An honest opinion - PLEASE

Kev@ITK

Kev@ITK

Member
Hi guys

New to the forum obviously...

In a nutshell, i'm a 30% partner in a new venture, responsible for all things 'admin' which at this point will include everything website/forum based. I would like to add at this point I am an accountant by trade so spredsheets are the depth of my computer related talents!!

Our site will begin as a forum and in time turn into a full site, with the forum being just a part of it. By that time we'd hope to take on someone more advanced in the field but for now it's just me. We're a revenue based forum so will be looking for site sponsors as well as wanting to incorporate an online shop 6-12 months down the line (either our own stock or as a reseller).

On the face of it, I would like:

  • Strong Facebook/Twitter links (although I would ideally like the forum to use the 'flat' format instead of the 'threaded' approach social networking seems to be taking these days as I find it very hard to follow content this way.
  • Blogging
  • Live chat (not essential as wonder if this takes away from forum content?)
  • Full website incorporating an online shop (would want the forum users to be able to purchase direct from the shop so everything would need to be fully integrated)
  • User friendly (both for the end user and for me as the responsible admin!)
I'm sure there is more but that's all I can remember for now. Oh yeah, there's likely to be plenty of pics/vids flying about so a slick way to organise those would be great too.

I was originally all set to buy vBull but version 5 BETA has really put me off and the more I reseach vB in general now the more i'm put off. I'm now edging towards either XF or IPB.

I fully appreciate this is a XF forum but would also appreciate your valued HONEST opinions based on my requirements? I'm not asking you to slag one option or the other, just help me spend our pennies wisely!

Many thanks in advance...

Kev
 
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Ok, thanks guys - good to see this Mike's name being mentioned after all the other boards are accusing him of going walk abouts...

I asked myself a question earlier: on a 6-12 month view, would I rather a busy interactive forum with cool features or something more naturally geared towards a long term multi functioning full website (at the expense of some of the coolness)? My answer, I THINK is the first i.e. XF. Yes, eventually there's plenty more we want to do but to begin with we need to focus on getting 'bums on seats' and making sure those bums bloody well enjoy their experience! Even if XF was to go t*ts up over the coming months (which I do hope it wont), as has been said it's still more than capable of doing what it does best - providing a great forum.

Real shame the demo's down, chomping at the bit to take another look...

Will need to start drilling down a few specific questions now then I think before I make a final decision.
 
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Kev I don't agree with the post above that you have to make your own addons to make your forum different.
The key to being different is how you COMBINE the resources available. There aer so many different possibilities.
Plus a bit of trouble on the design and XF is lovely to design for colours and even layout is not too hard.

Again I have to disagree with referring to XF being a "possibility" for the future. That's not realistic. It's a very high probability - up in the high 90 percentile. Like 97 -99%
Still think in your place I'd take it slowlly and cautiously. From your posts you sound like you're still hankering to decide within a week.

Work a lot with the demo here AND on IPB.
Get second hand licences if you can so you can really play about with them. Try out the addons. That way you'll find out what the support is like for both.
Try out designing the colours, graphics, layout. There's a lot of detail. It's easy to design the basic look but what about the Membercard? (the popup on clicking someone's name) or the Profile page?
What exactly should go on the navbar at the top? On a sidebar menu (which I think myself is essential).
There is just nothing can match doing your own tests. IT's work but so reassuring later when you KNOW you decided right.

As I said 3 months is a reasonable investment of time for a professional project. Maybe some of the contacts or potential users you have would help and enjoy being ground floor testers on both types of boards.
 
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Morgain said:
Kev I don't agree with the post above that you have to make your own addons to make your forum different.
The key to being different is how you COMBINE the resources available. There aer so many different possibilities.
Plus a bit of trouble on the design and XF is lovely to design for colours and even layout is not too hard.

Again I have to disagree with referring to XF being a "possibility" for the future. That's not realistic. It's a very high probability - up in the high 90 percentile. Like 97 -99%
Still think in your place I'd take it slowlly and cautiously. From your posts you sound like you're still hankering to decide within a week.

Work a lot with the demo here AND on IPB.
Get second hand licences if you can so you can really play about with them. Try out the addons. That way you'll find out what the support is like for both.
Try out designing the colours, graphics, layout. There's a lot of detail. It's easy to design the basic look but what about the Membercard? (the popup on clicking someone's name) or the Profile page?
What exactly should go on the navbar at the top? On a sidebar menu (which I think myself is essential).
There is just nothing can match doing your own tests. IT's work but so reassuring later when you KNOW you decided right.

As I said 3 months is a reasonable investment of time for a professional project. Maybe some of the contacts or potential users you have would help and enjoy being ground floor testers on both types of boards.
Click to expand...

I'm hankering to decide within a week because we really do need to get cracking now. My partner would like us live by the beginning of Dec really, Xmas at the very latest and between now and then there's plenty to do - especially considering I already run my own business, have a family and have absolutely no idea what i'm doing. Steeeeep learning curve doesn't even cover it!

I started tinkering with the IPB demo yesterday. Going to reset it today, invite a few friends along and see how we feel. As I said previously, i'm extremely eager to crack on with the XF demo but obviously with it being offline at the mo that's not a possibility. I notice there's already a few rumours knocking about as to why it's offline, I do hope they're untrue as my heart wants to go with XF no doubt. This is even more true when I see the constant modding/vetting of my posts over on the IPB forum - the last two haven't even been published!!

As for trying out design etc, the thought boggles my mind but I guess it's a bridge i'm going to have to cross before too long!
 
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Kev@ITK said:
I notice there's already a few rumours knocking about as to why it's offline, .
Click to expand...

As stated previously.

Mike is performing some maintainance on the demo server. Part of this maintainance is the demo sites needed to be switched off and current demo's to expire before he can continue.

They should be back online in a day or two.

Any other rumor as to why the demo is offline should be completely ignored as total rubbish.
 
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John said:
If you decide to go with XF, give me a shout if you'd like to regarding your design needs. ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks John. As i've said a few times already, you're defo a helpful bunch. Plenty of PM's and offers to help, it's all cost obviously but it's more than anyone within the IPB world has offered so far.

I've just said to someone via PM: if only I could take XF's product with the stability of IPB! Or even better, put me to sleep for 6 months and see if this story has taken a turn for the better by then... :confused:
 
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This I would love! Saying that, I do have a very large VAT return that i'm supposed to be working on that I haven't for about three days because i've been googling this!

So, let's do it after i've sorted them eh... ;)
 
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Oh I do love how this board works!!

Just emailed my business partner with my findings from the last 3-4 days: i.e. take a gamble on the better forum/community in the hope it pulls through its current 'issues' or make a business decision based on the known facts but in the knowledge it wont be quite as fun along the way...
 
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Kev@ITK said:
Oh I do love how this board works!!

Just emailed my business partner with my findings from the last 3-4 days: i.e. take a gamble on the better forum/community in the hope it pulls through its current 'issues' or make a business decision based on the known facts but in the knowledge it wont be quite as fun along the way...
Click to expand...

Many forums are a labor of love.

If your not going to enjoy it on the way... whats the point :D
 
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Slavik said:
Many forums are a labor of love.

If your not going to enjoy it on the way... whats the point :D
Click to expand...

Very good point indeed. Ok, given my serious lack of tech knowledge AT PRESENT (R - if you're reading this ;)) , would you be willing to put your money where your mouth is and help personally oversea the transfer of my board elsewhere should the XF situation not pan-out for the better??? :D
 
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Kev@ITK said:
Very good point indeed. Ok, given my serious lack of tech knowledge AT PRESENT (R - if you're reading this ;)) , would you be willing to put your money where your mouth is and help personally oversea the transfer of my board elsewhere should the XF situation not pan-out for the better??? :D
Click to expand...

As long as it doesn't cost me anything and the boards you want to transfer to have importers available ;)
 
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Slavik said:
As long as it doesn't cost me anything and the boards you want to transfer to have importers available ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah well I have no idea what an importer is just yet but i'll be taking a screen dump of this msg all the same! ;)

PS your answer should've been: why would I need to make a deal for an outcome that's never going to happen...
 
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Kev@ITK said:
Yeah well I have no idea what an importer is just yet but i'll be taking a screen dump of this msg all the same! ;)

PS your answer should've been: why would I need to make a deal for an outcome that's never going to happen...
Click to expand...

Kev I was just thinking that as the ultra safe option you could go with XF and if necessary later import to IPB.
An importer is just a program to transfer all your existing users, usergroups, permissions, posts to another forum tpe.
But it does need to be a specifically created program for that purpose. It will tell you exactly how to do it. Or you can get a helper.

I'm sure IPB has an XF importer by now - does anyone know?

No we wouldn't say there is no need. Those of us who advise you to consider XF seriously are even so aware that the real world is never totally predictable. So there's a small possibility of it all going titsup. We're not a sales team trying to drag you in just for your money. We want the best package for you and right now that means a backup plan just in case.
You need to feel relaxed and happy using XF to get the best out of it. Security of mind is essential.
 
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Slavik said:
As stated previously.
Mike is performing some maintainance on the demo server. Part of this maintainance is the demo sites needed to be switched off and current demo's to expire before he can continue.
They should be back online in a day or two.
Any other rumor as to why the demo is offline should be completely ignored as total rubbish.
Click to expand...

Great repetition Slavik. This is what gets the message over.

I will copy this in if I see it called for.
 
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