Considering my options for migrating from IPB

[Soshi]

I am a current IPS customer(actually just renewed my license like two weeks ago) but i am not at all really happy with some bugs and the lack of help/answer. So i may be selling my license and chat subscription this week and migrating over to either Xenforo or Vbulletin this weekend.

Now i know about the case and lack of development for xenforo currently and all that stuff(which is part of the reason i sort of overlooked xenforo) but right now i am giving it a second glance.

Here is what i am currently looking for

1. Bulk PM
Not mass email feature but a bulk pm feature. I love to be able to announce things via private messaging to my members in case they do not see the thread in the forum such as new features, downtime, etc etc.

2. Like Feature
Liking posts on our 3.4 ipb forum is quite popular. Does your like feature work the same way here?

3. Reputations
On IPB forum it has the repuation feature. Is there something similar here?

4.Showing member age and current time on the forum
is somethign like this possible to do with xenforo? where we can show a member's current time and how old they are in threads on the forum?

5. Forum store
is there a forum store feature? where members earn points by posting adn can then use the points to "buy" things in the store? not like actual products but forum stuff.

6. twitter like tags
is there a feature for @ someone to tag them? This is big on my forum and a deal breaker for moving from ipb to xenforo.

7. Admin permissions
Certain things i allow some admins to be able to do and some thtings i don't allow certain admins to do.
like one admin can ban someone while the other can't

also i like to give my moderators certain permissions to access the admin panel(on ipb, you have to manually ban someone from inside the admin panel and i give my super mods limited access to the admin panel)

is it possible tot set up admin restrictions?

8. Updates
I am not so much worried about updates from xenforo itself...as long as the software is performing the way it should and there are no security risk, i am okay....ipb has had 2 updates in the past tfew wweeks and i am constanly having to see what still works and what doesn't.

but i do want to know that there is at least 3rd party people still adding skins, mods, hooks etc to the xenforo store for download. 3rd party development is important to me and even though ipb has tons more mods, skins...most of them are not compatible with the current version of software or are no longer supported. Is xenforo's 3rd party development at least decent and growing?

As i said i am strongly considering xenforo and should i not be able to fix this MAJOR issue i am having with ips on my forum, i may be purchasing my license for xenforo as soon as tonight.

 

[SchmitzIT]

Hi and welcome

1. Bulk PM
Not mass email feature but a bulk pm feature. I love to be able to announce things via private messaging to my members in case they do not see the thread in the forum such as new features, downtime, etc etc.

Yes, you can configure on a per usergroup basis how many recipients a user group is allowed to send to. If you want additional controls for conversations, there's an excellent (paid) add-on called Conversation Essentials.

2. Like Feature
Liking posts on our 3.4 ipb forum is quite popular. Does your like feature work the same way here?

While I have no clue about how IPB does it, Xenforo has a built-in like-system. IF that's not fancy enough for you, there's a paid add-on that allows for extensive ratings: Post Rating.

3. Reputations
On IPB forum it has the repuation feature. Is there something similar here?

Not in the core, but there's an add-on: Reputation System

4.Showing member age and current time on the forum
is somethign like this possible to do with xenforo? where we can show a member's current time and how old they are in threads on the forum?

That's not default in the core, but would be rather easy to implement.

5. Forum store
is there a forum store feature? where members earn points by posting adn can then use the points to "buy" things in the store? not like actual products but forum stuff.

There are some store frontends, and others in development

6. twitter like tags
is there a feature for @ someone to tag them? This is big on my forum and a deal breaker for moving from ipb to xenforo.

By means of an add-on: Tag Me.

7. Admin permissions
Certain things i allow some admins to be able to do and some thtings i don't allow certain admins to do.
like one admin can ban someone while the other can't

also i like to give my moderators certain permissions to access the admin panel(on ipb, you have to manually ban someone from inside the admin panel and i give my super mods limited access to the admin panel)

is it possible tot set up admin restrictions?

You can assign certain admin permissions on an individual basis, yes. Others are configured by means of user groups. If you need a distinction between the two, you could set that up by using a combination of user groups and custom permissions.

8. Updates
I am not so much worried about updates from xenforo itself...as long as the software is performing the way it should and there are no security risk, i am okay....ipb has had 2 updates in the past tfew wweeks and i am constanly having to see what still works and what doesn't.

but i do want to know that there is at least 3rd party people still adding skins, mods, hooks etc to the xenforo store for download. 3rd party development is important to me and even though ipb has tons more mods, skins...most of them are not compatible with the current version of software or are no longer supported. Is xenforo's 3rd party development at least decent and growing?

As i said i am strongly considering xenforo and should i not be able to fix this MAJOR issue i am having with ips on my forum, i may be purchasing my license for xenforo as soon as tonight.

Check out the latest stuff added to the Resource Manager. There's still a very active community.

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/?order=resource_date

That's new stuff, and here's another link for latest updates:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/

 

[Morgain]

I can't answer all these but can cover some.

1. Bulk PM
Not mass email feature but a bulk pm feature. I love to be able to announce things via private messaging to my members in case they do not see the thread in the forum such as new features, downtime, etc etc.

You can set any usergroup including admins to a max number of PC recpients.
There's an unlimited boption but not sure if this is great for 1,000s of member at once.

2. Like Feature
Liking posts on our 3.4 ipb forum is quite popular. Does your like feature work the same way here?

Don't know that Like feature (I tried IPB and fled in horror back to XF)
Likes as default are quite basic, though you can permit by usergroup. You can see them operating here.
There's a popular addon though that allows customising so you can have loads of different alikes with cute icons.

3. Reputations
On IPB forum it has the repuation feature. Is there something similar here?

Pass. There's awards, points n stuff but I dont use them.

4.Showing member age and current time on the forum
is somethign like this possible to do with xenforo? where we can show a member's current time and how old they are in threads on the forum?

Not as default but an easy addition. The postbit that shows the avatar beside your post is accessible to edit.

5. Forum store
is there a forum store feature? where members earn points by posting adn can then use the points to "buy" things in the store? not like actual products but forum stuff.

Several addons do this. Pick one!

6. twitter like tags
is there a feature for @ someone to tag them? This is big on my forum and a deal breaker for moving from ipb to xenforo.

Pass.

7. Admin permissions
Certain things i allow some admins to be able to do and some thtings i don't allow certain admins to do.
like one admin can ban someone while the other can't

Yes. I have different admin usergroups.

8. Updates
but i do want to know that there is at least 3rd party people still adding skins, mods, hooks etc to the xenforo store for download. 3rd party development is important to me and even though ipb has tons more mods, skins...most of them are not compatible with the current version of software or are no longer supported. Is xenforo's 3rd party development at least decent and growing?

Yes. I found that IPB had a huge list but most of them I couldnt use because their devs had not kept up with the endless updates.
XF has a good stock growing steadily, with good standard of support.
One thing especially efficient is placing addons at the centre of the community not separated off. So the mods here know them and can advise about them quite a bit. They all make them too!

As i said i am strongly considering xenforo and should i not be able to fix this MAJOR issue i am having with ips on my forum, i may be purchasing my license for xenforo as soon as tonight.

Very good questions much more astute than most. Hope to see you around.

 

[Soshi]

thank you!

aand support tickets are answered still correctly?

Hi and welcome



Yes, you can configure on a per usergroup basis how many recipients a user group is allowed to send to. If you want additional controls for conversations, there's an excellent (paid) add-on called Conversation Essentials.



While I have no clue about how IPB does it, Xenforo has a built-in like-system. IF that's not fancy enough for you, there's a paid add-on that allows for extensive ratings: Post Rating.



Not in the core, but there's an add-on: Reputation System



That's not default in the core, but would be rather easy to implement.



There are some store frontends, and others in development



By means of an add-on: Tag Me.



You can assign certain admin permissions on an individual basis, yes. Others are configured by means of user groups. If you need a distinction between the two, you could set that up by using a combination of user groups and custom permissions.





Check out the latest stuff added to the Resource Manager. There's still a very active community.

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/?order=resource_date

That's new stuff, and here's another link for latest updates:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/

 

[Soshi]

I can't answer all these but can cover some.

thank you.

do you know how long it takes from purchasing a license to get the softare to download?

 

[Morgain]

Hi and welcome

We need an alert - wish I'd known you were on this one Scmitz.

 

[Morgain]

thank you.

do you know how long it takes from purchasing a license to get the softare to download?

Straight away I think. Auto.

Support is max a few hours.

 

[Morgain]

What kind of forum is it - theme/ niche I mean?

 

[SchmitzIT]

thank you.

do you know how long it takes from purchasing a license to get the softare to download?

Yeah, tickets are being handled. And literally seconds.

It's also easy as a breeze to install, and XenForo comes with a built-in IPB importer.

 

[HWS]

Support is handled by the same people moderating this forum. So it may be quicker to ask in the forum directly. My last support ticket (license transfer, so not that important) took more than 1 week to be resolved with silence for many days between the answers.

Keep in mind that the backoffice part of XenForo lacks many basic features you might need and know from other forum software. This is a small issue if you have a small community but a serious issue for large communities. For many such features there are even no add-ons available.

Also -since we are officially left in the dark about XenForo's future since months- it is not sure if there ever will be a feature update again. So further development of the software may be done and paid by yourself in case there won't be a new version published.

Just be careful and expect only the things already available.

 

[Morgain]

Keep in mind that the backoffice part of XenForo lacks many basic features you might need and know from other forum software. This is a small issue if you have a small community but a serious issue for large communities. For many such features there are even no add-ons available.

Also -since we are officially left in the dark about XenForo's future since months- it is not sure if there ever will be a feature update again. So further development of the software may be done and paid by yourself in case there won't be a new version published.
Just be careful and expect only the things already available.

Ive used both IPB and VB and XF is miles better.
Only thing I miss is a VB addon to create my own admin Favorite links menu - but I'm working on that.

As for the future prognosis this guy did say he'd checked all that out so I don't think he deserves a lecture

 

[HenrikHansen]

The future of xenforo might very well be uncertain, but at least it still has the brightest future options of all the major forum scripts

 

[Adam Howard]

4.Showing member age and current time on the forum
is somethign like this possible to do with xenforo? where we can show a member's current time and how old they are in threads on the forum?

In my opinion, everything you're looking for XenForo has.... Ironically, I feel this feature as been overlooked. YES, XenForo can do this out of the box and / or with an add-on.

We have it on my site at http://www.sociallyuncensored.eu/forums

Although if you visit it within the next 24 - 72 hours, we're in the middle or will be in the middle of moving soon (current host sucks). So please excuse any technical difficulties you may experience in visiting our site.

XenForo in my opinion and experience has been more customizable, faster, easier to use, uses less resources, and is more secure than IPB (IP.Board). We noticed the difference overnight.

 

[Digital Doctor]

and support tickets are answered still correctly?

Yea, but it's like being the MayTag repair man ... nothing ever needs fixing.

 

[Soshi]

In my opinion, everything you're looking for XenForo has.... Ironically, I feel this feature as been overlooked. YES, XenForo can do this out of the box and / or with an add-on.

We have it on my site at http://www.sociallyuncensored.eu/forums

Although if you visit it within the next 24 - 72 hours, we're in the middle or will be in the middle of moving soon (current host sucks). So please excuse any technical difficulties you may experience in visiting our site.

XenForo in my opinion and experience has been more customizable, faster, easier to use, uses less resources, and is more secure than IPB (IP.Board). We noticed the difference overnight.

I think i saw you on wht before. Were you the one complaining about hawkhost? i tend to remeber because i remembered you tend to sort of throw your link out there a lot haha.'
i left them in late December.

 

[Soshi]

oh, i run a young adullt social forum...pretty active and popular and growing quite fast...

The issue with IPS was fixed earlier...i am a bit miffed with the support. While they were nice and all, it seemed like they sort of wanted to rush the issue off and i had to keep sort of pressing(to the point i felt like i was being annoying) them to get answer. The issue was whenever me or any members would post on our invision powerboard forum instead of the post automatically posting as it should...it didn't show the post up unless you manually refreshed the page. This caused the issue of people triple to quadruple posting the same post over and over and over again thinking that the post didn't go through originally.

Granted it was a server issue but i do love the fact that my host actually wanted to find the answer out for me even if it wasn't showing a server error initially for him.

Basically ipb requires an extremely higher than normal php memory load.


how does Xenforo do for server loads?

I actually love ipb's software and all and i love chat integration but it does feel a bit bulky and my experience with support today has left a bad taste in my mouth.

Yea, but it's like being the MayTag repair man ... nothing ever needs fixing.

The future of xenforo might very well be uncertain, but at least it still has the brightest future options of all the major forum scripts

Ive used both IPB and VB and XF is miles better.
Only thing I miss is a VB addon to create my own admin Favorite links menu - but I'm working on that.

As for the future prognosis this guy did say he'd checked all that out so I don't think he deserves a lecture

Support is handled by the same people moderating this forum. So it may be quicker to ask in the forum directly. My last support ticket (license transfer, so not that important) took more than 1 week to be resolved with silence for many days between the answers.

Keep in mind that the backoffice part of XenForo lacks many basic features you might need and know from other forum software. This is a small issue if you have a small community but a serious issue for large communities. For many such features there are even no add-ons available.

Also -since we are officially left in the dark about XenForo's future since months- it is not sure if there ever will be a feature update again. So further development of the software may be done and paid by yourself in case there won't be a new version published.

Just be careful and expect only the things already available.

Yeah, tickets are being handled. And literally seconds.

It's also easy as a breeze to install, and XenForo comes with a built-in IPB importer.

 

[Adam Howard]

I think i saw you on wht before. Were you the one complaining about hawkhost? i tend to remeber because i remembered you tend to sort of throw your link out there a lot haha.'
i left them in late December.

Yes, I get around. You may know as, TheVisitors, on WebHostingTalk.com But from time to time a few of our other co-owners do post there as well. We're in the process of setting up a VPS Server now with our new host and leaving Hawk Host.

My signature has a link to it, but it's formatted to make it look like it's part of the post. The only other time we post a link is in relationship to the site and the hosting involved (to better explain what type of site is being hosted & the resources required for it).

 

[Adam Howard]

oh, i run a young adullt social forum...pretty active and popular and growing quite fast...

The issue with IPS was fixed earlier...i am a bit miffed with the support. While they were nice and all, it seemed like they sort of wanted to rush the issue off and i had to keep sort of pressing(to the point i felt like i was being annoying) them to get answer. The issue was whenever me or any members would post on our invision powerboard forum instead of the post automatically posting as it should...it didn't show the post up unless you manually refreshed the page. This caused the issue of people triple to quadruple posting the same post over and over and over again thinking that the post didn't go through originally.

Granted it was a server issue but i do love the fact that my host actually wanted to find the answer out for me even if it wasn't showing a server error initially for him.

Basically ipb requires an extremely higher than normal php memory load.


how does Xenforo do for server loads?

I actually love ipb's software and all and i love chat integration but it does feel a bit bulky and my experience with support today has left a bad taste in my mouth.

I recall having a similar experience with IPS (Invision Power Services) in regards to seeking support with IPB (IP Board) and generally any of their products and services

.... ie...

Very polite on pre-sales only, but seemingly quick to brush people off in regards to support; in such away that you feel "unwelcome" and almost sorry you asked for help (from my point of view). So they were eager enough to take the money, but more or less gave off the impression of not wanting to be supportive except to offer more products or services. No personal one on one feeling (like a dry f*ck kind of feeling and not the good kind), in my opinion and experience.

IPB no long (the last I knew) post their full system requirements (or at least I can no longer find them easily), but when they did post them openly & easily to find; they did use more resources than any other forum / community software that I am aware of. Of course that was so from experience as well from moving our copy of IPB to shared, VSP, Semi-Dedicated, and even Dedicated server; we noticed the load difference of IPB compared to everything else we had used such as phpBB, SMF, WordPress, vBulletin v4 Suite, and XenForo.

XenForo from both my opinion and experience uses very few resources. And can be customized while still using fewer resources than the stock install of IPB. We have about 150 add-ons and another 150 tweaks on our copy of XenForo and from my point of view, its still using less resources than IPB on a fresh install.

Support here on XenForo is friendly and people are eager to help & learn from another. We also have a wide range of growing add-ons and styles, many of them freely available.

I think you'll be happier on XenForo.

 

[Soshi]

I recall having a similar experience with IPS (Invision Power Services) in regards to seeking support with IPB (IP Board) and generally any of their products and services

.... ie...

Very polite on pre-sales only, but seemingly quick to brush people off in regards to support; in such away that you feel "unwelcome" and almost sorry you asked for help (from my point of view). So they were eager enough to take the money, but more or less gave off the impression of not wanting to be supportive except to offer more products or services. No personal one on one feeling (like a dry f*ck kind of feeling and not the good kind), in my opinion and experience.

IPB no long (the last I knew) post their full system requirements (or at least I can no longer find them easily), but when they did post them openly & easily to find; they did use more resources than any other forum / community software that I am aware of. Of course that was so from experience as well from moving our copy of IPB to shared, VSP, Semi-Dedicated, and even Dedicated server; we noticed the load difference of IPB compared to everything else we had used such as phpBB, SMF, WordPress, vBulletin v4 Suite, and XenForo.

XenForo from both my opinion and experience uses very few resources. And can be customized while still using fewer resources than the stock install of IPB. We have about 150 add-ons and another 150 tweaks on our copy of XenForo and from my point of view, its still using less resources than IPB on a fresh install.

Support here on XenForo is friendly and people are eager to help & learn from another. We also have a wide range of growing add-ons and styles, many of them freely available.

I think you'll be happier on XenForo.

Careful adam...you might tempt me to hit that buy button now lol

 

[Morgain]

Oh I just upgraded my very first XF from the original 2010 purchase. The other boards are more recent so no need to upgrade.
Even though I'd read about the XF system of kindly showing you any customised templates that needed checking and tweaking after an upgrade, I was still terrified. I use a lot of addons and I'm a tweak addict.
It was amazing. We did a test upgrade first on a test copy of the current version - because I was so scared. But it was fine.
All I have to deal with is 2 templates - the main navig top area, and category_view. Just some links that need re-doing. Ive also lost my pretty icons for read/unread for some reason but that's an easy fix.
It couldn not have been smoother.

It was IPB and their constant changes that got me so nervous. Makes it so much more difficult to maintain addons and template tweaks.
XF by the way has a special template EXTRA.css where you can add css tweaks. Anything there is not touched by upgrading. Plus a lot of your changes are in one place.
My EXTRA.css is a bit full so I'm currently moving chunks of it to my own templates (all starting with my name for easy search access). Then I can use an include command to lin k them into the default templates.
There's also a popular addon called TMS which does all this for you but i'm not very clever on coding so I dont use it.