Looks like I'm gonna give IPB a go!

That is true. The vbulletin product Easy Forms manages database tables and from these tables, you can create a thread, private message someone or just store the data within the database. You can also manipulate (edit) the entry later. It is not that integrated within vbulletin as IP.C is within IPS. But for users who want to create a custom review tool or a small wiki, it is a great start. Its free, too. So everyone can take a look into it.

And as IPS usually says when questions to their IP.Content are asked: You can accomplish almost everything with Easy Forms with a little PHP and Mysql experience

 

If it's an easy way to set up custom content types with the fields you want (ie a database for something) and easy to get your data in there - great! There are plenty of ways to display that data (like the IPS homepage) either with something like WebTemplates or your own php script (which is easy enough in vB).

 

I've just spent a bunch of time looking through the easy forms mod and while nice, it isn't really anything like IP.C. However if all you needed was question forms that submitted to a thread or PM, then I suppose AWS is your uncle

@Raza, I never said you demanded anything. All I have done is spend a good deal of time providing my perspective so that you can make an informed decision for yourself. Like vB? Stick with it. Like IPB? Change to it. Its a tough decision (I know because I have made it) and in the end I stuck my money where I believe I will get the best return without a discount or a safety net.

If a discount and/or safety net is the only way you will make the change then my suggestion is to NOT make the change because you're clearly not convinced enough yourself and that it's reason enough to change.

HTHs

 

Slightly off topic, but because you just read about it, would it be possible for something like that to be of use to a classifieds forum somewhere?


Sticky note in classifieds says "location, price, model number, year" is required, but of course no one reads the sticky notes and moderators need to keep cleaning up the forum.

So set it up so that threads on that classifieds forum can only be started by using a form to fill out.


Sorry about the off topic nature of this post.

 

Looks like it could be. IMO only problem being expirations and keeping up to date. Easy to work around or create a schedule task to delete I suppose.

 

Thanks!

 

It submits to a database too - so you can extract that info later in your own pages - like IP.C. It seems like it'll do for the new section I want to create.

I appreciate your view on things btw

To sum up - it looked appealing at first, and I liked a lot of what I saw, but looking into it more it hasn't convinced me to shed a few hundred quid to check it out properly, let alone go with it. Additionally there are some things about it I'm not keen on - and consider detrimental.

I'll keep an eye on it tho.

 

Raza,

You seem like a straight shooter, so I'll respect that and cut straight to it without any sales patter or marketing fluff.

We want your business. I'd love you to convert your sites over from vB and I want you to be happy.

That said, you have to embrace the change and understand that IP.Board is a different product with a different philosophy and culture. The current product is the culmination of seven years of development (and arguably three more spent at Ikonboard, my first BB). IP.Board may have been considered by many as 'the second choice' but it is has never been written as a poor cousin to vB or a knock-off clone. We have made our own design decisions based on the feedback from our customers and through our own development. For what its worth, we brought many features to the market including topic multi-moderation and in-line moderation to name just two. We are the only viable forum system to include Open ID, Windows Live and Facebook log in with an extensible system to add your own. We are one of few forum systems that provide a MSSQL driver with a fully abstracted system to write your own (Oracle, PgSQL, etc).

We took a year out to re-write IP.Board 3. We wanted to write an extensible framework that could speed up development of future applications and provide an excellent base for the forum system. IP.Board 3 did not add many new features. This was a deliberate decision to allow us to deliver 3.0 as quickly as possible.

IP.Board 3.1 is the first release of the new framework to add significant new features. I wouldn't say that it is a direct response to "missing features from vB" but we have had a lot of feature suggestions from recent switchers and we've found the time to implement them. However, we're not simply going to run through a list of vB features and "add in the missing ones" because I don't feel that many are required or suit our product.

We've been progressing very well for seven years. We have customers ranging from scrap booking soccer moms through to Skype, EMI, NBC, etc. I don't say this to boast, but to merely illustrate that capitalising on vBs misstep isn't a "do or die" situation for us. Of course, we'd *love* yours or any other current vB owners business and I'll personally do all that I can to make you happy.

All we ask is that you embrace the change. Draw a line under vB if that's what you want to do and make the switch. Accept that it's a different system. Accept that some features will not be there. Accept that some of your members are going to complain initially. These are all requisites for successful switching. IP.Board is never going to be vB with a better corporate mentality. Several vB owners have switched successfully and are very happy with the software. There is always room for improvement and we've always worked closely with the community to drive the product forwards. But there is never any guarantee that a request will result in an inclusion regardless of who you are.

We have a lot of great things just around the corner. IP.Board 3.1 is shaping up to be an excellent release. We never do the bare minimum and we always try to improve on an existing implementation of a feature.

This year is going to be an excellent one for us. We have a few more things on the go that will really solidify our position.

If you feel that the time is not right to switch, then wait and see what happens. vB will at some point release a stable product that is useable but one has to ask "what is next?". Do you stick with them in the hope they release an amazing vB4.1 or do you decide that you like our philosophy and outlook more and will happily sacrifice ajax quick reply in return for a feature rich stable platform with a certain and bright future?

No amount of discount is going to answer that for you. And it shouldn't. I want you to switch because it's the right thing to do and not merely because you got a good deal.

 

Thanks for great info Matt!

It's this sort of interaction with customers (and potential customers) that makes your company come across as a 'customer-friendly' organization! In this day and age, it is absolutely necessary to 'connect' with your customers like this. Great work

 

Hey Matt,

I appreciate the reply ...although it does make me feel a bit like an elastic band - one minute I'll give it a shot, then maybe not, then again perhaps I will! :doh::lol:

How can anyone not like you guys when you take time out to reply to potential customers like this? Although that's not been an issue for me - one of the biggest reasons I am drawn to you guys is that I get a better, more human vibe from you than I do from the corporate machine that is IB. I'm under no illusion now that IB is all about making as much as they can as quick as they can - it will bite them in the backside in the long run, but then, I don't think they care much about that either.

And it really doesn't matter that you don't have every single feature that vB does - but to keep our members happy we need that to be offset; you need to give our members something significant in exchange. Currently, if I'm totally honest, I can't see much there that does. Also, the same would apply to keeping us admins happy (tho, I think for me personally that could be IP.C). Although I would like to add that there are certain features that vB does have and you should too - not because vB has them, but because they make sense, and because the end user appreciates or likes them, or they get users to hang around/use our sites more. They're just good features that work - and not having them would equal a negative. Put yourself in our shoes, if our members choose to use a competing site that uses vB(or phpbb/smf/whatever) instead of our IPB one because they get a better experience there - how do you think that will make us feel?

Of course feature-wise things may change with 3.1 or later - and I really don't doubt they will, but you'll see from this thread and my posts on your support forum that I personally need to make a decision soon, ideally by the end of this month - I've put the update to my oldest site off for far too long now. (And if I stick with vB for now, there's a good chance we're going custom with our next updates - so may not even get to consider IPB again)

That's why having some idea of what to expect and time-frames would be extremely helpful. If I knew 3.1 was due soon that would be plus points. If I knew Social groups (or member created mini-forums) was due in the future, that would be (huge) plus points. If I knew QR will make it within a few qtrs, again that would be more plus points (have you seen the QR in FB btw, it's quite nice ). Basically just knowing certain things are coming (doesn't nesc have to be the ones I mentioned) and having an idea of time frames would be very helpful not just to me, but every other potential ex-vB customer. You have to appreciate we have no idea of the release culture at IPS - 3.1 could be 6 months away, or longer for all we know.

Also I don't know why people keep going on about the discount - I really don't care about a discount (of course I wouldn't say no to one if there's one going). If your product is kick ass people will be more than happy to pay a little more. Although I do think your branding free fee is a bit cheeky tbh - it's almost twice the cost of an owned license and over $100 more than vB's fee. Also I don't like that the std copyright notice is a link too (bad for seo) - but that's a topic for another thread.

So in short:

• I like you guys - and certainly get good positive vibes.
• Currently (for me and I'd guess most admins) vB is a better product for our needs, even 3.8.
• (Partly because of the above point) I'd like some idea of what's coming and when
• I'd like a hassle-free way to tinker with the product to see whether I can do what I want with it (mainly talking IP.C here)

The last point is mostly relevant to just me I guess, and why I'd have liked a money-back promise. I don't want to go through the pal lava of selling it on if I don't like it. (And the online demo isn't the same.)

Anyway I hope this post/thread gives you a little insight into my thoughts, most of which I guess will be shared by many vB users considering a new platform too. If you take out the stuff more personal to me, I think point 3 above is probably the most important, and the one that would help you attract more of those ex-vB users at this point in time.

 

Just a quick update to say I have decided to give IPB more of an in-depth look by getting my first license :thumbup:

There are two more steps before I'll do a proper little write up tho,

2) After playing with it, do we decide to port our oldest site into it? I.e is it good enough for our needs?
3) If we do, what will the members think? Like it better? Hate it? Do we end up going back to vB? Or do we say 'why the hell didn't we do this earlier!!!!?'.

Stay tuned for the low down. Tho, it will probably take a month or two as we can't go live until 3.1 is out tbh :waiting:

I've decided it's worth a closer look because they seem to be on the same level as me in a number of important areas, and also because the devs communicate so much more with their customers. I don't mean just the official blog, but in threads and even on a personal level too... I know Matt's a dog lover and takes fitness and diet as seriously as me for example - chatting with the devs just gives the place a nice family feel - one I feel very welcomed in already.

Anyway, will keep those of you interested posted :cheers:

 

I'm definitely interested in your evaluations.

My plan was to take a copy of our database and use it at a completely different url, and only invite select people to evaluate it. Any thoughts on doing something like that?

I've also decided to do nothing 'real' until 3.1 comes out, but there is much work that we can do before then.

 

Raza, my guess is if Cheetah has no problems with it, it will work for your members.

 

Yep that sounds like a good idea. We usually go thro 3 stages, install on a local dev machine, importing a copy of the live database - then when it's 'complete' we install to an alternative domain such as .net behind htaccess and invite mods and a few members to put it through it's paces. Then when we're completely happy we make the transition to the live site/domain. Copy over styles/dbs etc but onto the latest snapshot of the live DB.

I'll prob do a little blog post called 'vB vs IPB' or sommin at some point :lol:

Lol, I'm sure she'll love walking all over the keyboard and hitting the delete key or something! Esp as it's her arch enemies site to go up first - she's a crafty so and so! :lol:

 

Any update on your experiences?

 

Hey SD,

Unfortunately I've been really busy so haven't been able to do much more with IPB.

Latest thoughts tho, were that I wasn't going to upgrade my biggest site because it still lacks some features my members would miss, or features I want for the site (such as no 'go to first unread post' while in a thread, no social groups, no proper search per section of cms (the way I wanted to use it anyway) etc).

However, I may use the license on a newer smaller site to test the water with real users, and then consider it for my other sites. Tho not 100% sure what I'm going to do yet as I am also learning some new languages for more 'custom' solutions (as I think no off-the-shelf package will give me what I really want).

If you are interested in IPB, I would suggest joining a site using the latest version and seeing if you think your members would be happy with the features - if so then 'rent' a hosted licence for a couple of months to see if you would be happy with the admin features. At the same time you'll see if their support/ethos is to your taste or not and get a better feel of how they do things. Also, if you use a lot of mods make sure they have any you used with vB - vB has more mods by far (tho I don't use many mods myself so it wasn't an issue for me). It really will boil down to personal taste, which company you feel you gel with better, and features for your users - because we're all different and our communities needs are different.

Hope that helps!

 

Technically IPB does have a 'go to first unread post', they just mark the entire thread as 'read' whenever a thread/topic is clicked on, regardless of how many posts have been displayed.

 

You didn't read my post properly :p

I think it was you that raised the issue on their forums originally wasn't it?

 

I'm a little embarrassed. I did not even know that button existed until your post and I went looking for it! : D

No, my point on the IPS forums was that the entire thread is marked as 'read' even if only the first page of posts are read, even if the thread is thousands of posts long. That makes it extremely difficult to read long threads.

 

I never realised it was a widely used feature until I launched a new design and forgot to add it to the skin - lots of people asked for it to be brought back! Since then I use it all the time too - it's handy when an old thread is brought back up, click on the first page to refresh your memory of what it's about, then click it to go to first unread post.