Response's from my vB forum members

[FredC]

I just recently purchased my only xF license to demo it to my three forum communities, (all on vB4)
Anyways i finally finished a couple styles to mimic a two of those communities for the xF demo.. So far the support to get out of vB dodge has been unanimous. No matter how many times i warn them that they may miss this feature or that plugin.

The end result is my largest community is chomping at the bit to get moved... and here i was thinking maybe we could pull it off in another year or so.

Its really a tough decision, there is so much to lose as far as functionality and just things i am accustomed to having and maybe take for granted.. But on the other hand this is just some amazing stuff and i found myself posting more on my Demo site then i am all my other communities combined.. lol i even get kinda upset when i dont login and see any "Alert Notifications" lol

Anyways the reaction from one of my communities just blows my mind.. xF Demo forum is open.
And here i thought members and visitors hated change? Good or Bad.

 

[Peggy]

I think you'll find that some of those mods and add-ons were a nicety and not really "needed".

 

[Chromaniac]

same case here.

the migration tool has been too messy for me. there is too much data being lost.

i am also waiting to see what vB has in store for me with vb4.1. while i wait for XF to reach v1 stable.

would decide then, if it would be migrating or not.

 

[Jethro]

Interesting, one of our Admins hit this as well. Not quite sure why they are doing that. Waiting on skins and then we're going live live live ... the extra stuff can wait really, will know what we need when people start complaining.

when i signed up i put my whole name and that's what comes up not a user name

 

[FredC]

I admit id be willing to move day one of Gold if not for the lack of albums or a gallery.. I really need to be able to Import all those album pictures..

 

[FredC]

I think you'll find that some of those mods and add-ons were a nicety and not really "needed".

I think the same but i also think of how much money i will be flushing down the tiolet.. its about the best excuse i can come up with to stick it out. I do have a smaller pet site that was designed to keep me from being stuck with vB, ie: Joomla CMS and coppermine galleries.. i did this specifically with the intentions of moving away from vB before xF was ever a reality. So im thinking that one is on my list of early transfers for a more real world plan for my larger communities.

 

[Paul M]

I think you'll find that some of those mods and add-ons were a nicety and not really "needed".

If you really break it down, very few forum features are really 'needed' - however, its the niceties that make a place just that little bit more special.

Experience also tells me that members are very good at saying they wont miss something, and then being extremely vocal about how much they loved it once its gone. I've been down that path a time or two

 

[FredC]

Experience also tells me that members are very good at saying they wont miss something, and then being extremely vocal about how much they loved it once its gone. I've been down that path a time or two

I am anticipating this.. Fortunately or unfortunately i wont have to worry about it for awhile..

One thing that sticks out from an admin prospective, is how undecided i really am.. lol thank god i wont be making any decisions anytime soon anyways.

 

[Andrew]

VonDoom,

I believe if you have 3 established communities you should stay with vB until XenForo staff produces a Gold or Stable version of this software. If you care about what you have created you should wait. Mostly for security reasons.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

I've had the same responses actually... putting other platforms in front of users before has been very mixed... now... those who use it won't go back and everyone else is keen to use simple. My new startup site with only 30 members has over 1200 posts already in a matter of a couple of weeks. This software really gets the addictive trait within going to want to post more and get more alerts, likes, etc. Notifications rock!

I do agree that there needs to be more ACP features yet... not necessarily user features, but the ability to control users more within their interaction would be nice... ie. the ability to time limit editing posts vs. the current all or never approach. I would like to see more options incorporated into the trophy system for selection to encourage more cross site use, ie. points for posting on profiles, uploading an avatar, using the PC system, etc etc... its addictive and I can see a whole lot of great use for the system, but its all at the ACP level, not user, but the options simply don't exist yet... and hope they do in the near future. I think this type of improvement helps an admin build their community without implementing user clutter, and control it more effectively.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

VonDoom,

I believe if you have 3 established communities you should stay with vB until XenForo staff produces a Gold or Stable version of this software. If you care about what you have created you should wait. Mostly for security reasons.

If you where upgrading to VB.... I would agree with that statement, but been using xenforo since its beta release on live sites, without one single issue from a user or admin perspective. Bar it still lacking features for user control... IMHO its as secure as any other software and I would say far more stable than VB software.

 

[Andrew]

If you where upgrading to VB.... I would agree with that statement, but been using xenforo since its beta release on live sites, without one single issue from a user or admin perspective. Bar it still lacking features for user control... IMHO its as secure as any other software and I would say far more stable than VB software.

Do not get me wrong. I am a XenForo license holder. XF rocks my socks (not a barefooter) and I am 100% behind the software developers and the software.

The best advice I could give... Wait for your members to beg you to get XF, then switch. If they are begging for XF, then you definitely know its the 100% right idea to change.

 

[Dean]

I've had the same responses actually... putting other platforms in front of users before has been very mixed... now... those who use it won't go back and everyone else is keen to use simple.

This has been my experience as well. They love xf.

(I added the bold word, I believe that is what you meant)

 

[motowebmaster]

Consider creating a page with two columns, the current features on the left and what XenForo would provide on the right. Of course it would be mis-matched, but would eventually come to a point that pleases a "comfortable majority".

 

[anotheralias]

... xF Demo forum is open..

I had a look at your site (which is quite impressive) and was shocked to see my favorite quote, because practically nobody saw this movie (The Answer Man). That was cool.

"The trick is to realize that you're always doing what you want to do. Always. Nobody is making you do anything. Once you get that, you see that you're free - and that life is really just a series of choices."

As for "missing" stuff - the only thing people have complained about (including me) is the lack of custom BBcodes, particularly spoiler tags and - for me - Flash embed.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

(I added the bold word, I believe that is what you meant)

Yep... thanks Dean... changed the original too. That is exactly what I meant.

Looking forward to seeing great relief with my CPU as well upon change. I anticipate having my main forum over to XF around 15 - 25 Nov. VB4 is doing this to the server CPU at present:

When I change over, I will post an after snapshot... I am willing to bet the difference will be significant!

 

[jonsidneyb]

If you where upgrading to VB.... I would agree with that statement, but been using xenforo since its beta release on live sites, without one single issue from a user or admin perspective. Bar it still lacking features for user control... IMHO its as secure as any other software and I would say far more stable than VB software.

Hi Anthony,

I am getting anxious to move over myself but am curious as I have not done anything just get. What user controls are you wanting that are not there yet? Just concerned about any unexpected things.

I feel like there are three things I need before making the move. I make my living form my forum, I never intended that to happen but it did. I am waiting on the banner system to be ready, I need to look into what I should use as an article system, and I am waiting for an item from Awjunkies.

My competitors actually come out to my forum and compete with me so I need to ability to make my items seen.

 

[Kim]

Brilliant Stuff VonDoom

 

[Anthony Parsons]

What user controls are you wanting that are not there yet? Just concerned about any unexpected things.

I would honestly buy a license first to see what it has available, or wait until Gold to see what is final, considering your living is from your forum. That statement changes things... LOTS. You would need to ensure all your t's are crossed and i's dotted before you could transition. I don't make a living from forums, so traffic, sales, etc... not relevant to myself or the type of decisions I make for my communities or those involved with.

There is a significant difference between the features of IPB and VB compared to XF. XF is about simplifying things, except you have a more powerful core to build upon. XF will still take time for all the necessary mods to come about. JFusion have already stated its in process... so that will be an essential if using Joomla as a CMS.

Regardless of what you're stating about the bits you know you need, you would also need a custom redirection script made to ensure CMS content redirected to your new CMS URL's, forum to forum, etc. If you got that one script right, then you remove the issues about any massive loss of traffic, providing they all point to relatively the same type of content page. As your living is from your forum, that would be my #1 priority to ensure I didn't lose traffic from indexed content.

I need another mod, though will live without it temporarily, being the long tail traffic one. That mod alone from seoforums, will capture a crap load of long tail traffic for you. If unmonitored, then you endup with a lot of crap traffic, but if you actively ban irrelevant keyword phrases as they land traffic, you endup capturing all related niche keyword phrases for your site, consistently, and typically place #1 - #3 for them as they are always on your page.

Also waiting on the tweet thread to twitter mod being writter by a couple of different people... that generates some traffic I am noticing.

 

[jonsidneyb]

One thing I am wondering. Not much of my good traffic comes from search I have found out. Most of the best members find me word of mouth. I am starting to think I have a different kind of core member group than many forums. My older crowd is the one that makes it work. I have a lot of younger people as well but they are not generally where the cash flow comes from. The forum was never intended to be a money maker, I became unemployed and had to start moving it that direction.

I certainly would not want to lose the people that find me via search however. I actually have two copies of XenForo but have not downloaded them yet. I might start getting the forum built but not take it live to get to know the software.