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What are some live Vanilla forums sites that really show off the software's features?

theRKFtheRKF New
in Vanilla 2.0 - 2.8

I run a 10 yr old vBulletin forum, and am considering switching to a new platform. We're tweaked vB a fair bit, lots of plugins, and drive revenue via Paid Subscriptions.

Can you please list some existing forums powered by Vanilla that give a good representation of what Vanilla is capable of? I want to get a feel for how the software is used and performs in the wild.

Thanks!

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    DirtyDogDirtyDog ✭✭
    Answer ✓

    I just posted something similar a couple days ago:

    http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/21867/sites-that-really-utilize-the-potential-of-vanilla#latest

    Vanillas hosted service has some pretty spectacular forums and I've started compiling a list of those here:

    http://www.socialcontentreview.com/discuss/discussion/3/sites-that-are-using-vanilla-forum-software

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    theRKFtheRKF New

    Excellent, thanks. I'm a 20+ year vet of forums / BBS but each new one takes some getting used to.

    vB is a mature product which has its Pros and Cons. Lots of expansions and features, but stale approach structure. We're exploring options to make our Community more engaging and I'm starting to think a move away from vB will be necessary - however that may mean loss of some secondary functions.

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    DirtyDogDirtyDog ✭✭

    I previously ran a big board on Vbulletin. Funny I was writing about Vbulletin when you posted this. IMO Vbulletin and IB should be avoided at all costs.

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    theRKFtheRKF New

    How did you find the transition? How much data was lost, and how much did you manually need to attend to in order to get things back to normal post-migration? Were avatars & attachments preserved?

    We run vB with Photopost and the vbAdvanced links directory as the two most significant add-ons. I'm not sure what to do with those if we move. The directory is a curated listing in a niche vertical, and has become recognized as a Citation by Google Places (G+ Local) so I have to be cautious about changing or losing it.

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    DirtyDogDirtyDog ✭✭

    I haven't migrated a board from VB to Vanilla. The one board I did migrate was to IBP. I like IPB as a forum but the suite as a whole was a bit disappointing. I find their gallery to be pretty bad (even it it looks nice on the front end).

    My interest in Vanilla is for some new projects I have. I do have a client on Vbulletin with Photopost that I would like to migrate to Vanilla but a solution for the gallery would need to be created. I might tackle a gallery addon for Vbulletin in the next few months.

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    ToddTodd Chief Product Officer Vanilla Staff

    We've done a lot of migrations from vBulletin and IPB and have been slowly adding features that users of those products have come to expect. One thing to note is that you can change your homepage to use the use the list of forums rather than a list of discussions which is our default.

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    theRKFtheRKF New

    Thanks, Todd, that's good to know. Do you have any recommendations to replace the gallery and directory?

    We use a tonne of vB plugins, but most of the essentials seem to have matching built-in features in Vanilla which is nice. I'd rather have those in the core than in having to manage a bunch of add-ons by devs who vanish over time. :)

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    DirtyDogDirtyDog ✭✭

    This guy made a business directory:

    http://pinoyau.info/plugin/BizLink/DirList

    Which he sells for $15 here:

    http://www.goodoldmemories.com/category/vanilla-forum-tips-tricks/

    Even if its not what you want it may be a good start.

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