vBulletin is not making any progress

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  • OrangeFlea
    Senior Member
    • Aug 2004
    • 154

    vBulletin is not making any progress

    I’ve been a vbulletin owner and user for the past 3 years, and up to this point I have been a happy vbulletin owner and user. Unfortunately, it’s hard these days – at least for me – to be immensely proud of the forum software I’ve elected to purchase (and re-purchase on an annual basis, albeit at a lesser fee) when I see so many FREE message boards popping up with features virtually comparable to vBulletin.

    Message boards will one day go the way of Usenet, especially in these modern times when even a zit-faced 12-year-old with no strong computer experience or a penny to their name can create, modify, and nurture a forum with a few simple clicks. They’re everywhere, and day by day, year by year, the novelty, the distinction, the brilliance of vBulletin relative to other message boards diminishes.

    What I’m trying to say is that I haven’t seen any groundbreaking features being retrofitted to vBulletin to separate itself from its competitors. Where is the fabled official custom management system that was supposed to be released under the vB banner? What of the rumored blog system?

    The two things going for vBulletin, as I see them, are the customer support teams and the mod/hack community. And even the hack community hasn’t really been up to par in terms of quality of their mods and the releases since the release of 3.5.

    Money isn’t an issue for me. I’m willing to buy the best board software available for my community, but it’s hard to spoil them with the best when joe shmoe next door has something that works just as well for free.
  • echamberlain
    Member
    • Aug 2006
    • 30
    • 3.6.x

    #2
    You really need to view vBulletin as a stable development platform. What separates vBulletin from its competitors is its developer base. Every feature you are looking for is available as a mod.

    Compared to other commerical software, vBulletin is basically free, allowing you to allocate your budget elsewhere. Even the QuickBooks accounting software for my site cost me more than vBulletin.

    You will never have a better site than the kiddies, if you rely on vBulletin to implement new features, because the kiddies will have the same features.

    If you want the best for your community, put your budget into performance, content, and developers and the kiddies can't compete.

    Comment

    • Jose Amaral Rego
      Senior Member
      • Feb 2005
      • 11058
      • 1.1.x

      #3
      Do not forget to say that support here is far and beyond any other boards. It takes time to get things right and to add something new to it. It should have not anything to do with the next fad.


      Keep it simple and true...

      Comment

      • OrangeFlea
        Senior Member
        • Aug 2004
        • 154

        #4
        Originally posted by echamberlain
        You really need to view vBulletin as a stable development platform. What separates vBulletin from its competitors is its developer base. Every feature you are looking for is available as a mod.

        Compared to other commerical software, vBulletin is basically free, allowing you to allocate your budget elsewhere. Even the QuickBooks accounting software for my site cost me more than vBulletin.

        You will never have a better site than the kiddies, if you rely on vBulletin to implement new features, because the kiddies will have the same features.

        If you want the best for your community, put your budget into performance, content, and developers and the kiddies can't compete.

        Mods are not supported by vBulletin. When a problem goes down with the software, a vBulletin representative will ask you to purge your forum software of all mods before they can even start to help you. What I'm looking for is the same level of support to be extended over to new features that can be supported by the vB crew. As far as content vs. features go, why not have both?

        The thing that bothers me is that vBulletin has promised new features, ones that they deem appropriate for the VB software lest they wouldn't have announced them in the first place, but I'm not seeing anything.

        vBulletin claims to be the best (or one of the best) but I'm not seeing features -- features that would correspond with CONTENT -- that blow the competition out of the water. In that regard, there's no gap, no distinction even though I'm paying like there is one.
        Last edited by OrangeFlea; Tue 27 Feb '07, 5:49pm.

        Comment

        • Sergio68
          Senior Member
          • May 2002
          • 817
          • 6.0.X

          #5
          Point 1 : I simply think that vBulletin is the best you can get today, then YOU have to make the difference becouse (show your ba**s) , believe me, there is difference between YOU and the next boy door, like there is difference between vBulletin and other stuff.

          Point 2: What can be done next ? They come out with an idea and next day someone other will start the copycat.

          Anyway, all this long quite after vb 3.6.4 it must be something
          Italian Body Building & Fitness : www.BodyWeb.com
          Italian unofficial support Forum : www.vBulletin.it

          Comment

          • Sergio68
            Senior Member
            • May 2002
            • 817
            • 6.0.X

            #6
            Originally posted by OrangeFlea
            Mods are not supported by vBulletin.
            They are also not sold by vBulletin
            Italian Body Building & Fitness : www.BodyWeb.com
            Italian unofficial support Forum : www.vBulletin.it

            Comment

            • Quillz
              Senior Member
              • Nov 2004
              • 2787
              • 5.0.X

              #7
              Originally posted by OrangeFlea
              Mods are not supported by vBulletin. When a problem goes down with the software, a vBulletin representative will ask you to purge your forum software of all mods before they can even start to help you. What I'm looking for is the same level of support to be extended over to new features that can be supported by the vB crew. As far as content vs. features go, why not have both?

              The thing that bothers me is that vBulletin has promised new features, ones that they deem appropriate for the VB software lest they wouldn't have announced them in the first place, but I'm not seeing anything.

              vBulletin claims to be the best (or one of the best) but I'm not seeing features -- features that would correspond with CONTENT -- that blow the competition out of the water. In that regard, there's no gap, no distinction even though I'm paying like there is one.
              True, mods are not supported by Jelsoft, but most of the popular mods these days are written as plug-ins, meaning you can simply toggle them on and off when needing support.
              Forums

              Comment

              • Greps
                Senior Member
                • Feb 2006
                • 436
                • 3.6.x

                #8
                I bet you anything that vB sales have been dropping recently. as the op has pointed out, people would always rather choose something which is free over something which is not, and some of those free message board scripts are now approaching vBulletin in functionality, having long surpassed vBulletin in their userbase, and hence the number of hacks and addons available, which again compensates for the lack of certain features.

                bottom line is, Jelsoft have to hurry up with rolling out vB 4 and all the rumored bells and whistles that are supposed to come with it

                Comment

                • itrends
                  New Member
                  • Jan 2007
                  • 20
                  • 3.6.x

                  #9
                  Care to show me some of these free boards that have the same features and stability and scalability?

                  Comment

                  • Finster
                    Senior Member
                    • Sep 2005
                    • 198
                    • 3.5.0 Pre-Release

                    #10
                    $150 for some vB software including tons of support here?!

                    Sorry, I think Jelsoft is giving it away!

                    Comment

                    • Floris
                      Senior Member
                      • Dec 2001
                      • 37767

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Finster
                      $150 for some vB software including tons of support here?!

                      Sorry, I think Jelsoft is giving it away!
                      $160.

                      Comment

                      • Zachery
                        Former vBulletin Support
                        • Jul 2002
                        • 59097

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Greps
                        I bet you anything that vB sales have been dropping recently. as the op has pointed out, people would always rather choose something which is free over something which is not, and some of those free message board scripts are now approaching vBulletin in functionality, having long surpassed vBulletin in their userbase, and hence the number of hacks and addons available, which again compensates for the lack of certain features.

                        bottom line is, Jelsoft have to hurry up with rolling out vB 4 and all the rumored bells and whistles that are supposed to come with it
                        Suprised you think that way.

                        Comment

                        • Sergio68
                          Senior Member
                          • May 2002
                          • 817
                          • 6.0.X

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Greps
                          I bet you anything that vB sales have been dropping recently. as the op has pointed out, people would always rather choose something which is free over something which is not, and some of those free message board scripts are now approaching vBulletin in functionality, having long surpassed vBulletin in their userbase, and hence the number of hacks and addons available, which again compensates for the lack of certain features.
                          Free stuff...

                          That's fine when you are playing, then just go on Google and type : "Download Whatever".
                          When your community start to grow up, thousands of users connected each day and cash start to flow to your bank account, then, believe me, you are looking for something like vB and 160 bucks (just for the first time) it's nothing for what you are doing.
                          Remember also that the money it's needed to pay people for work, work for improve everyday the software, pay them a penny and they will give you a penny worth software


                          P.S. I agree with you on server related software, things like mail servers, control panels, that stuff is such expensive, thousands of dollars. At that point I'll rather prefere a shortcut.
                          Italian Body Building & Fitness : www.BodyWeb.com
                          Italian unofficial support Forum : www.vBulletin.it

                          Comment

                          • echamberlain
                            Member
                            • Aug 2006
                            • 30
                            • 3.6.x

                            #14
                            Originally posted by OrangeFlea
                            vBulletin claims to be the best (or one of the best) but I'm not seeing features -- features that would correspond with CONTENT -- that blow the competition out of the water. In that regard, there's no gap, no distinction even though I'm paying like there is one.
                            Exactly what features are you expecting to see in the product?

                            If vBulletin cost me $1 per subscriber per month, maybe I could see your point. But at $160 for the license, you aren't exactly paying for a rapid development cycle.

                            Isn't it better not having every feature under the sun implemented? I've developed numerous mods that add value to my board and differentiate me from my competition. I don't want those features available as stock features.

                            Comment

                            • dreamer81
                              Senior Member
                              • May 2005
                              • 474
                              • 3.7.x

                              #15
                              The problem with unsupported mods and hacks, is that when vbulletin upgrade to a new version, all those mods and hacks has to be intalled all over. Specially templates! which is a pain in the ass.
                              My site
                              www.coolservice.dk

                              Comment

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