ZOMG, I is liek powered by vBulletin!!!

[DarkRaven]

I was innocently advertising my writers' forum ''Be Creative'' on another advertising board. Up out of the blue came this new writers site which was ''Powered By vBulletin''.

Any of you who have ever ran a writers' forum will know that the market is nigh saturated, and it is only by lots and lots of slogging that my board has over 300 members. This n00by fifteen year old had no idea what hard work he was getting himself into. It soon became clear to me that he had gone and used his mummy's credit card to get himself an expensive license, few gigs of hosting and then thought that he could take over the internet.

Of course he did do a good job with a theme, and his site looked passable. A few people did think that because he bought a vBulletin script, he was dedicated. Big mistake. Within a month I saw an offline notice saying ''The forum is closed because no one is active.''

Seriously! I mean, seriously! To all you kids out there, go ahead and buy vBulletin. It is great software, but people aren't going to join you just because you have a snazzy script. I started by board on a free host, and now I'm on paid hosting with MyBB (a free script), but by chasing down the right mods I have all I want. There is nothing more I despise than kids buying an expensive script and flashing it thinking it makes them better, because it doesn't.

Personally, I will only buy vBulletin when I get over a thousand members (I actually prefer small/medium sized communities FYI). Even then, I'll probably buy IPB. The fact that you have an expensive script does not make you better. It simply means you have more money than you need.

 

[golfbunny]

I agree that 'an expensive script does not make you better,' but I you're taking this one step too far in stating that 'it simply means you have more money that you need.'

 

[Cosmic]

I agree that 'an expensive script does not make you better,' but I you're taking this one step too far in stating that 'it simply means you have more money that you need.'

I agree with the above post. :lol:

 

[DarkRaven]

Eh, perhaps. I can honestly understand why a LARGE forum would upgrade to IPB/vB. I just get pissed off by the amount of kids, no other word for it, setting up forums on vB and expecting them to take off because they are ''Powered by vBulletin''. (More so vB than IPB right now. vB is ''cooler'').

I think that vB is good on large boards because it runs better, and has numerous features that admins on large forums need. Small to medium forums don't need that sort of power. At least I never saw the need. (And I've tried demos of vB, not to mention a small time as co-admin of a vB powered forum).

My opinion is that if you need that kind of power on a small community, you need to get yourself checked out.

 

[Kevin X Dragon]

I agree with yo that kid did know what he get him self into. Just because you have vB or IPB or because you have cool MODS. If you want to get active members you need to have a good community, unique ideas, and good reason for someone to join your forum. Also not all kid are like that. I am only 15 and I know how to run a forum.

 

[Jonathan]

vB is better. That's why I upgraded.

Simples.

 

[Snorki]

Just because you have an expensive script does make you better.

Compare 2 identical forums with the same number of posts and members about the same theme.

One forum is ProBoards.

The other is vBulletin.

Which would you rather join? Well It may not be as simple as others but the clear answer is VB.

 

[JakJak]

VB can be good for any type of forum. It is a good software but I can't work it out. 😛

 

[Ascent]

vB is best, not because it's paid, but because it's best.

 

[KMRock]

I have big plans, and, though I agree with the above, I feel that starting off with a vB community is the best way to go for me.

 

[DarkRaven]

Just because you have an expensive script does make you better.

Compare 2 identical forums with the same number of posts and members about the same theme.

One forum is ProBoards.

The other is vBulletin.

Which would you rather join? Well It may not be as simple as others but the clear answer is VB.

When has an example of this ever occurred? Also, you have just picked the worst forum script still in use 😛

I have never let a forum script decide why I join a forum. I look for plenty of other things first, mostly the people and the quality of the moderation. And Ecstacy, to be honest I was not pointing at that kind of situation, more the belief that i will take off. I am on a number of vB forums, and I am on a number of phpBB3 forums. I never really pay that much attention.

 

[Palace]

Yes I do agree but it doesnt mean every 15 year old goes like that, everyone likes different forum software, my favorite its MyBB, and Smf. 😉

 

[KMRock]

That is true, the script shouldn't matter but things like ads on free hosts should.

 

[Snorki]

50% of the reason why I join a forum is because of it's skin. Most free forums (Besides MyBB And SMF) in general that I have seen, have shitty forum skins, which is why I don't join most phpbb3 or any of those kind of forums.

On the other hand IPB and vBulletin have many beautiful skins and just IPB in general has such a nice smooth feel to it that attracts more members, and looks better in general (IMO).

 

[KMRock]

Great point, with vBulletin there are so many premium skins 🙂

 

[Palace]

50% of the reason why I join a forum is because of it's skin. Most free forums (Besides MyBB And SMF) in general that I have seen, have shitty forum skins, which is why I don't join most phpbb3 or any of those kind of forums.

On the other hand IPB and vBulletin have many beautiful skins and just IPB in general has such a nice smooth feel to it that attracts more members, and looks better in general (IMO).

Actually I will have to disagree with you about the skin part, SMF & MyBB has gtten alot better skin now than they used to. They are alot more professional and if you dont like them they can be easily editied. 😛 Smf has already created a legal skin simliar to greenfox heres a example here. Its my frineds forums. 😛 but yes it was posted on the theme site on simplemachines. 😉

 

[golfbunny]

In general, technology is over rated. One of the biggest mistakes a community administrator can make is to spend 90% of his time bothering with softwares.

 

[Cosmic]

That is true, the script shouldn't matter but things like ads on free hosts should.

The quality of a server should matter not its price. There are bad payed hosts (though not very many) and good free hosts (also not very many) but they do exist. If you are going to not join a forum based on its host then it is best to research the host. They could also be paying an optional fee on a host which provides free hosting. I would never deny joining a forum because of the price paid for it, though if it was a host I knew to have bad reputation I wouldn't join.

50% of the reason why I join a forum is because of it's skin. Most free forums (Besides MyBB And SMF) in general that I have seen, have shitty forum skins, which is why I don't join most phpbb3 or any of those kind of forums.

Forum software developers don't make all of the skins, but rather CSS coders. It's usually the admin's fault that he has a bad skin rather than the forum software developers' fault. Anyone can play with the template or CSS to their heart's content as long as they know CSS and HTML. It is true that more popular forums do have more skin coders though, which may be why the more popular phpBB3 has more skins than MyBB.

 

[fantanoice]

My word of advice, don't spend a cent until you're certain that it will pay off.

I've been running forums since I was 12 and have never considered purchasing anything (with 'real' money) for them until recently (and I'm now 18), because I'm now considering a paid domain.

Unless you know exactly what you're doing, I would never open up a brand new forum with a domain/paid host, simply because you don't know whether it will work out. I'd rather work my butt off to get 100 members on a free host then to pay $10-$100 to simply 'look better'.

After all, forums are about the content, not the host. A forum on ZB/Proboards/IF can still be just as good as a similar forum on IPB/VB is the content is good.

 

[Cosmic]

My word of advice, don't spend a cent until you're certain that it will pay off.

I've been running forums since I was 12 and have never considered purchasing anything (with 'real' money) for them until recently (and I'm now 18), because I'm now considering a paid domain.

Unless you know exactly what you're doing, I would never open up a brand new forum with a domain/paid host, simply because you don't know whether it will work out. I'd rather work my butt off to get 100 members on a free host then to pay $10-$100 to simply 'look better'.

After all, forums are about the content, not the host. A forum on ZB/Proboards/IF can still be just as good as a similar forum on IPB/VB is the content is good.

Very good points.