Should I go with Vanilla- some questions?

Auctioneerhere

I am in the early phase of building a forum w/ local advertisement options on it.

I am not a computer person, so I really need a platform that is stable. Reading through hundreds of posts about various forum soft ware, I really wonder if Vanilla is the best choice?

The domain I am looking at buying is very $pendy, so obviously when I go live with the new software I need to have it right.

Is the current version of Vanilla relatively stable? Can you recommend a legit place to get a site built? Is a WP Vanilla plugin site feasable or is it mixing apples with oranges?

Thanks for your time.

whu606

@Auctioneerhere‌

I've changed your thread title to make it a bit clearer what you want.

Welcome to the community.

Is Vanilla the best choice? That really depends on what you want, obviously. Clearly, it is right for a great many users.

There are two options for Vanilla:

Vanilla hosting (see http://vanillaforums.com/plans ) or self-hosting.

This response assumes a self-hosted choice.

Vanilla version 2.0.18.10 is very stable.

The Vanilla team are in the process of completing a new release, 2.1, which is currently in Beta.

If you are looking for a production site, stick with 2.0.18.10

AfaIk lots of people integrate Vanilla and WP.

There are a number of very good developers on here.

If you are looking to employ someone, then I would recommend that you post a reasonably detailed outline of the work you think you need done, and an outline of the budget you have for this.

The devs are experienced professionals, so don't expect to get it on the cheap.

Auctioneerhere

@whu606 said:

The devs are experienced professionals, so don't expect to get it on the cheap.

Thanks.

Define "Cheap"

I have talked with a couple places & they tell me $10K-15K to make a site.

I did not think that was cheap.

I would think that a person could get a decent site designed between $3-5K I just don't know, so don't take this as an insult to the dev. type.

whu606

@Auctioneerhere‌

I think once you are talking 1000's rather than tens or hundreds you will certainly be able to attract the right quality of developer (I'm not one, btw.)

If you want to see who is interested, post an outline of your needs and timescale, and general budget, and see who replies.

If you are looking at your site being a signifcant business proposition, then you should probably also consider the hosted Vanilla solution, which is geared towards optimising forum uptime and responseiveness.

Auctioneerhere

http://www.harringayonline.com is kind of what I am looking to do. Is this vanilla based?

Auctioneerhere

@whu606 said:
Auctioneerhere‌

I think once you are talking 1000's rather than tens or hundreds you will certainly be able to attract the right quality of developer (I'm not one, btw.)

If you want to see who is interested, post an outline of your needs and timescale, and general budget, and see who replies.

If you are looking at your site being a signifcant business proposition, then you should probably also consider the hosted Vanilla solution, which is geared towards optimising forum uptime and responseiveness.

Agreed, I will consider my options & look around. Thanks for the help.

nashira

@Auctioneerhere said:
http://www.harringayonline.com is kind of what I am looking to do. Is this vanilla based?

That is a ning website. It's a social networking platform, Vanilla is primarily a forum software. I can't really help you otherwise but I was passing through and I thought I'd tell you that much at least.

hgtonight

@Auctioneerhere said:
http://www.harringayonline.com is kind of what I am looking to do. Is this vanilla based?

I can confirm, as well, that is not a Vanilla site.

Looking at their forum, that seems pretty trivial to replicate in Vanilla.

Auctioneerhere

Cool, it has some neat features.

It also has some flaws according to online reviews.

Thanks!

chanh

how about from this view, it looks very close!

http://www.harringayonline.com/forum