XF 1.1 Boss Wants to Switch Back to vBulletin...

[Korean Cowboy]

I know, I'm not happy about it myself.

Anyways, here's the situation...we migrated over from vB a few weeks ago, thanks to @Adam Howard! He did an excellent job, and I would highly recommend his services to anyone looking to switch over.

In any event, there's a few things that are missing from vB, such as the ability to see how many people are currently viewing the thread. I'm sure that there's others, but I can't think of any off of the top of my head.

So, with that being said, for all of the ex-vB guys and the xF team here, what add-ons can we add to our forum now, in order to show the same metrics/usability as vB? I know that the update is coming soon, but he doesn't want to wait until then...

 

[Korean Cowboy]

Also, I'm not sure if I selected the right one or not, but I picked 1.1, because it's my understanding that we're waiting for the 1.2 update, unless that's what we have now.

 

[Shelley]

I know, I'm not happy about it myself.

Anyways, here's the situation...we migrated over from vB a few weeks ago, thanks to @Adam Howard! He did an excellent job, and I would highly recommend his services to anyone looking to switch over.

In any event, there's a few things that are missing from vB, such as the ability to see how many people are currently viewing the thread. I'm sure that there's others, but I can't think of any off of the top of my head.

So, with that being said, for all of the ex-vB guys and the xF team here, what add-ons can we add to our forum now, in order to show the same metrics/usability as vB? I know that the update is coming soon, but he doesn't want to wait until then...

If they are not available the features that are missing you could always request for such add-ons which would be a good solution. http://xenforo.com/community/forums/resource-and-add-on-requests.68/

 

[Jeremy]

What features does your boss believe are missing or needed? That way, a proper response can be given.

 

[Korean Cowboy]

Yeah, I could do that, but he's wanting a solution right now. Adam and I have already explained to him that we should wait for the update, as it will make Adam's job of updating it that much more time-consuming...

 

[Korean Cowboy]

Mostly things like us (the admin team) not being able to see how many people are currently viewing a thread at any given time.

He (my boss) thinks that the migration to xF is the reason why we're not getting as many Guests viewing the site, as we did with vB...nevermind that our members (new and old) are starting to come back and participate more.

 

[Lisa]

Mostly things like us (the admin team) not being able to see how many people are currently viewing a thread at any given time.

He (my boss) thinks that the migration to xF is the reason why we're not getting as many Guests viewing the site, as we did with vB...nevermind that our members (new and old) are starting to come back and participate more.

Why is seeing how many people viewing a thread at any given time important enough to warrant a software change though? Just out of curiosity

 

[Korean Cowboy]

Hi Azhria,

See above. He thinks that switching back to vB will get the guests back...

 

[Shelley]

Yeah, I could do that, but he's wanting a solution right now. Adam and I have already explained to him that we should wait for the update, as it will make Adam's job of updating it that much more time-consuming...

You could always make a paid offering, this way your request would take priority whomever you hire. I'm sure the feature your wanting wouldn't be difficult or time consuming for one of the coders to write up.

 

[Luke F]

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/dbtech-users-viewing-thread.5401/

still using this on 1.2, can't remember if I've edited it

 

[Korean Cowboy]

Thanks Shelley, but whenever I say right now, that's not a figure of speech, I literally mean, right now. LOL

 

[Korean Cowboy]

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/dbtech-users-viewing-thread.5401/

still using this on 1.2, can't remember if I've edited it

Is there a link there that I can download to add to our forum?

 

[Korean Cowboy]

Everyone,

I just emailed my boss to list the things that he feels are missing...I should have that shortly.

BTW, the forum members and I LOVE xF!

 

[Lisa]

Hi Azhria,

See above. He thinks that switching back to vB will get the guests back...

Yes I got that bit, but since you specifically said not having the ability to see who's looking at a thread, I was curious why that particular one was important. No matter. A lot of people are still stuck in the mindset of thinking all these things are a necessary requirement but I've found, after using xenforo for a while, that most of the addons I used to use with vB are needless bloat and totally unnecessary to my sites.

Incidently, if the switch was only recently then it will take a while for search engines to catch up and start bringing all those guests back. Patience is required.

Why not suggest your boss comes for a visit here and we'll sway him with our awesomeness?

 

[Korean Cowboy]

Yes I got that bit, but since you specifically said not having the ability to see who's looking at a thread, I was curious why that particular one was important. No matter. A lot of people are still stuck in the mindset of thinking all these things are a necessary requirement but I've found, after using xenforo for a while, that most of the addons I used to use with vB are needless bloat and totally unnecessary to my sites.

Incidently, if the switch was only recently then it will take a while for search engines to catch up and start bringing all those guests back. Patience is required.

Why not suggest your boss comes for a visit here and we'll sway him with our awesomeness?

Because he's "not forum guy", as evidenced by his lack of participation in our forum (hence why most of our members left to begin with).

I know, I keep telling him that it takes time for everything to happen, but he's extremely impatient...


The viewing the number of users in a thread is important to me specifically, because I can see which forums are the most popular.

 

[SneakyDave]

Unfortunately, you wouldn't be able to switch back to vBulletin without losing the posts your members have made in xF, as there isn't an xF to vB importer.

Sounds like that would upset your membership more than having the ability to see who's visiting a thread.

 

[Lisa]

Because he's "not forum guy", as evidenced by his lack of participation in our forum (hence why most of our members left to begin with).

Makes sense.

The viewing the number of users in a thread is important to me specifically, because I can see which forums are the most popular.

You'd be better off using google analytics for that, it's far more concise.

 

[Walter]

You are looking for the wrong solution. No addon will give your boss the "feeling" that enough guests are viewing the forum.

Don't you have a statistics software like Google Analytics or Piwik running? He shouldnt need to guess but simply watch the stats - and they are certainly in favor of Xenforo.

 

[Jeremy]

You are most likely losing guest views as Google / other search engines hasn't fully updated your index yet.

 

[DBA]

Mostly things like us (the admin team) not being able to see how many people are currently viewing a thread at any given time.

Sorry but I fail to see the logic is this, why would you switch forum software over something so trivial as this? Like Walter suggested, you should be using Google Analytics (or something similar) to get your traffic stats.

I still can't get over the fact that he's wanting to rush back to vB because of a missing [trivial] admin feature and not something that greatly affects the user experience.