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Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Soldato
Joined
31 May 2005
Posts
15,640
Location
Nottingham
We are in the process of setting up a new gaming clan.

Truth be told, I under estimated the work involved but it is fun.

Regarding the website, we do not have the time and I personally do not have the knowledge to build our own forum software/front end from scratch with the features we desire.

I have been looking at the following:

Vbulletin 5 Connect
Invision Power IP.Board
XenForo
Wordpress
phpBB

Wordpress/phpBB
Although I like the ease of Wordpress and phpBB for personal/small sites, looking forward, I do not think they would last long term with the goals I currently have for the site.

vBulletin 5 Connect
This does seem to be a "total package" and very featurefull but I have doubts as to if it has lost its way since 4.0. If anyone is using it, could they share their thoughts.

If purchasing a VB 5 license, you get 4.0 anyway so that is an option.

Invision Power IP.Board
From what I can tell, it is purely a forum discussion tool, can you build a site with it?

XenForo
I like the look of this.
Seems a cleaner style than the current vBulletin. Again though, anyone using it?

Any feedback appreciated.

Licenses are not cheap so need as much help as I can get.

Thank you.
 
Check out SMF :D

Hardly any work setting it up.

Upload software, create database, install software. Choose template, user groups and permissions and then create boards.

use if for my work and its simple, functional and easy to use.

If you want a website (which isn't really needed with a forum for gaming) then use wordpress or just ask clan members, one of them might be able to knock up a basic couple of pages :) It's not overly difficult to do. What long term goals do you have for the site? It'd also help if you told is what features you desire! :)

use wordpress to get it up and running while you build a front end to do what you like :)
 
The site will be more of a hub with a forum attached to it.

For an example:

http://www.edge-gamers.com/

That is not what our site will be like but gives a rough idea of what we want.

I do like the idea of "front page" articles being a forum post. Makes discussions/Archiving easier I feel.
 
A lot of people like XenForo but I've not used the latest version. But honestly if I were to buy one today it'd be vB.
 
I think it is between vB and XenForo but I think vB edges it, need to do a little more research I think.

The "building a site around XenForo" does seem weak compared to vB although the forum part does seem solid.

Thanks.
 
vBulletin 4 onwards is utter gash, don't waste anytime looking into it.

Best paid forum software, Xenforo, best paid suite IPB.
 
OldCoals said:
vBulletin 4 onwards is utter gash, don't waste anytime looking into it.

Best paid forum software, Xenforo, best paid suite IPB.
Click to expand...

+1

Stay clear of vB4 and beyond, it's a broken mess (you'll see nothing but complaints in the licensed customer forum). XF/IPB are the best commercial products in my opinion.
 
I went with Invision Power suite in the end.

You can get a "pay monthly" licence for $10 which I thought is great value.

http://www.invisionpower.com/cloud-pricing

Is perfect for the interim as only a small group of us working on the site at the moment.

Once the site is up and running and with hopefully large amount of traffic, we will switch to a licensed copy.

Good customer service from IP so far too.

Will post the site when I have something decent to show :p
 
Update, just incase someone else is in the same position.

Have been tinkering with IPB suite for a while now and here my thoughts and future plans.

Overall, I like IPB as a forum, it is functional with good admin/management tools. At times though, some of the feature seem overly complex.

HOWEVER, to use IPB as a total suite and the get the most out of it, does require the ability to make your own scripts which while I am sure many can, I cannot. Sure, you could "hire" someone to do that for you but the cost can spiral or try to use a mish mash of paid scripts which may/may not work.

So, the idea of using IPB as a complete package for the whole site, seems to be out the Window.

I am going to attempt to try using Wordpress as a front end with IPB for the forum. I may even try Xenforo in the future too.

Many knock Wordpress but as a basic front end, in my opinion, it is decent and has LOTS of community support.

One HUGE positive about IPB I have to say, is their official support are EXCELLENT. Quick to respond with accurate and helpful replies. User to user support on their forum is also good with some great community members but if you encounter any niche problem, you will find it more IPB seems to be more niche meaning user to user support can be difficult to find in anywhere other than their own forum.

I do agree that when looking at a forum, PHPBB while practical is showing its age.

I just need to see how much I can integrate IPB with Wordpress regarding user account etc.
 
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I dislike enjin with a passion. From OP I would choose IP then Xenforo. vB lost it's way after 3.0. The lead developers of vB created Xenforo.

For free BBs I like myBB the most.
 
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