How has your community adjusted to vBulletin 5.

[In Omnibus]

I don't understand that. Surely the software is functionally identical whether it's applied as an upgrade or used to start a new installation?

No, it's not. I had 300+ RSS feeds on my vB4 site. I had a fully customized CMS landing page on my vB4 site. I had drop-down menus rather than a ridiculously long scrolling forums index on my vB4 site. I had custom icons, markers, and other graphics that didn't involve editing sprites.

There isn't much sense in upgrading when there is little to no resemblance between the sites after the upgrade.

[DemOnstar]

Maybe you should change your user name to ProVB4Forums.....?.

[Grotesque]

In general, they love the look and feel of vb5. However they dislike it in the way the software offers features plus the ton of bugs lurking around.. We have been considering abandoning vb5 and vbulletin alltogether actually since a week now.

Do they love the look and feel of vB5 because of the underlying code/features or because of the theme? This could save forum owners $$$ by just changing their forum theme to mimic vB5. You would then just need to disable or break a bunch of other features and boom. You have something that looks like vB5 but runs much better for a lot less money.

Very true mate! They do indeed love the looks of the software. Not the code though, that is certainly a bloody mess. We might actually abandon IB due the latest events and my personal trust in the company being drained.

[Grotesque]

I didn't used to be so negative by the way guys. Although I just don't see this software going anywhere anymore.

[rhens]

the trusted ones in my community were all approached with my thought process before i purchased the 5.0 software. they were 100% in favor of the new direction, and were impressed with what vB was claiming that 5.0 brought to the table. the question posed is really ill-timed, because the 5.0 software doesnt work at this time, so adjusting now would be a mistake. our eyes remain focused on what will be....not what is... and they still like what they see so far.

[rudedog1968]

rhens how long are you and your forum members willing to wait?

What vB was claiming would be added to vB4 was retracted because the VP, yes the VP, was not authorized to speak. I really don't think you'll see all those promised features (from the youtube videos and things that staff say "will be added soon" or "released in future releases") in at least another year and a half too two years.

[DemOnstar]

the trusted ones in my community were all approached with my thought process before i purchased the 5.0 software. they were 100% in favor of the new direction, and were impressed with what vB was claiming that 5.0 brought to the table.

Same here. 100% in favour of the new direction and certainly impressed with what was claimed....

the question posed is really ill-timed, because the 5.0 software doesnt work at this time, so adjusting now would be a mistake. our eyes remain focused on what will be....not what is... and they still like what they see so far.

On a not too recent survey in Italy, I stumbled across a model of car I had never seen before. It was gleaming and immaculate. Probably some kind of concept car that wasn't yet available. I was very impressed with what I saw, so impressed infact that I had to go beyond the enclosure to get a closer look.

It had leather seats, wooden trim and a most impressive walnut dashboard. All the things a vintage model had only more so and encased in a modern, exquisite wrapper.

Excellent I cried, let me take a closer look I asked the guy standing over by the enclosure beckoning me to get away from the car.. I offered the man a sum of Euro's to keep quiet and let me inspect further. He sniggered, took the bribe and agreed. With my camera in hand I set out to get some pictures.
I was dumbfounded with this automobile.
I got most of the pictures I wanted except for one. The obvious one..... When I lifted the hood on this beast, there was nothing there.


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[IcEWoLF]

LOL, how about, my community will boot me if I ever considered upgrading to vBulletin 5...?

[digitalpoint]

I'm still trying to find all these vBulletin 5 forums in the wild myself. A good search for terms like

"Powered by vBulletin™ Version 5.0.2"
"Powered by vBulletin™ Version 5.0.1"
"Powered by vBulletin™ Version 5."



Aren't really returning many results. The forums that are running it all have disclaimer messages to them, and some even claiming loss of forum data.

Safe to assume vBulletin 5 really is a complete and utter failure. Wonder how long it will take for someone from IB/vB to come out and admit this totally missed it's mark.

There's definitely a few, just not many... here's some that my search engine spider have found:

mysql> SELECT domain, value AS version, DATE_FORMAT(FROM_UNIXTIME(date), '%M %e, %Y') AS found FROM misc_data WHERE name = 'vbulletin_version' AND value LIKE '5%' ORDER BY date DESC;
+-----------------------------+---------+---------------+
| domain                      | version | found         |
+-----------------------------+---------+---------------+
| aviannation.com             | 5.0.2   | June 24, 2013 |
| monsteraquarianetwork.com   | 5.0.2   | June 24, 2013 |
| host.my.id                  | 5.0.2   | June 24, 2013 |
| spgame.net                  | 5.0.2   | June 23, 2013 |
| ftapanama.org               | 5.0.2   | June 23, 2013 |
| sjwinfo.org                 | 5.0.2   | June 23, 2013 |
| bmwpower.ru                 | 5.0.0   | June 22, 2013 |
| pxb.net.br                  | 5.0.2   | June 21, 2013 |
| internethelpnigeria.com     | 5.0.2   | June 20, 2013 |
| tipscontrol.com             | 5.0.2   | June 19, 2013 |
| immigration-information.com | 5.0.2   | June 18, 2013 |
| pbxtech.info                | 5.0.1   | June 17, 2013 |
| firstones.com               | 5.0.2   | June 17, 2013 |
| merenguista.com             | 5.0.2   | June 17, 2013 |
| mimarlikforumu.com          | 5.0.1   | June 16, 2013 |
| redstickmoto.com            | 5.0.2   | June 15, 2013 |
| airpost.cz                  | 5.0.0b10| June 14, 2013 |
| teamsrgaming.com            | 5.0.1   | June 14, 2013 |
+-----------------------------+---------+---------------+
18 rows in set (0.00 sec)

If you scroll to the bottom of this page, you can see the vBulletin sites using 5.0.x is about 0.5%:

https://tools.digitalpoint.com/cookie-search

[vskylabv]

We've upgraded on http://nightclubcity.com. 30k members with a few million posts.
Definitely not a good idea. The main issue is actually the speed of the site. The various other bugs throughout vB5 can be tolerated but the slowness is really what drives user activity down. This needs to be priority with the next version and I pray that it comes up with 5.0.3.

[rudedog1968]

You'll see speed improvements in vB5.0.(current_version+1)

[kellym]

There's definitely a few, just not many... here's some that my search engine spider have found:

mysql> SELECT domain, value AS version, DATE_FORMAT(FROM_UNIXTIME(date), '%M %e, %Y') AS found FROM misc_data WHERE name = 'vbulletin_version' AND value LIKE '5%' ORDER BY date DESC;
+-----------------------------+---------+---------------+
| domain | version | found |
+-----------------------------+---------+---------------+
| aviannation.com | 5.0.2 | June 24, 2013 |
| monsteraquarianetwork.com | 5.0.2 | June 24, 2013 |
| host.my.id | 5.0.2 | June 24, 2013 |
| spgame.net | 5.0.2 | June 23, 2013 |
| ftapanama.org | 5.0.2 | June 23, 2013 |
| sjwinfo.org | 5.0.2 | June 23, 2013 |
| bmwpower.ru | 5.0.0 | June 22, 2013 |
| pxb.net.br | 5.0.2 | June 21, 2013 |
| internethelpnigeria.com | 5.0.2 | June 20, 2013 |
| tipscontrol.com | 5.0.2 | June 19, 2013 |
| immigration-information.com | 5.0.2 | June 18, 2013 |
| pbxtech.info | 5.0.1 | June 17, 2013 |
| firstones.com | 5.0.2 | June 17, 2013 |
| merenguista.com | 5.0.2 | June 17, 2013 |
| mimarlikforumu.com | 5.0.1 | June 16, 2013 |
| redstickmoto.com | 5.0.2 | June 15, 2013 |
| airpost.cz | 5.0.0b10| June 14, 2013 |
| teamsrgaming.com | 5.0.1 | June 14, 2013 |
+-----------------------------+---------+---------------+
18 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Wow, I'm a little shocked to see my little site (sjwinfo.org) in the above list among the many thousands of vBulletin customers. I did the upgrade from 4.x to 5 recently without reading any of the feedback here... in fact I thought I was rather late to upgrade, thinking that vb5 was out for a while. If those domains above are among the few to upgrade, well, then I guess I'm an early adopter after all.

The upgrade process for my little site failed a couple of times in different places, but I must say the technical support from vBulletin has been top notch. In every case they were able to respond and help fix the issues within a few hours. And yes I've opened about half a dozen support issues so far, for various issues. Maybe even more tickets than that. All have been resolved so far. Various different people have responded to the issues and I haven't been able to stump them yet. The software does still feel like beta and it's a little immature, but the excellent support means I don't regret the upgrade at all. In fact I like being on the latest version with no customizations to worry about. By opening support tickets and finding known bugs I think it's helping them improve the software. I wasn't using many of the 4.x features so I don't feel like I've lost any. I like the new page editing features to change the layout of the site.

So far my registered users are finding some things a bit confusing, not knowing how to get into their profile to edit it, or how to find a summary of the latest posts. After pointing out the new format features and buttons no one has had a problem yet, I think any kind of change is tough for some people. Traffic on my site (which is about treating depression) how slowed over the last few years, so I don't have a busy forum like some of you out there do... so keep that in mind. I haven't received much more feedback than this so far...

Kelly

[rudedog1968]

Good luck Kelly,

How do you feel about loosing ticket and or phone support after 30 days? Do you feel moving forward from 5.0.2 to the latest will be easier and there will be no need for ticket support?

good luck with your community.

[Bald Bouncer]

Good luck Kelly,

How do you feel about loosing ticket and or phone support after 30 days? Do you feel moving forward from 5.0.2 to the latest will be easier and there will be no need for ticket support?

good luck with your community.

Not sure how Kelly feels about it but I can tell you how I feel about it as I never got chance to add my comments after it was closed with the comment *Support starts when you download the software.... It really is as simple as that. If you're downloading it, then you're probably using it somewhere." which is ridiculous, not researched, ill conceived and bordering on arrogant due to the actual sites being live with vBulletin 5, I downloaded one early version to check the download was actually working after being messed about on the payment system. I downloaded as I am sure many have but not activated as I am waiting for the return of much needed features and for the loading speed to vastly increase which by my calculation of the time each revision takes should be around October 2014.

Many times I have looked to reply or start threads but have been put off by what I see to be the highly defensive and dismissive responses given often resulting in threads just being closed with a dismissive comment, I have wanted to leave constructive criticism but again seeing how others have been treated when they point out the multitude of problems with this release I have thought better of it and I can't be the only one who goes to put a reply and just shakes their head and does not bother I think the lack of posts show this.

You can see how long I have been using vBulletin and was also an early adopter of vBulletin 4 but saw a much more proactive engagement of staff and users on the forum then all striving for the same goal and not the brick wall attitude that seems to be endemic of replies now, not even sure this reply will be still here when I check later but at least now I have said something but they do say it's not the ones who complain you worry about so much it's the ones who say nothing and just walk away never to return.

[TLMD]

Many times I have looked to reply or start threads but have been put off by what I see to be the highly defensive and dismissive responses given often resulting in threads just being closed with a dismissive comment, I have wanted to leave constructive criticism but again seeing how others have been treated when they point out the multitude of problems with this release I have thought better of it and I can't be the only one who goes to put a reply and just shakes their head and does not bother I think the lack of posts show this.

From what I see there is not really much activity anymore in this forum. I see your point and I agree with your concerns, however I am not sure if the support team really has a choice here. They stick to "their" rules. They said they can't give information on future releases and/or features as they don't know anything about it. The developers/QA/management usually don't show up. All this is bad if you want to generate activity.

[OhioDave]

You can definetly tell activity has screeched to a halt here

[rudedog1968]

Sorry to hear that Bald Bouncer,

In a conversation about the new 30 day support for vB5, on another forum. Most of the old time experts have left the platform and most the people who are left refuse to offer their support leaving current customers at the mercy of so called official forum support, which is much different then what vB customers are use too.

[is_it_me]

Sorry to hear that Bald Bouncer,

In a conversation about the new 30 day support for vB5, on another forum. Most of the old time experts have left the platform and most the people who are left refuse to offer their support leaving current customers at the mercy of so called official forum support, which is much different then what vB customers are use too.

And that answers a different, but similar, question to the one in this thread's title, that being - how has THIS community adjusted to vB5?

The answer is clear for all to see, most people seem to have done an Elvis and left the building.