I just realised that Vanilla can be used to create a Quora like site (especially by using the voting plugin) and I haven't seen any techblogs writing about it, how about making a pitch? More users = more activity = more updates= more plugins/themes What say folks?
@Lazarus Aren't there plugins which can offer most of those features? @Lincoln Ya I was pleasantly surprised when I first tried it. Quite happy with the result till now
They probably prefer chocolate. But seriously, more people need to use it to make it more popular, I am guess most people out there never heard of it. Vanilla needs more publicity/endorsement.
plugins are what makes vanilla just like plugins with drupal/wordpress ALOT of people use vanilla they customize it so much it just dosent look like it anymore alot of people also prefer using categorys instead of tags etc
We do everything we can with regard to publicity, but the bottom line is that you guys *are* our publicity. If you like Vanilla, and you want more people to use it, tell more people about it. We cannot succeed without your help.
I really believe documentation needs be built out before any major development (on behalf of the development team) continues on this project. We, as developers, need an API that probably resembles the Drupal API (api.drupal.org) so that we can start learning and developing for Vanilla Forums. I would imagine it's in your best interest to do this as your business model is built around (eventually) crowd sourcing development. Unfortunately, this development can't really happen if there's no documentation on -how- to make it happen.
I really like Vanilla Forums, and I think it's a great concept. In fact, I had a similar concept for discussion forum software that I was bound to develop before I saw Vanilla Forums.
Here is what I think. I have a forum running on ipb and would have switched if Vanilla had some basic community requirements by today's standards.
1. Vanilla is too vanilla for user community requirement. It may be a developers dream script a light, clean forum that loads fast. But for the end user who are customers of the community site, key features are missing e.g. PMs, Editors, Gallery, Portal Page,
2. Lack of essential plugins that can cover missing features in core script.
3. Lack of importers. I think is one of the most critical feature which has been kept on back burner by the developers for whatever reasons. If you want big boards running vanilla then these boards are mostly already running on other scripts. There is no way to import and migrate community to Vanilla. Look at VB or IPB you can virtually import ANY script in the world and move your community over.
4. Lack of integration to to other script like photopost (just example)
5. No skins free or paid
I have been lurking around Vanilla since its .9xx days and I just could not move due to missing items. Mainly as they conflict with the philosophy behind vanilla. I understand and love the concept of Vanilla but you need to provide things that have now become basic by today's standard. Imaging Ford or Toyata saying we will not put an autogear system because that makes car complex.....
@sagar, actually, alot of what you just claimed is false...
There are PM's, they're called conversations, the link to send a PM is available on the profile.
There are already plenty of themes for vanilla, and it is easily customizable to fit your already existing theme.
And the philosophy behind vanilla is not to be lacking in features. It is for a clean and complete base to start you website from, and add whatever features your heart desires.
Garden is more of a template for making the idea site easy to code. Once you get familiar with the system its simple.
Plugins are coming, I have a whole list of ideas for plugins and applications, and I know I am not the only one.
You are right, Vanilla is not PHPBB or Vbulletin. It is the next generation of social forums.
Yes ! I @Balu is right .The features Wiki and badges like stackoverflow are must, If we want to use vanilla forums as Quora. BTW is there any plugin(wiki) currently to let others to edit the topics ?
@Balu I don't agree with If you say " vanillaforums is not popular "
I wouldn't call Vanilla the next generation just yet, but the potential next gen. As for publicity I meant something like to be features in a known technology/software blog. But I wouldn't recommend now, but when the latest build is most stable. Extra built-in features that are disabled by default wouldn't hurt. Or maybe a theme with a different kind of approach, I might work on that when I get some free time.
Thanks to everyone for jumping in on this discussion. Your comments are all appreciated!
@Atmey - We are most certainly trying to build something different here. I still say that, if you want Vanilla to continue to exist, everyone should spread the word to people who might be interested. It may not be "most stable", but we do have an official version 2 release on the table, and we are using it to host over a thousand forums on VanillaForums.com. We have always relied heavily on this community to spread the word to developers and designers that Vanilla is here and ready for you to get involved in any way.
*Everyone* is bang-on that we need to pump up the documentation. We hear you loud and clear. We're making it an office mandate to document whenever possible. Right now the four of us are spread a little thin, and our documentation is spread across a number of different places (docs wiki, vf.org blog, vf.com blog, etc). We are working on consolidating and updating everything. It is a learning process, but it is also a process that can be easily crowd-sourced. I know that many of you have picked up the code and written some amazing plugins, applications, and themes. We need those people to help us with documentation! If you want to help out with the docs, contact us (support at vanillaforums dot com) and we will give you access to the wiki
In terms of publicity, it might be a good idea to send out a press release to all the major tech blogs about Vanilla 2.. they are always looking for something new and fresh to write about (potentially the next big thing).
And in case anyone is mistaken, Vanilla 2 is definitely the future of discussion forum software (no pressure lol)
Same here with the documentation. I hate having to learn new frameworks but Vanilla looks so promising that I'd like to give it a try. Some of the documentation seems to be outdated and refers to a previous release.
I do like Vanilla's concept. I'm working on something similar but smaller in scope.
What say folks?
Comments
@Lincoln Ya I was pleasantly surprised when I first tried it. Quite happy with the result till now
But seriously, more people need to use it to make it more popular, I am guess most people out there never heard of it.
Vanilla needs more publicity/endorsement.
I really like Vanilla Forums, and I think it's a great concept. In fact, I had a similar concept for discussion forum software that I was bound to develop before I saw Vanilla Forums.
I say: Bring on the documentation!
1. Vanilla is too vanilla for user community requirement. It may be a developers dream script a light, clean forum that loads fast. But for the end user who are customers of the community site, key features are missing e.g. PMs, Editors, Gallery, Portal Page,
2. Lack of essential plugins that can cover missing features in core script.
3. Lack of importers. I think is one of the most critical feature which has been kept on back burner by the developers for whatever reasons. If you want big boards running vanilla then these boards are mostly already running on other scripts. There is no way to import and migrate community to Vanilla. Look at VB or IPB you can virtually import ANY script in the world and move your community over.
4. Lack of integration to to other script like photopost (just example)
5. No skins free or paid
I have been lurking around Vanilla since its .9xx days and I just could not move due to missing items. Mainly as they conflict with the philosophy behind vanilla. I understand and love the concept of Vanilla but you need to provide things that have now become basic by today's standard. Imaging Ford or Toyata saying we will not put an autogear system because that makes car complex.....
There are PM's, they're called conversations, the link to send a PM is available on the profile.
There are already plenty of themes for vanilla, and it is easily customizable to fit your already existing theme.
And the philosophy behind vanilla is not to be lacking in features. It is for a clean and complete base to start you website from, and add whatever features your heart desires.
Garden is more of a template for making the idea site easy to code. Once you get familiar with the system its simple.
Plugins are coming, I have a whole list of ideas for plugins and applications, and I know I am not the only one.
You are right, Vanilla is not PHPBB or Vbulletin. It is the next generation of social forums.
BTW is there any plugin(wiki) currently to let others to edit the topics ?
@Balu
I don't agree with If you say " vanillaforums is not popular "
Or maybe a theme with a different kind of approach, I might work on that when I get some free time.
@Atmey - We are most certainly trying to build something different here. I still say that, if you want Vanilla to continue to exist, everyone should spread the word to people who might be interested. It may not be "most stable", but we do have an official version 2 release on the table, and we are using it to host over a thousand forums on VanillaForums.com. We have always relied heavily on this community to spread the word to developers and designers that Vanilla is here and ready for you to get involved in any way.
*Everyone* is bang-on that we need to pump up the documentation. We hear you loud and clear. We're making it an office mandate to document whenever possible. Right now the four of us are spread a little thin, and our documentation is spread across a number of different places (docs wiki, vf.org blog, vf.com blog, etc). We are working on consolidating and updating everything. It is a learning process, but it is also a process that can be easily crowd-sourced. I know that many of you have picked up the code and written some amazing plugins, applications, and themes. We need those people to help us with documentation! If you want to help out with the docs, contact us (support at vanillaforums dot com) and we will give you access to the wiki
And in case anyone is mistaken, Vanilla 2 is definitely the future of discussion forum software (no pressure lol)
I do like Vanilla's concept. I'm working on something similar but smaller in scope.