OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I'm considering the possibility of changing over our forum to vBulletin software.

The main advantages of our current PHPbb software is that
1. It's free
2. It's relatively simply and runs very efficient.

Although the vBulletin software is not free, I'd be quite happy to pay the $250 if there are major improvements and features that we would be able to take advantage of for our type of forum.
I think it's probably safe to assume that there is a way of transferring over all our current contents and users to the new forum software, although there may be some short downtime and teething problems.

I don't know how easy it is to use vBulletin from an admin point of view, and if I'm not able to impliment any new features coz of my limited programming skills, then there may not be much of an advantage to change over. From a user and moderator point of view, there would be some adjustment, but I don't think the adjustment will be too hard, and some things may actually become much easier.

If any of you are familiar with vBulletin, or can think of any features that it offer which would be a significant improvement over our current forum, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks guys!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I guess there's either not much enthusiasm for vBulletin, or not many people here have experience with it, so ti's probably not worth my time and effort to change over.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

There is only one forum of the many that I am a member of that uses vBulletin.

To be honest I don't like it as much as the phpbb software, if it aint broke then I don't see the need to swap. The only thing that may be better is the SpamBot killing in vBulletin but as I haven't been involved in any admin/dev/moderation of the vBulletin I don't know how it is different.

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CORNILLEAU Hugo Calderano FOCO OFF+
FH: ANDRO Hexer Powergrip 2.1
BH: ANDRO Hexer Powergrip 2.1

Yes perhaps you're right... I just thought some of our members would put up an good case for changing over, but it does not look like there is, so I guess it's not worth my time and effort...

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

that depends on a few things I guess. Like if its going to save time and hassles stopping the spambots vs its cost and the time to learn how to admin the new software.

So if you know someone that is the admin of a vBulletin forum that can answer the questions about its anti-spambot capabilities vs phpBB then I would take that opportunity. But if its not that good at detecting and killing the spambots then paying for vBulletin would be a waste of money as you are still investing time in chasing down and nuking all the false users.

The main commodity here is your time, I assume, so from my point of view, if it was me and vBulletin was excellent at denying the spammers then I would consider moving over to it to save me time. But if it isn't better at denying spammers then whats the point in paying for the same service that requires you to put the same amount of time in for the same outcomes.

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CORNILLEAU Hugo Calderano FOCO OFF+
FH: ANDRO Hexer Powergrip 2.1
BH: ANDRO Hexer Powergrip 2.1

Yes you do make a good point.

The main attraction to vBulletin to me was how much easier it is to change the looks, add more graphical features, and also how well it integrates with other social sites like facebook & youtube. Our site looks pretty dull compared to some others, although that's partially due to lack of banners and advertising, that registered members don't see here, so that's probably a bonus.

I would like to see things like features TT videos, recent TT pictures, etc on the home page. This gives a nice look the site, and may well create further topics for discussion, etc. However, I would still need time to actually keep this up to date... time I would probably struggle to find.

So I've probably answered my own question here, thanks to your feedback. The answer being that unless I can get another programmer involved in maintaining and updating this site, there's probably no point in changing over.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I converted an established web-based forum to phpbb a few years ago and it was a disaster. The majority of the users didn't re-register on the new system and participation fell to nil, effectively killing the 12-year old site. I learned that every forum site has a certain mojo that in some way or another initially attracted and then retains its user base. Change that and you risk losing those members.

Hmmmm.... a very convincing argument NOT to change!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I agree that you shouldn't change. I think phpBB looks a bit aged around the edges and is probably not as secure as some of the new forum software. But what it does have is all the FEATURES and it works! It has stood the test of time.

 

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Giant Dragon Kris Special : RITC 802 w/Dawei 2.2 35d fh : : Donic Blue Fire M3 2.0 black bh
Member of Charlotte Table Tennis Club, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Visit Charlotte Table Tennis Club on Facebook

Ask dan from Table Tennis Daily.

His website looks awesome and does a lot of stuff.

However, vBulletin is the forum software he started out with.

Nathan's point is prolly the most convincing one.

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Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

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