Shifting this site to vBulletin 5 Connect?

[owei]

Hello there!

Well, we are in the fourth year now and I was thinking of establishing a new forum software. vBulletin seems to me an appropriate and reliable piece of forum software. So, I was thinking to shift this site maybe late summer to "vBulletin Connect". Tell me what you think about that! Anybody has experience with vBulletin..?
Let me know!

http://www.vbulletin.com

cheers,
oli

[EricTRocks]

Looks like it has a lot of builtin features which would be nice and also hopefully little to no custom editing to get the look and feel needed. It did say you need to convert from phpBB to the previous version then upgrade but I think that is also not a big deal as long as you have the time to do it.

[rray]

That would be really nice
I don't have any experience with php/vbulletin myself, neither a lot of time - so I could only offer fiddling about with a parallel VB installation occasionally and see if I'm getting somewhere (mainly concerning migration I suppose)

Btw just in case .. @everyone what would be the most useful feature that this forum has that the new version should support too?

For me it's the active topics page - very useful for a forum like this that has quite a few "slow" days

[Hirazi Blue]

Would have been really nice, if the team had gotten an internal memo beforehand. This way it's hard to object. But hey, let me try: I have some strong reservations. phpbb is a beast, but after we've tamed it quite a bit it wasn't all that unruly. To me as an administrator the undoubtedly steep learning curve of such a switch (as you have to learn to tame a different beast) sounds problematic, apart from the usual mayhem that ensues when porting a forum database to some other forum software.

Let's just say I am somewhat skeptical...
;)

[owei]

@HB
Well...I pay for this site (well, most of the annual cost at least) and if I like to throw just a question directly to the userbase, I´ll do so. Not more, not less...I just want to check about some resonance...Don´t see why I should send a memo before, I know about your reservations already.

Yes, phpBB is a beast I personally don´t want to rely on it for ever. I won´t imagine a scenario when something serious is happening to it hackerwise...

VBulletin has a professional support and that would be handy thing.

I´m aware of the time that might be consumed, and right now I don´t know if and when I can do it, hopefully with some help. I´m thinking of this also, because I don´t want to risk some "quiet vanishing" like happened to the base...at least, not because of software problems ;)


cheers,
oli

[SamHowell]

Btw just in case .. @everyone what would be the most useful feature that this forum has that the new version should support too?

For me it's the active topics page - very useful for a forum like this that has quite a few "slow" days

Active topics page is the first place I visit so please keep this. Also a dedicated jobs board like XSI base would be a great addition.

[gustavoeb]

proper top row with history would be great, other then that I dont miss much features...
of course it is always great to be safe and rely on tech that is activily developed and supported, I am all for that, will contribute to the tip jar in case it is needed to make it happen. No experience with php and other forum technologies though...

do their support includes help with transition from phpBB?

[owei]

@SamHowell
...do you mean some extra layout part where jobs can be posted? We have some "Cooperation&Jobs" forum as you might notice ;)

@gustavoeb
...I don´t think they offer transfer support, but my concern is more about security and technology. For transition there is an converter (to VBulletin 4, as Eric already mentioned) and as we don´t use that much of extra and custom stuff, transferring the database *in theory* should not be a big problem...

[SamHowell]

@SamHowell
...do you mean some extra layout part where jobs can be posted? We have some "Cooperation&Jobs" forum as you might notice ;)

Yeah I was thinking of something new. With XSI base you were required to format your job posting according to a template and this made it tidy and consistent. It also had an "Available for Work" section included. It was displayed prominently on the front page.

The "Cooperation&Jobs" section is cool but it has become a little chaotic. It is not immediately obvious what is happening with all the job posts.

Basically I just want XSI Base to be re-created

[owei]

@SamHowell
...thanks for clarification...bear with me, don´t know what the base had since my last visit is so long ago ;) we can keep that in mind, thanks!

...recreation? hopefully not..that would mean absolute standstill ;)

[SamHowell]

@SamHowell
...thanks for clarification...bear with me, don´t know what the base had since my last visit is so long ago ;) we can keep that in mind, thanks!

...recreation? hopefully not..that would mean absolute standstill ;)

Cool

Keep up the good work.

[EricTRocks]

Security should be a top priority and if vBulletin is going to be the best, most regularly developed and patched software then that is a no brainer. Forum software isn't that much of a beast and from what it looks like, the vBulletin features are in line with that of phpBB if not better and easier to navigate for both users and moderators alike.

One thing to keep in mind is to not use any extravagant add-ons or templating systems. This is what prevented XSIBase from being frequently updated and in the end what killed it due to security issues. Things like a job board is nice but not really something I think is necessary. If companies are looking for Softimage users for a project, then know where to go to post. Here, creative heads, and the xsi mailing list. I'm not saying a proper job post / available for hire feature wouldn't be nice but honestly if it means sacrificing the immediate availability to keep the site updated and secure I think it should be skipped.

You could try to port this phpBB database into a test vBulletin site (maybe in a dev folder on your server?) and see if you hit any roadblocks before you actually do the swap.

[SamHowell]

Well if it means security being compromised then of course do whats right. Nobody wants another Softimage forum dying.

As for the jobs board not being necessary. Yes we do know where to go and the usual word of mouth system does work some of the time. Unfortunetly Softimage users are a rare breed and finding people at short notice can often be a problem. There are many competant Softimage freelancers in London that go nowhere near the mailing list and never have.