Mybb to Xenforo

[Bala]

Hi guys. I own a MyBB Forum at www.tweakbytes.com

MyBB has given me lot of headaches even though I am having a reasonable grasp on web technology.[HTML, CSS and a dashof PHP] The features stop working at times or at times upgrade goes horribly wrong. Yesterday was one of those days where I had the community down for sometime to fix the issues. It was a record half on hour work. Anyways leaving that aside, I have decided to switch to XF or IPB.

I know IPB costs 175$ but I am getting at 150$, a special discount lets say. So at the same price point I see that there is XenForo being offered so I thought lets take a look.

Now I have a few question guys.
1. Money is too tight for me ATM. I am in India and the Rs has fallen a lot against the dollar and the conversion rate and fees charged by the bank are very high. Any discount will be hugely appreciated.

2. I see there is no official converter from mybb to XF. I have heard we need to go to phpBB and then to XF. Will it be possible for you guys to assist me as I am no good at DB stuff.

3. I hear that I can use the XF software for lifetime and only paying for renewals to download new versions.
Will I be vulnerable to an attack if I skip a few version? Can I access the addons site even if my subscription has expired?

4. Is there built in ad management in XF? Or are there any free addons. Currently I am using HTML div tags to place my adverts, I wanted an easier way to monitor it.

I hope I have a smooth experience. Thanks XF for a beautiful software.

 

[Bala]

Thanks that Simple Portal looks nice and great. A great blog like portal page.

 

[Jake Bunce]

I said i was tight on funds. And would not paying half of XenForo+100$ to IPB be more of a better idea. Correct me if I am wrong. And FYI gconverter just charge 95$

I import via vB, and I have done some custom development with that system in order to preserve user passwords, likes, and thread redirects which usually don't survive double imports like this. It is my own service, not an official importer, and it does require some effort for the double import. That is why the charge.

 

[Bala]

Ok I understand. Thanks. I dont have that much funds to spare so I cant afford your services.

 

[Lee]

There will be people around here willing to offer advise to you during your conversion, i'm sure.

 

[xIsabel38]

Hi guys. I own a MyBB Forum at www.tweakbytes.com

MyBB has given me lot of headaches even though I am having a reasonable grasp on web technology.[HTML, CSS and a dashof PHP] The features stop working at times or at times upgrade goes horribly wrong. Yesterday was one of those days where I had the community down for sometime to fix the issues. It was a record half on hour work. Anyways leaving that aside, I have decided to switch to XF or IPB.

Hello Bala,

First off let me say welcome to the XenForo community. Whatever you decide, I wish you a lot less headaches in the future.

But there's something you need to understand as well. This is a XenForo community. And as such everyone here uses, loves, and recommends XenForo. I'm not saying that some people won't be critical and tell you the truth, but I am saying that it's biased. Go to MyBB.com and they will tell you they are the best. Go to IPB and they will do the same. So really, in the end it's your money and your decision.

I'd suggest you run Demo's of IPB and XenForo and determine based on your own needs. XenForo is a great forum (the best in my opinion) but it does have some learning curves. I'm especially trying to figure out Permissions. It's different here. Even small things you may be used to can take someone a much longer time to find just because of the naming conventions. When I was first starting, I couldn't figure out how to make a Forum because I couldn't find the basic "Create new forum" link. When I used the help guides, I realized XenForo changed the simple name to Nodes. Sure it was easy after that, but when you're so used to something being a specific way, it takes time for you to change your habits.

There are also some features most Forum Software offer as standard practice that XenForo does not. Such as User Ranks based on Post Count and User Star Images based on those Ranks.

This is not offered by default on XenForo which was (and still is) shocking to me.

But, along with the bad there are many and more good things too. 3rd Party Add-on developers actually seem to genuinely care about their products. So much so in fact that they attempt to work together to fix their issues so that you can install an Add-on from someone and another Add-on from someone else without any issues because 1 Add-on did something the 2nd Add-on doesn't like. This was a major problem for me with SMF and MyBB. And when you do find a problem, you report it to them and they are usually fast about fixing it.

I don't want to take up too much of your time so I'll close with this:

I personally love XenForo. I feel it's the best forum software I have used and not because I'm just being biased, but because I've used SMF, MyBB, and others before. It has a modern design, the sidebar and intuitive features offer a close and familiar resemblance to a Social Website. And developers seem to actually give a s...

There are some learning curves (especially in User and "Node" permission settings) that you'll need to learn, and I truly miss some basic features other forums provide such as user ranks based on post count, but the simple elegance of use especially in customization efforts really allow you to do a lot of things. Don't like that color? Change it with a click. Want to edit the Template? Here's a full list of templates with a search feature to find the right one.

I wish you the best of luck in making your decision.

 

[Bala]

Thanks man for pointing these out. You have been exceptioanlly truthful @xlsabel. Yes I did find out that nodes was forums while doing the demo.
IPB I am yet trying the demo but currently liking XenForo as it seems fast.
The addon problem, I have had a lot of it in mybb. Debugging takes more time than installing the addon.

 

[Bala]

Any good shoutbox or chaatbox for XF?

 

[Jake Bunce]

Any good shoutbox or chaatbox for XF?

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/taigachat-ajax-shoutbox.115/

 

[Bala]

I would prefer a chatbox which is horizontal. Like the one I am currently using at my forums.

EDIT:- just saw it can be done horizontal. Thanks Jake.