Transferring existing forum

[Jean-Paul]

I have a VB forum and I am soooo ready to move to a new platform. This one is very appealing for a number of reasons, but I have some pretty important questions first.

Are there xenforo experts available for hire who can do the conversion?​

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Will SEO automatically apply to old threads?​

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Can existing members "merge" their account with their FB accounts? My people are silly about their number of posts and stuff. Many of them would probably like to merge with their FB accounts, but not if it meant losing all their posts attributed to them.​

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Will my existing embedded youtube videos work?​

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Is is easy to integrate advertising (banner ads and such)?​

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Is there an option for doing paid memberships (or donations)?​

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What does the control panel look like? I need a better system for keeping spammers out. VB is really complicated, and if I need to ban by email or IP there are several steps I must go through separately from simply banning a member.​

I have more questions but that should get me started. Thanks!

 

[Chris D]

1) Yes, plenty of experts here.

2) SEO is at the core of XenForo so any SEO features will just work - old and new threads.

3) Yep, you can associate your exisiting forum account with a Facebook account. Nothing is lost. You can still log in with the password as usual or you can log in via Facebook.

4) Yes - but it requires some additional work. The syntax is slightly different, but there is an add-on created by the actual Lead Developer of XenForo which enables you to perform a find and replace on all posts and find the vBulletin style code and translate it to XenForo code.

5) There's loads of templates which are blank which are specially placed for advert code. Usually it's just a case of pasting in the code provided by your advertisments provider.

6) XenForo has a built in User Upgrade feature that allows your members to buy one off upgrades or monthly recurring payment upgrades in exchange for promotion to another usergroup.

7) Absolutely essential that you try out the Admin demo: http://xenforo.com/demo/ I think it's greatly improved over vBulletin but at the end of the day, everyone's tastes are different so you may not like it (but I think you will ). As for anti-spam, XenForo has the same problems as pretty much any other forum software out there. There's some good add-ons that pretty much prevent 100% spam registrations, but the built in stuff (as with any forum) is pretty basic.

Welcome, feel free to ask anything else

 

[Slavik]

*copy paste Chris' reply*

 

[Morgain]

What kind of forum is it Jean-Paul?

and where are the second set of questions you promised us? We like questions.

 

[oman]

I need a better system for keeping spammers out. VB is really complicated, and if I need to ban by email or IP there are several steps I must go through separately from simply banning a member.

Many of the methods available are outlined here - http://xenforo.com/community/resources/dealing-with-forum-spam.980/.

If you implement something good from the start, you shouldn't have any issues.

IP Banning and email banning are both really simple. All you do is just enter the IP or email, and click one button which will add it to the list.

 

[Jean-Paul]

What kind of forum is it Jean-Paul?

and where are the second set of questions you promised us? We like questions.

Check it out... www.jpfitness.com

It's a fitness forum. We discuss everything from training, injury rehab, nutrition, youth athletics, and of course, plenty of off-topic stuff.

So far I like the look and feel of this forum. I'm looking at quite a few others and this is definitely in the top 5 choices so far. I really like the FB integration!

 

[Jean-Paul]

1) Yes, plenty of experts here.

2) SEO is at the core of XenForo so any SEO features will just work - old and new threads.

3) Yep, you can associate your exisiting forum account with a Facebook account. Nothing is lost. You can still log in with the password as usual or you can log in via Facebook.

4) Yes - but it requires some additional work. The syntax is slightly different, but there is an add-on created by the actual Lead Developer of XenForo which enables you to perform a find and replace on all posts and find the vBulletin style code and translate it to XenForo code.

5) There's loads of templates which are blank which are specially placed for advert code. Usually it's just a case of pasting in the code provided by your advertisments provider.

6) XenForo has a built in User Upgrade feature that allows your members to buy one off upgrades or monthly recurring payment upgrades in exchange for promotion to another usergroup.

7) Absolutely essential that you try out the Admin demo: http://xenforo.com/demo/ I think it's greatly improved over vBulletin but at the end of the day, everyone's tastes are different so you may not like it (but I think you will ). As for anti-spam, XenForo has the same problems as pretty much any other forum software out there. There's some good add-ons that pretty much prevent 100% spam registrations, but the built in stuff (as with any forum) is pretty basic.

Welcome, feel free to ask anything else

Thank you for the awesome reply! Perchance would you be one of those experts?

How much is it? VB is very pricey, and they charge extra for every little module you want. My forum is fairly large. I need someone who is very familiar with VB to do the transfer.

I'm currently hosting my site on godaddy, but may move it to a dedicated server with a company that wants to partner with me. I don't know though... I have had ZERO problems with servers since moving to godaddy and that's a huge relief for me.

 

[Jean-Paul]

If y'all don't mind, I'm going to put up a few test posts to test some of the features of this software.

 

[Jean-Paul]

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[Chris D]

Thank you for the awesome reply! Perchance would you be one of those experts?

How much is it? VB is very pricey, and they charge extra for every little module you want. My forum is fairly large. I need someone who is very familiar with VB to do the transfer.

I'm currently hosting my site on godaddy, but may move it to a dedicated server with a company that wants to partner with me. I don't know though... I have had ZERO problems with servers since moving to godaddy and that's a huge relief for me.

I have done imports before, but my forte is developing add-ons and probably general configuration and knowledge on the product

I'd personally recommend Jake Bunce. He's probably got the best overall knowledge of both vBulletin and XenForo. I'm sure he'll give you a price based on the size of your existing board and other factors.

The product itself is $140. That's it. That gives you 12 months upgrade and ticket support. As well as ticket support the support here, is fantastic there's some very knowledgeable members here on a wide range of things. After the 12 months if you wish to, you can renew the 12 months support for only $40. I genuinely believe it provides the best value for money out of all commercial products out there.

I would say that if you're currently happy with GoDaddy then stay with them. XenForo generally performs better and uses less resources so actually even with a bit more growth your existing hosting may be fine.

 

[Fredjo]

The product itself is $140. That's it. That gives you 12 months upgrade and ticket support. As well as ticket support the support here, is fantastic there's some very knowledgeable members here on a wide range of things. After the 12 months if you wish to, you can renew the 12 months support for only $40. I genuinely believe it provides the best value for money out of all commercial products out there.

I'll hop up into this thread as the subject and questions (and answers !!! @Chris : many thanks !) as I'm about to migrate to Xenforo myself.

You say 12 months upgrade : does that mean that after 12 months you won't be able to upgrade your forum but it will continue to work ?

I would like to use Xenforo on two websites, do I have to pay twice ?

Thanks a lot for the answers (probably dumb questions)

 

[Chris D]

Yeah the forum will continue to work but you will no longer be entitled to upgrades or ticket support until you renew.

Unfortunately each installation of XenForo requires its own license. So yeah, you need to pay twice. That's the same as all other commercial forum software though so you're probably still buying the software that represents the best value for money

 

[Slavik]

I'd personally recommend Jake Bunce.

Betrayed!

I'll hop up into this thread as the subject and questions (and answers !!! @Chris : many thanks !) as I'm about to migrate to Xenforo myself.

You say 12 months upgrade : does that mean that after 12 months you won't be able to upgrade your forum but it will continue to work ?

I would like to use Xenforo on two websites, do I have to pay twice ?

Thanks a lot for the answers (probably dumb questions)

Yes, the software continues to work, you just don't get access to any upgrades beyond the version last available while your license was active.

And yes, 1 XenForo license provides you permission to install it one 1 live website, with 1 extra non-public Test board install.

 

[Chris D]

Betrayed!

I also recommend Slavik...

(He paid me to say that. I'm locked up and being held against my will until I say nice things about him )

 

[Fredjo]

Thanks a lot you two.

I never though of buying a forum software but seeing this and the support here is making me changing my mind..

So, it's 40$ per year later to have support and upgrades. Nice.

 

[Slavik]

Thanks a lot you two.

I never though of buying a forum software but seeing this and the support here is making me changing my mind..

So, it's 40$ per year later to have support and upgrades. Nice.

Between official support tickets, and the community forums, not much gets unanswered

 

[Fredjo]

yeah I see that !

Btw Slavik, you're in the staff but it's not showing when you post, is that doable ? (I guess yeah but while I am at it )

 

[Slavik]

You mean a staff post tracker?

I think someone made an addon to do that

 

[Fredjo]

Naah, something in your avatar like a badge or something that shows you like a staff member, or an admin you see ?

Are those addon free in general ? I'm sorry about the cost questions but my financial situation is very bad atm and I don't want my users to pay

 

[Slavik]

Naah, something in your avatar like a badge or something that shows you like a staff member, or an admin you see ?

Are those addon free in general ? I'm sorry about the cost questions but my financial situation is very bad atm and I don't want my users to pay

Oh right, erm, your best bet would be something like http://xenforo.com/community/resources/double-ribbon-ranks.841/

Shelly made ones which overlap the avatar... but can't seem to find those now..