phpbb versus vBulletin

[akaFrankCastle]

I'm on quite a few forums. I've pretty much lost track of all the places I have registered a username at this point. One of the things I have noticed is that many of the larger and more established forums are using the vBulletin format/front than phpbb, which we are currently on.

So what do you guys think? Is vBulletin a more user friendly interface for you to use? Do you like the layouts and features better than phpbb? Would you prefer to see CCB on a vBulletin engine?

I have MUCH research to do before a migration would ever occur. Big questions like would our historical stuff translate over to a new format, importation of user accounts, etc. Just getting a feel for what you guys might like better.

[Justin]

Any common forums that are on vBulletin? I'm not sure I've paid attention enough to know the difference.

[akaFrankCastle]

ClassicBroncos.com
Fordtrucks.com

[D&D72]

I'm on a few that use vBulletin and they seem to work just fine. But I also like the unique look of this site vs others.

edit: I should say a few is like 3 others......

[landshark]

Vbull isn't free but it's more robust.

[Kinder]

It's all the same interweb to me, does either make life easier on the admin side?

[akaFrankCastle]

derka derka. Never seen an Admin section for a vBulletin site. Suppose I can start poking around on some of the test models and see what I can find out.

[hockeydad4-22]

One thing I like about this forum as apposed to a few others is the fact that I can navigate from the bottom of the page as well as the top. After reading 143 posts over 9 pages it gets tiresome to scroll back to the top to go to the next thread or return to the index page. All the bronco forums I utilize have it set up this way - but some of the other forums (fishing, other cars, hockey coaches etc...) they do not.

Beyond that, I have no idea what system they are on.

[landshark]

One thing I like about this forum as apposed to a few others is the fact that I can navigate from the bottom of the page as well as the top. After reading 143 posts over 9 pages it gets tiresome to scroll back to the top to go to the next thread or return to the index page. All the bronco forums I utilize have it set up this way - but some of the other forums (fishing, other cars, hockey coaches etc...) they do not.

Beyond that, I have no idea what system they are on.

allot of the navigation and features on these bulletin boards you can customize though the backend, CSS, PHP files.

The big difference between the two BB are features, support, and underlying code. Vbull is much more "professional" and has a very good backend along with pretty good support.

Because phpbb is "free" you are the mercy of hte community so to speak, the structure is a bit more scattered and the feature set is not as robust. There is more to it than that but thats the short version.

Also there is a server load issue with these bulletion boards that most are not aware of. They are very server intensive.. it takes quite a bit of computing power to run them as every visitor is hitting the database.. and its constantly saving to that database.. so these larger sites have ads to support the bandwidth cost and hosting, even with the advertising and "donations" i doubt they make much if any profit.. its more for the community in most cases.

I would contact the cb.com admins and talk them why they are Vbull vs phpbb..

[hockeydad4-22]

Anyone else just start hearing Charlie Brown's teachers talking in their mind as they were reading that?

[landshark]

Cliff Notes: You get what you pay for

[hockeydad4-22]

Cliff Notes: You get what you pay for

Thank you for "dumbing it down" for me there Chris.

[akaFrankCastle]

I would contact the cb.com admins and talk them why they are Vbull vs phpbb..

I've talked to Jon several times in the past about various BB related subjects but never posed the "why" question to him. Seeing the number of registered users over there as well as the average daily traffic, I'm sure the answer is as simple as your next post.

I think that as long as things continue to run smoothly here for the people we have on board, and so long as there is no degradation in the user experience, we'll probably stick with phpbb. At least until I can find the time to dive into vBulletin better and talk with some more knowledgeable people than myself.

[Justin]

Had a thought. One major advantage I just realized is that search on vBulletin is way better, as you can add multiple fields. I suspect that moderation is easier too. I'm trying to move one of my tech articles to the tech section and it's a bitch to find it.

[akaFrankCastle]

Multiple fields being keywords of multiple forums?

[Justin]

Having more fields that can make something searchable. Also couldn't moderate my own thread from the search results. Had to track it down in the original forum and moderate it that way.