Some questions about moving a large vBulletin site to Xenforo

[Tnedator]

I'm considering moving a vB 4.x forum with 600,000 threads and 2.6 million posts. I had looked a XenForo a while back and didn't pull the trigger. I'm considering again. Some questions.

1. Is the responsive/mobile theme only on 2.x?
2. Besides responsive/mobile look, are there any mobile apps (XenForo or third party) that works with the forum?
3. From what I'm reading, I would have to install 1.5x import, then update to 2.x. Is that correct? Is that upgrade path stable for production site?
4. In Vb, I use the post thanks add on and change the name to "High Five." Can the Like be changed to "High Five" via a phrase manager like in VB?
5. In Vb, we call the CP function an "MHS" (Mile High Salute). Do you have a VB like CP system and if so, can it be renamed via a phrase manager?
6. We have some forums that we consider "Opt In." These are sub forums like politics, religion, a forum for more adult natured joking/cursing. I use the VB permission groups where people can leave or join on their own (with politics, their request must be approved). This allows them to not see posts from those forums when click "new posts" unless they are joined. Does Xenforo have anything to accomplish this?

Over the last decade I have added plugins or customized phrases and stuff, but I think in the end, those are the only things that are active/still used. I also have spam-o-matic and a few other registration/anti spam things, but it looks like you have that stuff built in.

Anyone that has had both vB and Xenforo, are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? Features that are in vB but not Xenforo that I might be taking for granted and not even asking about?

I will also need help with a theme, so hopefully I can find someone that can do that, as my members like the blue background theme that we've had for a decade. How do I find developers who I can hire to create a theme?

 

[M@rc]

1. No. It's available for XF 1 too.
2. Yeah. I don't use any though.
3. Yeah. Importing shouldn't damage any data on your vB site anyway.
4. You can edit the phrase to do this. I think there is a "thank to like" importer (might be an add-on) that you'll need when importing btw.
5. Not sure what CP means. Is it "control panel"?
6. I think I've seen it done on some xenForo forums before. Doesn't seem impossible to achieve IMO.

You should set up vB -> xF redirects to avoid losing search engine traffic after the migration

You can hire people here - https://xenforo.com/community/forums/custom-service-development-requests.69/

 

[Chris D]

1. Is the responsive/mobile theme only on 2.x?

XF1 has a responsive design too. You can still see XF1 in action here: Admin demo. It will be supported for some time after the release of XF2.

2. Besides responsive/mobile look, are there any mobile apps (XenForo or third party) that works with the forum?

There are a number of solutions available, none of them are official, but some of them are well supported. They range from web view wrappers to more native apps. A search around the forum should bring some popular ones up.

3. From what I'm reading, I would have to install 1.5x import, then update to 2.x. Is that correct? Is that upgrade path stable for production site?

The import system for XF2 is still in development so that is currently the recommended upgrade path if you want to get started on XF2 right away.

4. In Vb, I use the post thanks add on and change the name to "High Five." Can the Like be changed to "High Five" via a phrase manager like in VB?

Yes, XF has a language / phrase system so changes like this should be trivial.

5. In Vb, we call the CP function an "MHS" (Mile High Salute). Do you have a VB like CP system and if so, can it be renamed via a phrase manager?

Can you clarify what the "CP" function is for? Control Panel?

6. We have some forums that we consider "Opt In." These are sub forums like politics, religion, a forum for more adult natured joking/cursing. I use the VB permission groups where people can leave or join on their own (with politics, their request must be approved). This allows them to not see posts from those forums when click "new posts" unless they are joined. Does Xenforo have anything to accomplish this?

The way to achieve this in XF would be with custom user fields and user group promotions. You can create as many "Custom User Fields" as you like, and then use the values of those user fields to promote users to additional user groups using "User Group Promotions" and those groups would have the permissions needed to access certain forums.

I will also need help with a theme, so hopefully I can find someone that can do that, as my members like the blue background theme that we've had for a decade. How do I find developers who I can hire to create a theme?

Most people start with a style they design themselves by making adjustments to the built in colour palette in XF or download / purchase a custom style from a known developer, such as the ones who list their products here: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/. Most designers will provide custom design services or when you are licensed you can purchase your request here: https://xenforo.com/community/forums/custom-service-development-requests.69/.

 

[Tnedator]

Can you clarify what the "CP" function is for? Control Panel?

Wow, fast reply.

On vB they have the contributor point system where you can both give the other member points (I disable this by running a SQL query to reset everyone to one point every x minutes) and also send them a private message that shows up in the User CP.

 

[Chris D]

We're fairly familiar with vBulletin but we've still not heard of a "Contributor Point" system. Is that the same as the "Reputation" system?

We don't actually have anything similar to what you describe. We do have a "Trophy Point" system which allows you to automatically give "trophies" to users for reaching certain milestones. This sounds quite different to your current system, but certainly if you deemed it to be of some use then you could rename it to whatever you like with the phrase system.

You can see the trophies I have been rewarded over the years here:
https://xenforo.com/community/members/chris-d.11388/trophies

 

[Tnedator]

We're fairly familiar with vBulletin but we've still not heard of a "Contributor Point" system. Is that the same as the "Reputation" system?

We don't actually have anything similar to what you describe. We do have a "Trophy Point" system which allows you to automatically give "trophies" to users for reaching certain milestones. This sounds quite different to your current system, but certainly if you deemed it to be of some use then you could rename it to whatever you like with the phrase system.

You can see the trophies I have been rewarded over the years here:
https://xenforo.com/community/members/chris-d.11388/trophies

Yes, sorry, the reputation system. I've had it named MHS on my forum for a decade, and before that was on the Denver Broncos forum, where they renamed it CP (I forgot that wasn't the official vB name, but instead what the Broncos called it).

So, is the trophy system the closest thing you have to the reputation system? We don't want a reputation system from the points aspect that vB has, but instead, it winds up being a quick way to send short, private messages to other users.

 

[Chris D]

It's the closest thing, but it doesn't really feel comparable.

There are some add-ons which add reputation functionality, though bear in mind any add-ons for XF1 will not work for XF2.