So I have been rolling this idea around a lot. I would like to switch from phpBB to Vbulletin for a few reasons and most of them are visual apperance. There are pros and cons so let me list em off and maybe you guys could help me out thinking of more pros and cons


Pros:

• Much much nicer interface.
• 100 times more customizable.
• Easier to administrate
• Ignore List. Users can add other "spammers" to their Ignore list and never have to deal with the spam.
• Better posting reward system
• I could move this forum to the http://www.yarrthepirate.com site and stop paying for both sites to be hosted per month.
• Better Profile. I could have a spot for everyone to list their Linkshell so it shows up with every post.
• Everyone gets a title! Users can create and Edit their own title. Assuming I let them ;p

Cons:

• 160 bucks American price tag for a full licence or 85 for a one year licence.
• Moving the forum to a new domain and database could cause uneeded confusion
• I have no idea how to convert an phpBB SQL DB to a Vbulletin SQL DB. There are applications to do it for you and Im sure I could learn how to do it if I wanted, still...
• Potential problems in converting the phpBB database
  

To be honest. The only thing really holding me back is the price to upgrade. Id like to get the $85 but I would like to think the site is going to be around longer than one year from now. Im also sure that I could find other CKD members who could help me upgrade the DB. Ridere I know is very efficent in SQL.


Bleh

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COBRA KAI DOJO NEVER DIES
RIP Shiloh

VBulletin is much much nicer in almost every aspect than phpBB, but it's not worth the price tag.

i saw a copy of vbulletin on my bittorrent site... well, how much does it cost a year for either of the domain names? cuz you are paying for 2 right now where as you could only be paying for one.

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No, i'm used to the nice looks of this forum.

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I say don't mess with it if it isn't broken

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This site gets far far to much traffic to use a hacked Vbulletin. I should post one of the reports again.

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COBRA KAI DOJO NEVER DIES
RIP Shiloh

do what you want. but you boards are one of the nicest boards on the net for ffxi as it is

for the love of god dont start playing with the interface again

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I think the forums are fine the way they are. But if you think they could be improved i'm fine with it. I'll pay for half if you want too.

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Job 10: 20
The mikey's have a plan. Djay isn't all powerful.

Mikey the Greatest Passaive person ever haha.

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more like mr money bags

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So true, haha.

As for the site, it would be a huge upgrade, and a worthy investment if you plan on maintaining a forum well after FFXI dies. I personally like the look of this forum; its clean, however more difficult to administrate (i.e Ponuh could've been blocked by everyone instead of banned as an example I'm guessing). Honestly I don't know if this community needs an upgrade to something like vBulletin, but if you choose to do so I'd support the move. [hint]If you opened up online donations or something I might be tempted to throw a few dollars your way. Usually if an online community is up for growth they will help you support it.[/hint]



Yeah, what Yarr had said, you can't use pirated software like that. I know for a fact that Yarr would be getting letters for that about a week after it goes up. Pirating software isn't a smart idea, even if your on a private ISP account. I work in my univserity at a job that helps students connect to the inernet via registering them to VLANs for each zone on campus. People getting cut off for copyright shit is a regular occurence (girl down my hall pirated some movie, lol, then IT on campus got a letter from Paramount pictures the next day).

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Retired 8/21/06
Don't click this link.