vb4 has been out for some time now, currently on vb4.0.5 release.
They have announced vb3 end of life (last bug fix was just released).
Eventually, this is going to have to happen. Either now, or in a year or so.... depending on what exploits surface.
CONS:
A lot of people hate it.
I've seen memberships revolt over it.
There is NO downgrade. Once you're on 4, there's no going back to 3 (without reverting to a backup)
It's different-- stuff is in different places, new menus, etc etc
The gallery may not work (TBD)
other misc add-ons i've built or sourced from others over the years will likely be defunct. Only core vb scripts will be immediately available.
I will need to re-draw the skin.... and i suck at drawing.
I will need to re-do all the advertisements, and other tracking codes, etc.
it still has a ton of bugs, albeit most are minor, certain case, and other happenstance issues that aren't serious to running the day to day postings of the site. 100-500 bug fixes have been released in .01-.05 each, so its gotten a ton better since 4.0.0.
4.1 may need a re-do on the style. Still in talks at vb.
PROS:
The front end is coded better (xhtml divs instead of table-soup)
It has a CMS option, that some of our reference materials can be moved to for better organization.
It has better native facebook integration
It's supported and new releases will be available
I already paid for the upgrade last year, so it's a non-cost issue.
I got used to it, as i work on vb all day for a living.
It grew on me.
As you can see, most of the work is on me, and I'm fine with putting in the time.
But, I don't want you all to hate it either.
There are a few popular sites out there running vb4.
Here's some examples
default skin:
vBulletin Community Forum
custom skins:
VWVortex.com
Online Internet Marketing & Search Engine Optimization Forum
A 3rd option is to migrate over back to IPB. We started on IPB and moved over to vb as vb proved to be more secure and offer more features at the time. Since 2006, IPB has made wave lengths at catching up, especially with their v3 version just released a few months ago. Suffice to say, I've considered it. But there are some limitations with going to that platform as well.
It's #3 on my list. I think i'd rather stay on vb3 than migrate. It was a nightmare with 600k posts. I can't imagine doing it now with 1.4 million posts.
default skin:
Invision Power Services
customized skins:
Game Maker Community
Moving to IPB board will have massive re-do's. All new skin, all new back end to learn for me and the moderators, finding plug ins, somehow dealing with the gallery.... there's a lot of things to consider here. It may be rough at first, but the long term may be the best way to go.
So, I'm open to thoughts/ideas/suggestions.
I know most will say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".... and i've had that mentality for the past 7 months now. But, being on an old version with no more security patches available is generally a bad thing.
They have announced vb3 end of life (last bug fix was just released).
Eventually, this is going to have to happen. Either now, or in a year or so.... depending on what exploits surface.
CONS:
A lot of people hate it.
I've seen memberships revolt over it.
There is NO downgrade. Once you're on 4, there's no going back to 3 (without reverting to a backup)
It's different-- stuff is in different places, new menus, etc etc
The gallery may not work (TBD)
other misc add-ons i've built or sourced from others over the years will likely be defunct. Only core vb scripts will be immediately available.
I will need to re-draw the skin.... and i suck at drawing.
I will need to re-do all the advertisements, and other tracking codes, etc.
it still has a ton of bugs, albeit most are minor, certain case, and other happenstance issues that aren't serious to running the day to day postings of the site. 100-500 bug fixes have been released in .01-.05 each, so its gotten a ton better since 4.0.0.
4.1 may need a re-do on the style. Still in talks at vb.
PROS:
The front end is coded better (xhtml divs instead of table-soup)
It has a CMS option, that some of our reference materials can be moved to for better organization.
It has better native facebook integration
It's supported and new releases will be available
I already paid for the upgrade last year, so it's a non-cost issue.
I got used to it, as i work on vb all day for a living.
It grew on me.
As you can see, most of the work is on me, and I'm fine with putting in the time.
But, I don't want you all to hate it either.
There are a few popular sites out there running vb4.
Here's some examples
default skin:
vBulletin Community Forum
custom skins:
VWVortex.com
Online Internet Marketing & Search Engine Optimization Forum
A 3rd option is to migrate over back to IPB. We started on IPB and moved over to vb as vb proved to be more secure and offer more features at the time. Since 2006, IPB has made wave lengths at catching up, especially with their v3 version just released a few months ago. Suffice to say, I've considered it. But there are some limitations with going to that platform as well.
It's #3 on my list. I think i'd rather stay on vb3 than migrate. It was a nightmare with 600k posts. I can't imagine doing it now with 1.4 million posts.
default skin:
Invision Power Services
customized skins:
Game Maker Community
Moving to IPB board will have massive re-do's. All new skin, all new back end to learn for me and the moderators, finding plug ins, somehow dealing with the gallery.... there's a lot of things to consider here. It may be rough at first, but the long term may be the best way to go.
So, I'm open to thoughts/ideas/suggestions.
I know most will say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".... and i've had that mentality for the past 7 months now. But, being on an old version with no more security patches available is generally a bad thing.