vBulletin or other forum?

theChronic · 03-23-2006, 05:22 PM

Hey,
I'm running the joomla cms and was wondering what everyone would recommend I do for a forum. vBulletin is one of the options which can be used and I was wondering what is so special about it? There are a lot of free forum systems out there and then there is vbulletin which charges over $100. Whats the key to it, why is it so popular etc? Is there a way to get short URLs for it?

Peace
John

WNYWrestlingNews · 03-23-2006, 08:39 PM

Invision Power Boards are just as good as VBulletin. Clicdev.com runs one for free.

Kalina · 03-23-2006, 08:47 PM

I never really knew why vbulletin is so popular either, the only reason I've ever seen is because it's more professional.

I've used vbulletin, Invision Power Board, and phpBB and liked them all. I don't think any of them are better than the others, I have however heard lots about phpBB not being secure and people always having to add hacks to make it more secure. I think vbulletin is the securest but I am not sure compared to Invision Power Board. I think they're all good.

There's lesser known forum softwares but they don't come with many of the great, useful features we've come to know and love in vbulletin, Invision Power Board, and phpBB.

cimmeron · 03-23-2006, 11:15 PM

phpBB gets hacked alot, from my experience.

theChronic · 03-23-2006, 11:58 PM

I'm thinking vBulletin is going to get a lot of people signing up and willing to pay because its popularity will grow on itself since users will already know how to work it if they have taken part in other forums before

Dom · 03-24-2006, 04:08 AM

You say 'vBulletin is one of the options which can be used', are you planning to integrate it with Joomla? If so I believe the SMF/Joomla bridge is the best available atm but I think there are also others for phpBB etc. See this section of the Joomla forum for more info.

The current vB/Joomla bridge is not really something you would want to use on a production site and it would definitely be hard work to setup. I recently integrated Joomla articles with vB to the extent that you can comment on them in the forum, but doing a full integration (ie combined user database) would be a tricky job atm.

Chabbs · 03-24-2006, 09:00 AM

I had started off my forum using phpbb but was disappointed with the lack of options that it has at the admin level. I then decided to purchase the VB license and have no regrets.

Here are some strong points that I like about VB:

- Awesome customer support
- Tons of hacks for it
- Easy to use (very friendly for people who don't have a programming background)
- Very Secure
- Lots of options in the admin panel (I like lots of features. I feel that I get my money's worth). One of the features that I like is the ability to easily create different groups, permissions and promotions. An example of a promotion that I have on my forum is a member cannot use a signature until they reach ten posts. Once they reach ten posts they automatically get promoted to another group that has the permissions set for allowing signatures. I've set it up this way to control spam. It's been quite effective.

There are probably other strong points of the software but these are the ones that stand out the most for me. I cannot commment on other forum software as I haven't had any experience with them.

joeychgo · 03-27-2006, 05:25 PM

IMO, vBulletin is the way to go.

**T0d** · 03-30-2006, 09:45 PM

I started wtih Invision and went to VB.
VB had more options that I needed at the time such as auto-subscriptions and more admin options.

I haven't used IPB in a while but VB has been great.

etech-peter · 03-31-2006, 05:48 AM

vBulletin in terms of features, usability and easy to manage. The software gives the greatest amount of control to admin and moderators. Only thing is it's pricey as compared to IPB which has nearly all the same features as VBulletin and is cheaper... PhpBB is nice and free but don't expect too much from it.

John Scott · 04-05-2006, 02:00 PM

I've used both phpBB and vB extensively and I would say - hands down - vBulletin.

dojo · 04-08-2006, 12:12 PM

I am a phpBB fan, I have 2 IPBs and regret till this day not putting phpBB instead. I am the modder type. I mod the themes a lot and like playing with it. This is why ONLY phpBB has given me the freedom I need for this. As for it being hackable .. I have 4 phpBBs and not a problem. Anyway .. make sure you do back up often. there is not a single forum script that's impossible to hack.

codyturk · 04-08-2006, 12:31 PM

I've used ipb,phpbbs, and now vbulletin. I never liked phpbbs. Plus there for free and some people kind of look down on that. IPB was a good board until they started charging. They lost alot of fan loyalty when they started charging. When I purchased my first vbulletin 3 or 4 weeks ago, I feel in love with it right away.

What I like about vbulletin though was once you have your board you have access to all kinds of themes, hacks, etc... Vbulletin also has quite abit of features.

FinishHost.com · 04-08-2006, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by codyturk

Plus there for free and some people kind of look down on that.

I have wondered about that, I am thinking about adding a forum to my hosting company for
users to get help with some of there web site needs.
When we do add one if will be VB simply because we dont want to look "cheap"
do a lot of people share this veiw of a company when they are using free software?

I am not saying it is not a good product, i am trying to think of it from a customers view point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by codyturk

When I purchased my first vbulletin 3 or 4 weeks ago, I feel in love with it right away.

What I like about vbulletin though was once you have your board you have access to all kinds of themes, hacks, etc... Vbulletin also has quite abit of features.

Thats great to hear, maybe we will install it soon as well