staff be able to integrate it into vBulletin 4.x series for me
18. Just got an email informing me of vBulletin 5, please take vBulletin 5 into consideration in answering the above questions..

Please answer me as thoroughly as possible. Being disabled I really have no budget and the price has really raised even just for the forum software. I have been looking into the entire CMS/Forum Suite for quite some time now.

[Zachery]

1. Yes, it is 250 USD.
2. Yes, to a limited extent.
3/4. There is mod_rewrite support..
5. For some pages, yes.
6. Yes, permissions for everything.
7. Not normally, chances are no.
8. Not by default.
9. Not like that, by default
10. With modifications, possibly.
11. There is no support ticket system.
12. XHTML, when vb4 was built, html5 was in its infancy.
13. RSS feeds work in those areas assuming the access is public.
14. There is a lo bandwidth version of the site, there is not however an "archive". You'd need to be more specific.
15. New releases for the 4.x line are included in the cost of the license.
16. Problems with the upgrader, yes. We do not specifically provide MySQL support.
17. No.

[BirdOPrey5]

17. No
18. Very little has been released about VB5, these answers only cover VB4. We cannot answer most of these questions in regards to VB5.

[EGS]

I ask for more thorough answers, please.

[Zachery]

You're going to need to be more specific about which ones you want more information about. You seem to be a licensed customer, you have access to the software.

[EGS]

I need more thorough answers in regards to questions #2, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #13, #14, and #15 please..

[AusPhotography]

#15 vB4 is a one off fee, no more to pay
#14 there is an archive (eg. http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...hive/index.php on my site) and a Mobile skin

[wave-rice]

I need more thorough answers in regards to questions #2, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #13, #14, and #15 please..

#6: Through permissions you are able to configure who can see, post and comment on blog entries and articles. Using third-party modifications from vBulletin.org you can have a deeper level of customization to impose things such as post count requirements.

#7: No, because vBulletin 3.x and vBulletin 4.x use largely different code, only some smaller modifications will work. There are dedicated sections over at the modification site (vBulletin.org) for both vBulletin 3.x modifications and vBulletin 4.x modifications.

#8: Yes, but this is a system you'll need to implement yourself through permissions and maybe other modifications.

#11: A support ticket system can be implemented through third party modifications.

#15: Upgrades to vBulletin 4.x are provided free of charge to you, once you purchase a license there is no additional charge(s) unless you specifically add other features such as the Mobile Suite or Phone Support.

[BirdOPrey5]

#2) Honestly I have never seen this setup working well in a live forum. If this is a make or break requirement I would not count on it.

#10) Only by use of custom modifications which you would likely have to pay for someone to make unless you happen to be a good coder.

#13) I don't know what you are asking. It is possible to import content from RSS feeds but only into threads. It is possible to enable an external RSS feed of forums for other sites to get your content.

#14) Scroll of the bottom of this page. On the right hand side there are various links, one of them says "Archive" - so there is that.