12 years using vbulletin, looking to migrate!!!

[dotpro]

Hi,

I am a long time user of vbulletin and I am on the move, looking for new forum software for 4+ communities! I've had chance to play around XF demo and so far it is good... do have some questions though:

1. I am using vbseo (vBscam) on all of the vb forums that I run, how does XF deal with that and make sure users with old URLs end up at new?
   
   
2. Why does XF look and feel like phpbb and something I used 13 or 14 years ago? I know, it has advanced functionality but it looks so like those opensource, free forum softwares.
   
   
3. What is the guarantee that XenForo will not end up with same fate as jelsoft.... get bought out by big belly corporation and it begins all over again?
   
   
4. How does XF deal with forums which are in the ROOT of the domain? like one of my sites has vB installed at www.domain.com, is there any documentation out there which details migration for that?
   
   
5. Why is the topicID or forumID ending with a dot? http://www.domain.com/forums/this-is-thread-title-09393/< something like? Having forum name in the URL would be nice but not requirement!
   
   
6. I see a lot of XF forums have "threads" or "forums" in the URL, why? Anyway to 'fix' this or not use it?
   
   
7. Why on God's green earth "enhanced" search a separate purchase? It pretty much puts XF at much higher cost than IPB!
   
   
8. What about integration with wordpress? Why do all of the forum software ignore CMS like wordpress, drupal? I know there are plugins and mods, but nothing official. It would serve you better to work on a product which 90% of the internet users use, familiarize with than to create your own (in case of IP.Content) and waste all those resources developing it when no one cares about it. Users really need a solid wordpress integration with their forums.
   
   
9. Gallery: Does it support import from photopost (looking to import 1000+ categories and 150K+ pictures)? If import is supported, how does it handle the URLs from photopost?
   
   
10. Is the gallery just a tag along product or something which will grow and become challenger to other gallery scripts? Right now, it feels old and like copperminegallery... we don't need that.

I think modern and popular forum softwares like XF should learn from wordpress and implement flexbility in how users want to do their URLs.... right now, this is really big issue for me. I don't want to switch but I have to and all the work over the years, seems like a waste, seems like starting from zero again. Why? Because someone thought it would be nice to reinvent the wheel and mess with the URLs... just keep it simple guys.

 

[Slavik]

I am using vbseo (vBscam) on all of the vb forums that I run, how does XF deal with that and make sure users with old URLs end up at new?

With a combination or rewrites and redirection scripts.

What is the guarantee that XenForo will not end up with same fate as jelsoft.... get bought out by big belly corporation and it begins all over again?

There is no guarantee apart from KAM most likely not wanting to make that mistake again. Then again a company could come and offer them an extortionate amount of money they cant refuse.

How does XF deal with forums which are instead in the ROOT of the domain? like one of my sites has vB installed at www.domain.com, is there any documentation out there which details migration for that?

Works fine.

Why is the topicID or forumID ending with a dot? http://www.domain.com/forums/this-is-thread-title-09393/< something like? Having forum name in the URL would be nice but not requirement!

Thats how its designed

I see a lot of XF forums have "threads" or "forums" in the URL, why? Anyway to 'fix' this or not use it?

You can rename them but not remove them.

Why on God's green earth "enhanced" search a separate purchase? It pretty much puts XF at much higher cost than IPB!

Because its a separate product with separate requirements. It is not a mandatory addon.

Users really need a solid wordpress integration with their forums.

This is a requirement for you personally, most forums dont "need" wordpress at all. There are some 3rd party wordpress integrations available.

Does it support import from photopost (looking to import 1000+ categories and 150K+ pictures)? If import is supported, how does it handle the URLs from photopost?

@Chris D would be best suited to answer that

I think modern and popular forum softwares like XF should learn from wordpress and implement flexbility in how users want to do their URLs.... right now, this is really big issue for me.

Again this is a personal requirement, not something the masses need. 99% of people find the default XenForo URL's fine.

 

[Chris D]

I am using vbseo (vBscam) on all of the vb forums that I run, how does XF deal with that and make sure users with old URLs end up at new?

There are redirection scripts available that support default URLs and many users have imported to XF from a similar starting point as you so there are a few threads around with solutions for redirecting vbseo URLs.

Why does XF look and feel like phpbb and something I used 13 or 14 years ago? I know, it has advanced functionality but it looks so like those opensource, free forum softwares.

Many people would disagree with that and often the feedback is very much the opposite. However there are many free and paid styles available in Resources that may suit your tastes better or indeed designers that would custom develop something to your spec.

What is the guarantee that XenForo will not end up with same fate as jelsoft.... get bought out by big belly corporation and it begins all over again?

No one can guarantee that. But considering the company origins and the directors of XF having experienced that very fate first hand I would personally find it unlikely.

How does XF deal with forums which are instead in the ROOT of the domain? like one of my sites has vB installed at www.domain.com, is there any documentation out there which details migration for that?

There should be nothing special that needs to happen here.

Why is the topicID or forumID ending with a dot? http://www.domain.com/forums/this-is-thread-title-09393/< something like? Having forum name in the URL would be nice but not requirement!

Why not end with a dot? Ultimately it shouldn't matter what the ID delimiter is. Dot works as good as any.

I see a lot of XF forums have "threads" or "forums" in the URL, why? Anyway to 'fix' this or not use it?

There is an add on available recently that may change this to more your liking but ultimately nothing is "broken" here. XF has put a lot of consideration into SEO. You may see a lot of micro optimisations missing because they just aren't considered worthwhile or beneficial.

Why on God's green earth "enhanced" search a separate purchase? It pretty much puts XF at much higher cost than IPB!

Enhanced Search is an addon that would require support for installing Elastic search something usually only possible on VPS or dedicated servers or with enhanced knowledge of installing or configuring a server. For that reason it's something that is really only feasible for a comparatively smaller number of customers.

What about integration with wordpress? Why do all of the forum software ignore CMS like wordpress, drupal? I know there are plugins and mods, but nothing official. It would serve you better to work on a product which 90% of the internet users use, familiarize with than to create your own (in case of IP.Content) and waste all those resources developing it when no one cares about it. Users really need a solid wordpress integration with their forums.

This is available from various third parties at the moment.

Does it support import from photopost (looking to import 1000+ categories and 150K+ pictures)? If import is supported, how does it handle the URLs from photopost?

Import is supported but URL redirection would have to be handled manually.

 

[Claudio]

I think modern and popular forum softwares like XF should learn from wordpress and implement flexbility in how users want to do their URLs.... right now, this is really big issue for me. I don't want to switch but I have to and all the work over the years, seems like a waste, seems like starting from zero again. Why? Because someone thought it would be nice to reinvent the wheel and mess with the URLs... just keep it simple guys.

If you are looking for XenForo it means it attracts your attention since the developers have made an excellent work. There are many SEO analysis forum owners have made on this community and they should be enough to help you to decide if go on with XenForo or not.

 

[borbole]

Why does XF look and feel like phpbb and something I used 13 or 14 years ago? I know, it has advanced functionality but it looks so like those opensource, free forum softwares.

This is the first I hear that xneforo looks like phpBB or any other open source software. Personally I think that it looks nothing like that. But you can change the look of your forum with ease. Xenforo is very easy to make skins/themes for. Alternatively you can also choose a theme from the RM.

 

[dotpro]

I should have been more clearer with my URL comments.

I am so used to wordpress URLs that everytime I see something different, it just doesn't feel right. I wish the flexibility was there in XF to pick and choose how I want the URLs.

That is not to say that XF does not have the SEO advantage... my research so far shows me it is leading the pack and I've seen and come across more XF forums than others.

 

[Claudio]

I am so used to wordpress URLs that everytime I see something different, it just doesn't feel right. I wish the flexibility was there in XF to pick and choose how I want the URLs.

https://xenforo.com/help/route-filters/

For example, if you have installed XenForo into http://example.com/community/, the following examples highlight the route portion of the URL in bold:

• http://example.com/community/index.php?threads/example.1/
• http://example.com/community/threads/example.1/
• http://example.com/community/index.php?threads/example.1/page-2
• http://example.com/community/threads/example.1/page-2
• http://example.com/community/index.php?threads/example.1/&example=query
• http://example.com/community/threads/example.1/?example=query

The examples that show index.php? will be the URL without friendly URLs enabled. You can use this guide to determine the route for any URL.

 

[dotpro]

Thank you Slavik and Chris for answering my concerns.

Does XF support caching, stuff like xcache/apc, etc.?

I am assuming CDN support is there as well?

 

[Claudio]

Does XF support caching, stuff like xcache/apc, etc.?

Yes:
https://xenforo.com/help/cache/

CDN is also supported:
http://support.maxcdn.com/xenforo-cdn/

 

[m1ne]

Just want to add that the default xf search is plenty fast enough. Searching the most popular keywords on my site (nearing 1 million posts) takes under 1 second, and then around 0.2 seconds each time after.

 

[RobinHood]

Why does XF look and feel like phpbb and something I used 13 or 14 years ago? I know, it has advanced functionality but it looks so like those opensource, free forum softwares.

Take some time to browse through the top themes and some real sites that are using them.

Top paid styles
Top free styles

While it's true that the default theme is rather basic and plain looking at a glance, there is an incredibly powerful styling system and the underlying html is very semantic. Along with a very powerful template (modification) system this allows style designers a lot of flexibility.

There are also some very talented professional theme designers who frequent these forums who could help if you need something completely custom.

 

[Mr. Goodie2Shoes]

I think modern and popular forum softwares like XF should learn from wordpress and implement flexbility in how users want to do their URLs.... right now, this is really big issue for me. I don't want to switch but I have to and all the work over the years, seems like a waste, seems like starting from zero again. Why? Because someone thought it would be nice to reinvent the wheel and mess with the URLs... just keep it simple guys.

Maybe something like this can come in handy https://xenforo.com/community/threads/add-on-pitch-permalink-manager.87115/
I am working on this that will allow admins to set the permalinks the way they want, just like in Wordpress

 

[dotpro]

Thanks guys.

Mr. Goodie, that looks awesome! Looking forward to it! Any ETA?

 

[Mr. Goodie2Shoes]

Mr. Goodie, that looks awesome! Looking forward to it! Any ETA?

I am trying to finish this add-on within this month, no promises though

 

[dotpro]

No problem, as long as you finish it.

I bought one license for one of the standalone forum, let's see. So far, I like it!