Hi folks, is vBulletin free or is it pay software. Some fella said it used to be free. I am looking for the best forum-creating software there is that can create MySQL dbs.
Any good forum building software you folks can recommend?
@rhsundergroundAug 07.2005 — #Aye. I'd definitely go for phpBB rather than vBulletin. The admin on vBulletin is horrible, the worst I've ever seen.[/QUOTE] you're talking about the software, not the people, right? :p
@invertedpandaAug 07.2005 — #PHPBB is great for small and medium sized organizations - heck, even larger orgs. It has a great development team, is relatively secure (and patches are quick and easy when needed), and it is extensible (there are numerous hacks that add very nice features).
vBulletin is good as well, though. I knew a person who did development for vBulletin for a while, and they are pretty dedicated to their work (they better be, since they are getting paid for it ?). I can't speak for the admin panel, but word is it is quite bad ? Other than that, vBulletin is great as far as commercial forum software goes, and is worth it for larger setups. It is a very clean and professional forum package, well worth the expense. As well, vBulletin has a few subtle nuances that make it more user (as in visitor) friendly, compared to PHPBB.
@patrickjAug 08.2005 — #lol both use PHP and MySQL as a standard database access system, so yes MySQL, and they both have installation instructions, for newbs ?
Now if I can only find some decent mailing list software. I have to develop a newsletter to go out to 3,000 people and I can't find a good newsletter program. Or a free one for that matter.
@Stephen_PhilbinAug 08.2005 — #There should be a mass mailer option in your forum software of choice. Just write yer mail and it'll send it to all the email addresses that people used for registration with the forum.
@farrellauthorAug 08.2005 — #Thanks, this is a different client and a different site all together. I just need a good mailing lots/html newsletter creator and mailer for 3,000 people. My eyes are sore from searching all over the net!!!
@spufiAug 08.2005 — #You may also want to look into [URL=http://www.simplemachines.org/]Simple Machines.[/URL] A guy who ran a phpBB forum switched to it because it caused less stress on the server. If you have a busy enough forum, this may be an issue.