vBulletin is Really Pissing Me Off

[David Jackson]

For months, I've been compiling content, so that I'd be all ready to go when I downloaded my vBulletin software. All of a sudden, VBulletin throws a monkey wrench into my plans.

Let me explain: All I want is a forum with a built-in blog - that's it. No fancy CMS Publishing Suite loaded with options, no whistles and bells - just a forum and a blog. That's all I want.

Anyway, VBulletin just informed me that in order to get the forum and the blog together, I have to purchase the new 4.0 version, which is a CMS Publishing Suite. The price is pretty reasonable, but that's not the problem.

Here's the problem: I NEVER buy the newest version of anything. I prefer to buy previous versions, until all the bugs have been worked out. Unfortunately, if I want the VBulletin product, I have to play by their rules - even if that means buying a product that may have a ton of bugs.

Hmmmmm...maybe I should take a second look at phpBB, or some other forum software. Sorry for the rant!

David Jackson

[StephenT]

Hey! If you can't rant here, where can ya?

[jkgourmet]

Hey David, that sucks. I know that you've been working really hard on this and have set yourself a deadline for launching this site. And, though I barely know you, I'm betting you're the kind of guy that doesn't deal with broken deadlines well - especially your own!

Vent all you like - it's YOUR turn.

[David Jackson]

I'm betting you're the kind of guy that doesn't deal with broken deadlines well - especially your own!

Timewise, I'm good, Jeanette. I'm still going to make my targeted launch date of the first week of November. Like any smart entrepreneur, I have a backup plan - Interspire's CMS software. It's $400 - but that's not a problem. I can easily afford it.

It just irks me that I may end up paying $400 for my second choice.

David Jackson

[jkgourmet]

Don't look at it that way, David. It IS your first choice - the 'other' choice would have been dealing with bugs while vBulletin ironed out their bugs on your time.

[pmaior]

That does suck David.

Are you married to the Blog built in ?

Although it seems like the ultimate solution to have the Blog and Forum in one platform, I chose to go with an open source platform Drupal and
use the plugin integration to make it look like it's on the same site.

There are plugins for all of the forums you mention and Simple Machines (Which I chose)

Still playing with it but if you want to take a look feel free. www.freecookingvideos.com. (http://www.freecookingvideos.com)


If you want to join I will approve you right away so you can see how the registration flows right through to the forum as well as the CMS. I actually disabled registration on the Forum side for more control.

Good luck and let me know if you want any more info.

Pablo

[David Jackson]

Don't look at it that way, David. It IS your first choice - the 'other' choice would have been dealing with bugs while vBulletin ironed out their bugs on your time.

Problem solved. I just received another e-mail from vBulletin support. I can purchase the new 4.0 CMS Publisher version (which isn't actually available yet) at the discounted pre-sale price. That means, I would actually be downloading the older 3.84 version, which is pretty much the same software that Lynn is using here.

The only drawback is, I can't get the blog plugin, because it's not available as a standalone option anymore. I'm not happy about that, because I'm a serious blogger. On the plus side, it gives me the opportunity to let vBulletin work out the bugs, and then I can upgrade later on and get the newer version with the blog.

Now that I've sufficiently confused the heck out of everyone... ;)

David Jackson

[David Jackson]

Are you married to the Blog built in ?

Pablo, thank you for your very generous offer! :) I really appreciate it, man. Yes, I really am married to the built-in blog - even if I have to wait for it. Also, I have a real comfort level with vBulletin's software.

I played around with it all summer, and I really like the ultra user-friendly administrative panel. And despite my rant, my extensive research has convinced me that vBulletin is far and away the best forum software.

And if I'm going to have a forum, I want the best forum software available.

David Jackson