What Forum Software Is This?

[Felasco]

I recognize the look, but can't recall the name of this forum software.

I would be interested in a review of the forum software this forum uses if the mods have the time. What do you like about it? What do you not like?

A specific question would be:

If you wanted to, could you set up this forum so that all posts could be reviewed by mods BEFORE those posts are published?

I'm not suggesting you do this here, so there's no need to argue against it. I just wondered if that feature was available in this software.

Thanks much!

 

[maflynn]

I recognize the look, but can't recall the name of this forum software.

MacRumors is running a customized (and older) version of vBulletin

If you wanted to, could you set up this forum so that all posts could be reviewed by mods BEFORE those posts are published?

Its possible but its not feasible in the slightest degree. The volume of posts that occur daily is so high that its impossible for the small staff of moderators to look at each and every post. The majority of posts are fine and there's really no reason that moderators have to look at each and every one.

The current mechanism of reporting posts works well enough.

 

[Menel]

vBul
Should be at the bottom of the desktop view.

Though the mobile version is very custom, and they knocked it out of the park. Fantastic

 

[Felasco]

MacRumors is running a customized (and older) version of vBulletin

Ah, right! Just couldn't bring the name to mind. Thank you.

Its possible...

Ok, how does that work exactly? Would the mods see a que of pending posts, and then have to click Approve for each post they wanted to publish? Or?

Would the software allow all incoming pending posts to be emailed to a mod for approval? Or would the mod be required to login in to the forum admin interface?

but its not feasible in the slightest degree. The volume of posts that occur daily is so high that its impossible for the small staff of moderators to look at each and every post. The majority of posts are fine and there's really no reason that moderators have to look at each and every one.

Yes, I specifically mentioned I am not attempting to suggest such a policy for this forum.

 

[maflynn]

Ok, how does that work exactly? Would the mods see a que of pending posts, and then have to click Approve for each post they wanted to publish? Or?

Yes basically how that functionality would work. The moderators would have to look and approve each post, otherwise they'd remain hidden to the members.

This would of course lead to confusion and double/triple posts as members particularly new members who be confused why their posts are not showing up and re-add them, increasing the volume of posts that would have to be approved or disapproved.

 

[Felasco]

More questions...

Does MacRumors rent this service from vBulletin? Or did you purchase the software and host it on your own server?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm wondering how available vBulletin experts might be to vBulletin forum owners. If a non-technical person had a vBulletin forum, and then suffered an attack or other technical issue, what support services might be available to them?

Thanks again.

 

[maflynn]

More questions...

Does MacRumors rent this service from vBulletin? Or did you purchase the software and host it on your own server?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm wondering how available vBulletin experts might be to vBulletin forum owners. If a non-technical person had a vBulletin forum, and then suffered an attack or other technical issue, what support services might be available to them?

Thanks again.

Those types of questions may be better suited via the contact us link. I don't want to speak out of turn, as some of those questions may be considered a bit sensitive. I'm not authorized to detail what MacRumors may or may not have in terms of services, hosting and architecture

 

[Felasco]

Yes basically how that functionality would work. The moderators would have to look and approve each post, otherwise they'd remain hidden to the members.

Thank you, that's clear enough.

Can the incoming pending posts be organized by room? As example, if you had a mod whose job it was to manage the iPod room, could they see a display which showed only the pending posts for that room?

This would of course lead to confusion and double/triple posts as members particularly new members who be confused why their posts are not showing up and re-add them, increasing the volume of posts that would have to be approved or disapproved.

You would not believe how many times I've had this debate, and I am hoping I have become wise enough not to have it yet again. I'm only going there if you absolutely insist in which case I will do so only as thanks to you for answering my technical questions.

It is not the intention of this thread to suggest, imply or hint at any policy change for MacRumors. I'm just trying to learn about the software, that's all. Truly.

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Those types of questions may be better suited via the contact us link. I don't want to speak out of turn, as some of those questions may be considered a bit sensitive. I'm not authorized to detail what MacRumors may or may not have in terms of services, hosting and architecture

Ok, fair enough. My bad for asking such a question.

I'm not actually interested in details of the MacRumors situation, but the Vbulletin situation.

Speaking generally, are you are of Vbulletin experts a forum owner could hire to respond to technical issues beyond their own ability?

In your understanding, could pretty much anybody start a Vbulletin forum, and then rely on others (for a fee presumably) to fix anything that may become broken?

 

[kilcher]

I used to own a fairly large forum, 50,000+ registered members and 3+ million posts. It's fairly easy to start a forum, as it grows you'll want to add moderators to help. Most technical issues can be resolved by asking for help on forums.

If you're interested in possibly starting a forum you might want to check out http://theadminzone.com, it's basically a forum for people who run forums.

I will tell you the chances of your forum getting off the ground are next to nothing. There are already established forums for just about everything. And to make it even more difficult people, in general, are spending a lot less times on forums (some of that can be attributed to other forms of social media - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc).

 

[jeremysteele]

I'm not actually interested in details of the MacRumors situation, but the Vbulletin situation.

Speaking generally, are you are of Vbulletin experts a forum owner could hire to respond to technical issues beyond their own ability?

In your understanding, could pretty much anybody start a Vbulletin forum, and then rely on others (for a fee presumably) to fix anything that may become broken?

Sounds like you should contact Vbulletin themselves. They'd be able to give better and more official answers to your specific questions.

You can also download a trial of VB here. May be worth playing around with it some.

But to answer your last question (since I have helped people setup VB in the past) - yes there are freelancers who are well versed in how it functions - and (for a fee, of course) can assist you with just about anything (customization, patches, etc). VB themselves also offer pretty good support for basic inquiries ("I'm getting error 102 what could it be" type of questions)

As kilcher also mentioned, there's numerous forums out there dedicated to forum admins.

 

[Felasco]

I used to own a fairly large forum, 50,000+ registered members and 3+ million posts.

Cool, well done. Were you able to monetize that traffic to an extent that made it worth your while?

It's fairly easy to start a forum, as it grows you'll want to add moderators to help. Most technical issues can be resolved by asking for help on forums.

Yes, I understand (I'm a forum software developer myself). I was curious if the job could just be delegated to an expert. You know, if a forum is down, it's not the best time to go searching for experts.

If you're interested in possibly starting a forum you might want to check out http://theadminzone.com, it's basically a forum for people who run forums.

Yes, thanks. Good suggestion. I've spent a lot of time there in the past, and agree it's a good resource.

I will tell you the chances of your forum getting off the ground are next to nothing. There are already established forums for just about everything. And to make it even more difficult people, in general, are spending a lot less times on forums (some of that can be attributed to other forms of social media - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc).

More good advice, agree with all, thanks. I'm more curious than serious about my own forum, and if I did, I would be going for quality not quantity, so I wouldn't be too worried about size.

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But to answer your last question (since I have helped people setup VB in the past) - yes there are freelancers who are well versed in how it functions - and (for a fee, of course) can assist you with just about anything (customization, patches, etc). .

Can you suggest an efficient way of finding such folks? Thanks!

 

[alphaod]

Rent or run your own hosting server. Load VBulletin software; it's self install and stuff. Very easy to do.

You can only buy perpetual licenses now.

Go the to VBulletin site. They have many many mods you can install and a lot of them are free.

 

[kilcher]

Cool, well done. Were you able to monetize that traffic to an extent that made it worth your while?

I was. I started the forum in 2000. During the good years I was making $1500 - 2000 per month, primarily using Google Adsense. Taxes and server costs came out of that. I was single at the time and even though I put a lot of time and effort into the forum it was something I enjoyed so it was like free money.

Toward the end (early in 2013) it had dropped to less than half. I was probably barely breaking even and pretty burnt out at that point so I decided to sell it. Once that happened more than half of the members left and went to a new forum created one of our old members. So it's died down quite a bit since I had it.

Yes, I understand (I'm a forum software developer myself). I was curious if the job could just be delegated to an expert. You know, if a forum is down, it's not the best time to go searching for experts.

It could be but finding that person may be difficult. I was lucky enough to find one of my own members who could help. You may need to post on TAZ to see if anyone would be willing to help out. I'd be kind of leary though, you're basically handing them the keys to everything.

Installing the software and getting it up and running isn't too difficult. But yeah, when things would crash, which thankfully wasn't too often, I had no idea how to deal with that stuff.

 

[Felasco]

Toward the end (early in 2013) it had dropped to less than half.

You have my sympathies. I've had that experience too, but worse.

Thanks for reporting the income was Adsense.

Do you have any theories about why the income tanked? Google algo change? Competitors? Other? Unknown?

 

[kilcher]

You have my sympathies. I've had that experience too, but worse.

Thanks for reporting the income was Adsense.

Do you have any theories about why the income tanked? Google algo change? Competitors? Other? Unknown?

The first time I noticed it was after we changed forum software, I suppose it screwed up our SEO even though I don't think it was supposed to.

The other was probably due to other forms of social media, Facebook specifically.

Unfortunately people don't tend to tell you when and why they leave so I can really only speculate. Forums like this get bumps because there's always something in the news, ours wasn't really like that and over the years we'd pretty much discussed everything to death. The older people left and newer people kept asking the same old questions. I think it just got kind of stale.

Competitors were never really much of an issue. We were by far the largest forum in our genre. There were a couple others that were smaller but they were devoted to more of a niche audience within the same genre.

 

[Felasco]

The first time I noticed it was after we changed forum software, I suppose it screwed up our SEO even though I don't think it was supposed to.

Well, if it changed all your URLs, that probably wouldn't help your SEO, at least in the short term.

The other was probably due to other forms of social media, Facebook specifically.

Yea, gotcha. The infinite fragmentation of audiences.

So are you done with hosting forums? Any other net publishing projects of interest to you?

 

[MacNut]

Most sites are getting away from vB as the newer software sucks.

 

[Felasco]

Most sites are getting away from vB as the newer software sucks.

Thanks for this info. What are sites migrating to?

 

[MacNut]

Thanks for this info. What are sites migrating to?

http://xenforo.com/ seems to be the choice of many.