Your thoughts on vBulletin

[achtungbaby]

Practically everyone who's participated in an online forum has used the vBulletin software at some point.

What do you guys think of it? 

[Chester]

<!--QuoteBegin-achtungbaby+Aug 22 2003, 09:40 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (achtungbaby @ Aug 22 2003, 09:40 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Practically everyone who's participated in an online forum has used the vBulletin software at some point.

What do you guys think of it? [/b][/quote]
These are all pretty much the same, no...at least in terms of interface and standard features?

Two random things:
1. Their "community forum" seems really fast. But maybe that's a server issue.
2. I come from Usenet, so my biggest gripe with online discussion forums is with how clumsy they are in terms of displaying post hierarchy trees. But...well, most don't and the ones that do display hierarchy do it so clumsily that one almost prefers the "straight-through" approach. And, of course, when hierarchy is not taken into account, discourse changes to accomodate for that form.

Nonetheless, I still like seeing which posts people are specifically responding to: the original post, a sub-post, or a sub-sub-post. But I'm freaky that way.

I think the best I've seen in terms of usability and speed is the way Google has done their Google Groups Usenet "browser."

But that doesn't have much to do with you.

So, basically, at first glance, I don't see much difference between vBulletin and Invision.

[achtungbaby]

<!--QuoteBegin-Chester+Aug 22 2003, 11:30 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Chester @ Aug 22 2003, 11:30 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-achtungbaby+Aug 22 2003, 09:40 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (achtungbaby @ Aug 22 2003, 09:40 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Practically everyone who's participated in an online forum has used the vBulletin software at some point.

What do you guys think of it? [/b][/quote]
These are all pretty much the same, no...at least in terms of interface and standard features?

Two random things:
1. Their "community forum" seems really fast. But maybe that's a server issue.
2. I come from Usenet, so my biggest gripe with online discussion forums is with how clumsy they are in terms of displaying post hierarchy trees. But...well, most don't and the ones that do display hierarchy do it so clumsily that one almost prefers the "straight-through" approach. And, of course, when hierarchy is not taken into account, discourse changes to accomodate for that form.

Nonetheless, I still like seeing which posts people are specifically responding to: the original post, a sub-post, or a sub-sub-post. But I'm freaky that way.

I think the best I've seen in terms of usability and speed is the way Google has done their Google Groups Usenet "browser."

But that doesn't have much to do with you.

So, basically, at first glance, I don't see much difference between vBulletin and Invision. [/b][/quote]
I think, generally, from a user's perspective, there usually isn't a huge difference between certain applications.&nbsp; Prior to Invisionboard, YW was using phpBB, and when I'd asked people to compare the two, I got a lot of responses similar to yours.&nbsp; From an administrative point of view, however, I felt like there were considerable differences...there was and is just so much more flexibility and control that admins/moderators have in setting up a board.&nbsp; I also tend to think that where applications can differentiate, even in the smallest of areas, the software tends to continue to develop and further distinguish itself.&nbsp;

Which brings me to vBulletin 3.0.&nbsp; It's still in its beta release...I'm actually testing it out now, using a copy of our current forum db -- http://forumbeta.yellowworld.org

Lemme know what you think, y'all.

[seanp]

There are more options to configure your board's layout like this:)

[YuheiCarreau]

<!--QuoteBegin-achtungbaby+Aug 22 2003, 04:32 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (achtungbaby @ Aug 22 2003, 04:32 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-Chester+Aug 22 2003, 11:30 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Chester @ Aug 22 2003, 11:30 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-achtungbaby+Aug 22 2003, 09:40 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (achtungbaby @ Aug 22 2003, 09:40 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Practically everyone who's participated in an online forum has used the vBulletin software at some point.

What do you guys think of it? [/b][/quote]
These are all pretty much the same, no...at least in terms of interface and standard features?

Two random things:
1. Their "community forum" seems really fast. But maybe that's a server issue.
2. I come from Usenet, so my biggest gripe with online discussion forums is with how clumsy they are in terms of displaying post hierarchy trees. But...well, most don't and the ones that do display hierarchy do it so clumsily that one almost prefers the "straight-through" approach. And, of course, when hierarchy is not taken into account, discourse changes to accomodate for that form.

Nonetheless, I still like seeing which posts people are specifically responding to: the original post, a sub-post, or a sub-sub-post. But I'm freaky that way.

I think the best I've seen in terms of usability and speed is the way Google has done their Google Groups Usenet "browser."

But that doesn't have much to do with you.

So, basically, at first glance, I don't see much difference between vBulletin and Invision. [/b][/quote]
I think, generally, from a user's perspective, there usually isn't a huge difference between certain applications. Prior to Invisionboard, YW was using phpBB, and when I'd asked people to compare the two, I got a lot of responses similar to yours. From an administrative point of view, however, I felt like there were considerable differences...there was and is just so much more flexibility and control that admins/moderators have in setting up a board. I also tend to think that where applications can differentiate, even in the smallest of areas, the software tends to continue to develop and further distinguish itself.

Which brings me to vBulletin 3.0. It's still in its beta release...I'm actually testing it out now, using a copy of our current forum db -- http://forumbeta.yellowworld.org

Lemme know what you think, y'all. [/b][/quote]
My first impression is ugh. That is a nasty color scheme, and the icons are ugly too. I can somewhat sympathize with Chester's complaint about not being able to see response hierarchies, except for most YW users are pretty good about using the quote function, which is just as good for when you want to know which post a person is replying to. Plus, except for the topics that get really busy, or when a people decide to reply to the first post without reading the posts following it, the discussion on most YW threads is pretty linear.

[SunWuKong]

<!--QuoteBegin-Chester+Aug 22 2003, 02:30 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Chester @ Aug 22 2003, 02:30 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> 2. I come from Usenet, so my biggest gripe with online discussion forums is with how clumsy they are in terms of displaying post hierarchy trees. But...well, most don't and the ones that do display hierarchy do it so clumsily that one almost prefers the "straight-through" approach. And, of course, when hierarchy is not taken into account, discourse changes to accomodate for that form. [/b][/quote]
i used to think like you, and when i first encountered the "straight down" approach, i thought it was very limiting and backwards.&nbsp; but now that i've gotten used to it, i think i prefer it this way because it emulates a real conversation more.

[mr. x]

it seems to me we've actually LOST features

so whats the gain? and can we even change this dreary purple color look?

oh and can someone help me with my avatar? its a bit large

[SunWuKong]

Originally Posted by mr. x

it seems to me we've actually LOST features

so whats the gain? and can we even change this dreary purple color look?

oh and can someone help me with my avatar? its a bit large

lots of work needs to be done on it. be patient, young one. ;)

[hooligan]

but, bigger = better right? I <3 purple

[achtungbaby]

Moving to Support

[achtungbaby]

Regarding why we're using vBulletin, I think you'll be able to notice the changes soon enough. But like with any change, getting used to it can take a little while.

Regarding your avatar: reduce the size to 80x80. It was uploaded from another site and its size was automatically resized. But because the avatar has now been stored, it came as-is, which is too friggen large.

[ChairmanMah]

:( i had the shortcut to active topics on my desktop and now there is no active topic option on vbulletin.

[ChairmanMah]

no active topics link.
only place i went.
that sucks.

[achtungbaby]

Active topics are there. Look at the arrows next to the "Welcome Chairmanmah" thing...

[achtungbaby]

And please resize your avatars...!