Switched from vBulletin to SMF

Discussion in 'SMF Discussions' started by SimpleMan, Nov 29, 2009.

  1. SimpleMan

    SimpleMan Adept

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    Well, after weeks of research, lost sleep, and gossip reading, I decided to switch away from vBulletin and chose SMF. I found that RC 2.0 really had a lot of the features I thought SMF was originally missing and I really like the default curve theme with a little work. One thing I quickly noticed is that SMF loaded noticeably more quickly at the default level.

    The conversion went quite well; I didn't lose much other than the banned accounts which needed to be re-banned. I simply looked up the user numbers and took care of that. A bit tedious, but considering the conversion it wasn't much trouble.

    The members seem pretty happy right now. I've had the customary few users who had trouble, but it seems to be a pretty smooth transition. At this point, I think I'm done with paid forum software. The SMF support is very helpful and the community seems to really want to help out.

    Things are moving along well as this point!
     
  2. Brandon

    Brandon Regular Member

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    Congrats on getting everything converted over with only that small bug. I look forward to your reviews on SMF as time goes on :)
     
  3. MjrNuT

    MjrNuT Grand Master

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    Congrats on the move CrazyTech! That is quite impressive considering your board stats. I'm really appreciative that you've shared this. I hope others will do so as well.

    Regards!
     
  4. Peggy

    Peggy Regular Member

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    Good for you! May I ask what prompted you to choose SMF over other free scripts?
     
  5. SimpleMan

    SimpleMan Adept

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    Well, as much as I'd have really liked to find a small project to get behind, I needed to find stable, secure, and active forum software, so that really limits things down to SMF, MyBB, and phpBB. I also included IPB as paid software.

    We had actually used IPB in the past. I liked it, but as much as I do, I feel like open source is just as viable of an alternative. I didn't like the idea of users having to update their passwords again with the IPB conversion, as this caused a lot of consternation last time.

    I use open source for most everything else, and I liked the idea of not having to worry about license payments.

    phpBB was quickly a no for me because of the security track record. While it has improved, it still has a shaky record for me. I'm not that impressed with the featureset either, and the mod installs are usually trouble when it comes to upgrades.

    That left MyBB and SMF. I test converted my board with both of these to see what would happen. They both converted pretty well, all in all. I worked with both and had members use both; the result was that SMF was the favorite. I think the new skin design did wonders. I like to work off of a default design, and it sets the tone for me.

    MyBB has a great design as well. At this point they still run pretty neck and neck for me.

    I guess what one me over in the end was two things. I feel like SMF has the larger and to some extents friendlier community. I was able to find help for a conversion issue really quickly from a member. MyBB support wasn't bad either. SMF was just so quick; it's impressive for open source software. I'd like to eventually donate my time to a project in some form or another, so I like to see this.

    I talked to a former boss and good friend of mine who happens to admin three large forums of over a million posts each. (One has three.) He raves about SMF and I greatly trust his opinion because he's a decent programmer. While MyBB has a couple large boards as well that demonstrate they can handle the load, I just was impressed with SMF overall, it seemed to be just a hair quicker than the others. Couple that with the community and lightning fast help I received, and the choice was a pretty easy one for me. Though, I could understand choosing MyBB as well for some.

    This was an unexpectedly smooth transition, which was nice. IMHO, it was easier to go from vB to SMF than from vB to IPB.

    I wanted to share my experience because I know a lot of folks might want to switch away from vB but are apprehensive about it, let alone about switching to open source. To be honest, I realized that things like CMS's and blogs are superfluous for my particular forum. If I needed them in the future, there are viable alternative solutions (an open source cms).
     
  6. SimpleMan

    SimpleMan Adept

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    Just an update.

    Feedback for the change has remained remarkably positive. I've had a couple people ask me for this or that (or where something is located), but I've not had one person complain. Several members have emailed, PM'ed, or posted to say that this is a good move for them. I have a few non-technical members who made the transition quite smoothly, that's impressive for me about SMF.

    The one trouble I am having is the permissions system. It's not nearly as intuitive as vB's or IPB's. I'm having trouble limiting posting in certain forums for certain usergroups (membergroups in SMF). I will also add the admin panel can be a bit tedious to navigate at times, and it's easy to forget where you saw a setting. This can be overcome with a little exploring and work, though. There's always going to be a certain learning curve, but the admin panel is not quite as intuitive as I feel other choices are.
     
  7. Peggy

    Peggy Regular Member

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    Thanks for your detailed reply, and good luck!
     
  8. SimpleMan

    SimpleMan Adept

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    Just to update my progress...

    Having chosen RC2, I knew I would miss out on some modifications. It's been frustrating because my members are missing the shoutbox (and asking for it), but I've been unable to get one working. I really think the idea of version emulation in SMF is pretty cool, but going that route has not worked for me yet. That's sort of the issue of going with anything but vBulletin. I even found the IP.Board modifications lacking in the past.

    The other major issue is that our search engine position for a major keyword has evaporated. It's really hurt traffic and I'm not sure if it's because of all the URL changes or if it's a result of the software change. I tend to think the former, but once again the modifications issue is a part of this. I'm working on getting the guest headers back as well as some other changes.
     
  9. alex@

    alex@ Adept

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    Nice to hear you made the move :)

    Hmm, you should have asked the supporter that helped you, wether it was possible to implement this feature to the conversion script.

    Hmm, I find it very easy. What are your problems?

    Note that you can search in the admin center. It's really helpfull.

    You could install a portal software with build-in shoutbox. I personally use Tinyportal, but it's not yet ready for SMF 2. It's a long time since I tried Simple Portal, but it's the most used portal software for SMF and has been ready for SMF 2 for a long time.
    According to the mod, the shoutbox of Simple Portal works as a block code. This - if it works like in Tinyportal - means you can place the shoutbox where ever you want.

    Search results
    SimplePortal
     
  10. Oldiesmann

    Oldiesmann Regular Member

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    Did you have any URL rewriting features on your forum when it was vB? If not, you can easily create a few "dummy" files to handle redirection from old URLs to new URLs.
     
  11. SimpleMan

    SimpleMan Adept

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    I didn't, is there an easy way to do that?
     
  12. Oldiesmann

    Oldiesmann Regular Member

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    Sure.

    Create files with the following names and contents...

    forumdisplay.php:
    Code:
    <?php
    if(!empty($_GET['f]))
    {
    $forum = (int) $_GET['f'];
    $page = empty($_GET['page']) ? 0 : (int) $_GET['page'] * 20;
    header('HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently');
    header('http://www.christianityboard.com/index.php?board=' . $forum . '.' . $page);
    }
    ?>
    showpost.php
    Code:
    <?php
    if(!empty($_GET['p']))
    {
    $post = (int) $_GET['p'];
    header('HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently');
    header('Location: http://www.christianityboard.com/index.php?msg=' . $post);
    }
    ?>
    showthread.php
    Code:
    <?php
    if(!empty($_GET['t']))
    {
    $topic = (int) $_GET['t'];
    $page = empty($_GET['page']) ? 0 : (int) $_GET['page'] * 20;
    header('HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently');
    header('Location: http://www.christianityboard.com/index.php?topic=' . $topic . '.' . $page);
    }
    elseif(!empty($_GET['p']))
    {
    $post = (int) $_GET['p'];
    header('HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently');
    header('Location: http://www.christianityboard.com/index.php?msg=' . $post);
    }
    ?>
    The first file is for the messageindex, the second handles viewing single posts and the third handles viewing topics and specific posts within topics. The PrettyURLs mod will handle the redirection from standard SMF URLs to the "pretty" versions.
     
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  13. pittu

    pittu Newcomer

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    Hi, I just switched from vbulletin to SMF.

    I found this thread when I was searching for 301 redirect issue to new smf urls.

    My questions:

    1. showforum.php should be forumdisplay.php ?

    2. This code for showforum.php and showpost.php is not working. (even after I added missed ', ; )

    thank you.
     
  14. Oldiesmann

    Oldiesmann Regular Member

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    Yes, it should be forumdisplay.php - I was just going based on vB using "show..." for the other files.

    Added a missing ) to one of the files, but other than that everything should work properly. What exactly isn't working?
     
  15. Vekseid

    Vekseid Regular Member

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    You can also setup ajax chat from blueimp manually with few issues. Better than using the plugin, in my opinion.

    Huh. That's refreshing to know. I know a lot of my members find vB/phpBB/MyBB to be highly confusing.

    Once you get the hang of SMF's permission system you'll probably consider vB's to be retarded. Also, the search feature in 2.0 is SMF's saving grace - go to the main admin panel and you'll see a box to search with : )

    To do SMF's permission system justice, first separate out any groups you have that have the same level of permissions, but only different board access or different names. You can then let one group be the 'lead' group, and the others will inherit permissions from the chosen lead group ("Inherit Permissions" in membergroup settings).

    After you do that, go to permissions, then profiles. You'll see any that you've created for specific boards - plus default, read only, reply only, etc. Make profiles as you need them to govern specific categories of boards.

    Then, tedious part over, just go to board permissions, and for each board, select your desired profile.

    It may seem complex, but it's a lifesaver when you have hundreds of boards and dozens of membergroups >_>

    SMF's main flaw in the board permission arena is that reading posts isn't a permission, so you can't create boards where members can post but only staff can reply.
     
  16. Oldiesmann

    Oldiesmann Regular Member

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    There is actually a mod that adds a "view topic" permission, but unfortunately it's not compatible with 2.0.
     
  17. Gordie

    Gordie Adept

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    For what it's worth, I believe IPB's importer now imports vBulletin passwords.

    At least it did on mine as far as I can tell. :)
     
  18. zander

    zander Regular Member

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    CrazyTech, I noticed that your board (christianityboard.com) is now IPB. If that is the same forum you originally converted from vB to SMF back in November, could you share why you now chose IPB? Thanks.
     
  19. Oldiesmann

    Oldiesmann Regular Member

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    That is the same board, so I am also curious as to why you suddenly switched to IPB.
     

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