vBulletin ... Why? ...

nobaloney

NoBaloney Internet Svcs - In Memoriam †
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I see a lot of people using vBulletin for their forums, including DirectAdmin.

Since vBulletin is not free and lots of others (for example phpBB, SMF, etc.), why do you pay to use vBulletin?

What does it do that the others don't do for you?

This is a serious question, so I can make a decision.

Thanks.

Jeff
 
The forum arena has a very dynamic landscape. There is no better forum. I say go with what you're familiar with. However, *I* would choose Invision (version 2, when it's gold) or vBulletin 3 if you want features. phpBB is a clean board, but very limited without mods.

Why do I choose Invision? Simple: It's free; and in my option has a more complete feature set. Any board given mods can compete, but mods are a hassle not worth being dealt with. Security (keeping things up to date) is more important than features/mods, and I simply don't have the time to re-apply mods, etc. whenever a new version comes out. I need these things built-in for me; no mods required. That's why I use Invision. It best suites my needs.

As far as vBulletin goes, in my opinion, vB is pretty much level with Invision, plus whatever cost vB tacks on. Of course, to get support directly from Invision you need to pay them too, but I've not needed that so far.

So it basically boils down to what your needs are.
 
l0rdphi1 said:
The forum arena has a very dynamic landscape. There is no better forum. I say go with what you're familiar with. However, *I* would choose Invision (version 2, when it's gold)
Where do I find Invision? My google searches lead me only to Invision Power Board, which is not free.
or vBulletin 3 if you want features. phpBB is a clean board, but very limited without mods.
Can you give me an example of the kinds of features you mean?

Thanks.

Jeff
 
IPB

Invision Power Board is what he's talking about. It is very very nice but not as intuitive as vBulletin. IMHO

IPB is free you only have to pay if you want support. :p

It is also already a part of phils Installatron. Which is probably the coolest thing I've come across in the world of hosting software.

But then again it's not free. :D
hehe

I just set up vBulletin 3.0.1 today for a friend and it rocks! It took 5 minutes to download and have it working. The BIG difference that I see between vBulletin and the others is the Admin control panel is all encompassing in vBulletin. It has everything in there. Support is great too.

I paid for Direct Admin becuase it's great and has a very active development and support community. vBulletin is worth it but if you want free use Invision.
 
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I don't mind paying for products, but my original questions was based on wanting to learn why people were choosing a non-Free product when there were so many free products available.

If the only difference is support, then I'd probably go for the free software, as I don't need support.

But I still don't see where Invision is free.

Their website offers a "Purchase for Download" option, and a "Free Trial Version" download.

According to the website the "Free Trial Version" specifically says "Free Trial" at the bottom of each page. Since I don't want my clients to see that, the "Free Trial Version" doesn't look like what I want.

Is that what you're writing about? The Free Trial Version?

Jeff
 
Thanks, Phil.

Offering marked "free trials" to clients is fine, but using it myself, in the long term, to host my own forums, is probably not what I'd like to do.

I'll give it a try.

Jeff
 
Invision use to be free, but they changed this a few months ago. In their current license and even in their forums, they specifically state if you plan to use their bb software permanently they expect you to pay their licensing fee. Version 2 explicitly states "Trial" in the copyright line. There is no time limit though for using the trial.

For those who think it's still free, I suggest you go over and ask them. They'll tell you it's not.
 
This is the last place i expected to find such thread.

Just use phpBB. Its truly free, its not overbloated with features you'll never need.

Invision is overbloated forum. Its *not* free. And with invision marketing strategy i'm sure all users who have "free trial" might be forced to end their trial and that might happen very soon. So for business forums stay away from it.

And if you want to buy some forum then get vBulletin.
 
macro_mote said:
in their forums, they specifically state if you plan to use their bb software permanently they expect you to pay their licensing fee.
Different pages on their site say different things.
Version 2 explicitly states "Trial" in the copyright line. There is no time limit though for using the trial.
As I was able to verify this morning doing some trial installs.

Version 2 does have the "Trial" copyright; 1.x doesn't. For both downloads the license states that if you use it permanently you must pay for it.
For those who think it's still free, I suggest you go over and ask them. They'll tell you it's not.
I called them this morning, before reading your post here.

The bottom line is they're changing to a paid-only model beginning with version 2, but they will allow continued free use of version 1.x.

The gent I spoke to admitted that they won't enforce the paid only rule for Version 2, but nevertheless, it's not free software any longer.

Jeff
 
CyberAlien said:
This is the last place i expected to find such thread.
I thought it was a fair place to post it; it's the "Off-Topic Discussion forum, the thread is hosted on vBulletin software, and this is a friendly community of which I'm a member.

So why shouldn't I have posted here?

True if I'd posted on webhostingtalk I would have gotten a thousand replies by now, but I'd bet they wouldn't have been near as helpful.
Just use phpBB. Its truly free, its not overbloated with features you'll never need.
Such as? Now you've hit on the question I've asked, but you've not yet answered it. Lots of other forum software is free as well, including Ikonboard and SMF; why should I use phpBB?
Invision is overbloated forum. Its *not* free. And with invision marketing strategy i'm sure all users who have "free trial" might be forced to end their trial and that might happen very soon. So for business forums stay away from it.
They can never make 1.x unfree; they can't change the license.

What they can do is take it off their download pages, which they haven't done yet.

But for some users it'll always be available, since CPANEL and others have been given permission to offer it to their clients from their own downloads.
And if you want to buy some forum then get vBulletin.
Why? What are the advantages?

Jeff
 
l0rdphi1 said:
Ah, I see. I'll probably be purchasing version 2 then. :)
You don't have to feel locked in Phi1; you can always use the Ikonboard Invision to Ikonboard conversion script :) .

Not that I'd ever suggest using a perl based forum, would I :eek: ?

Jeff
 
jlasman said:
I thought it was a fair place to post it; it's the "Off-Topic Discussion forum, the thread is hosted on vBulletin software, and this is a friendly community of which I'm a member.
You misunderstood me. I meant directadmin forum. Such threads are normal on WHT and other similar forum, but i didn't expect such thread to be on directadmin forum too.
 
This is the off-topic forum:
Anything related to control panels, hosting in general, dirty jokes, or whatever else comes to mind.
I don't see anything wrong with it here :)
 
I'm not saying its wrong with posting it here...

just ignore my post, except for part where it sais that invision is awful overbloated forum.
 
Yes, of course. Sorry, I didn't mean that is was wrong, I just meant that it certainly was O.K.. :)
 
The battle of the forum software is never-ending.... go to WHT, EV1 forums or anywhere else and find the 30+ page topics on "which forum should i use" you are guarantee to find many of them, there is no real answer... There is no best forum software, only whats the best for you.

I would say go around all of the main ones try the demos, install them and play with them, after trying them all just look back and ask yourself which one of them you personally felt most comfortable with... :)

Chris
 
ProWebUK said:
The battle of the forum software is never-ending.... go to WHT, EV1 forums or anywhere else and find the 30+ page topics on "which forum should i use"
Which is exactly why I went here instead :) .
I would say go around all of the main ones try the demos, install them and play with them, after trying them all just look back and ask yourself which one of them you personally felt most comfortable with... :)
Yes, but still no one has posted any answers to my main question... why would anyone pay for vBulletin when there are so many good free ones. In other words, what's so special about vBulletin?

Mark?

Chris?

Anyone?

Thanks.

Jeff
 
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