VB5 or IPB?

RAZE1

RAZE1

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Jul 17, 2013
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So I'm starting a new forum and I'm wondering what software to use. I have a vBulletin 4 license already but IMO vBulletin 4 was absolutely horrible. I haven't tried VB5 yet so I'd love to hear any feedback you guys have.

I can upgrade to 5 but it's actually cheaper to just get a new IPB license. I like the look of IPB much better but have never used their products.

Anyone got experience with both?
 


RAZE1 said:
Any specific reason? What is the dev community like, good for addons etc?
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Too many reasons to list. It is just a really good newer and better forum system overall in my opinion. It is made by some of the former vBulletin employees that made vBulletin 2 and 3 the best when they were new. Do some research on it before deciding on vBulletin or IPB. :thumbsup:

You can check out the community, add-ons, etc, here...

XenForo Community

Check out some of the videos here about...

XenForo’s Videos on Vimeo

Digital Point switched over to it back in January. Search google for "site:digitalpoint.com one month after switching" to read a thread about it.
 
One of the main features I require is some kind of groups section. Not permission groups but groups people can join. I see VB5 has this built in.
 
Netphase said:
Too many reasons to list. It is just a really good newer and better forum system overall in my opinion. It is made by some of the former vBulletin employees that made vBulletin 2 and 3 the best when they were new. Do some research on it before deciding on vBulletin or IPB. :thumbsup:

You can check out the community, add-ons, etc, here...

XenForo Community

Check out some of the videos here about...

XenForo’s Videos on Vimeo

Digital Point switched over to it back in January. Search google for "site:digitalpoint.com one month after switching" to read a thread about it.
Click to expand...
I'm not really a fan of how bulky vB is, really went to shit after v3. I imagine IPB is similar. I'll have a look at this!
 
????

VB 4 meh.
VB 5 stay the freak away from this.
IPB no thanks.
Xenforo it's just alright.

Go with the VB 3.8.x series.

It has EVERYTHING you could ever need to run a forum. WickedFire, Wafo, Phandroid, etc all still use it. All you have to do is modify it up a bit and it's modern again.

...

So many people want this brand new forum software for the wrong reasons.

There is nothing you can't do with VB 3.8x that you can't do with any new forum out there. It was the KING back in the day and it's still KING today. It was as good as forum software will ever get.

The backend of all these diff forum softwares are almost universal. Nothing is even new.

It's what you see on the front end, and 100% of that can be customized. VB is outdated in terms of design, but ALL of that can be changed around...

VB 3.8 is the most stable, FASTEST, lightest, securest, etc.

If you need anything more than 3.8 you are not running a forum, you're trying to build a social site, and you should NOT be using forum software.

(This is coming from someone who used PHPBB like 10 years ago when the forum craze started getting big, and has been with VB for years and years.)
 
contract said:
If you need anything more than 3.8 you are not running a forum, you're trying to build a social site, and you should NOT be using forum software.

(This is coming from someone who used PHPBB like 10 years ago when the forum craze started getting big, and has been with VB for years and years.)
Click to expand...

So what if I'm trying to build a social site, what should I be using then?
 
I wouldn't touch vBulletin 4 or 5. And the "social group" feature of vB that you mention is actually pretty bad and such an afterthought of an implementation that you can't really lean on it as a central feature of your community if that's what you'd like to do.

Using vBulletin 3.8.x locks you in to dead software. vB 3.8.x only looks good because it's followed by vB 4 and vB 5.

If you like the classic message board paradigm, I'd compare IPB, phpBB, SMF, or Xenforo.

It's alluring and seemingly prudent to optimize for a plugin ecosystem until you realize that the plugins you thought you'd need are already built-in to other solutions that are backed by forward-thinking developers. The only reason I'd consider it is if you have specific ideas of customizations you want that are central to the spirit of your forum and that you can verify that some specific plugins can help you get there.

Beyond that, I'd also consider some some modern approaches to forum software like Discourse and Moot.it.
 
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