How to spend a lot money starting a Forum
Heres how much I’ve spent on my newest message board to date:
1 copy of vBulletin leased License - $85
1 copy of vBSEO - $149
1 copy of Photopost PHP Pro Image Gallery software - $129
Thats $363 so far. I could have done mostly the same thing for free — but I’m no programmer (nor do I like to rely software thats vulnerable to hackers.) Taking the “free” route would actually take up days or even weeks of my time. Instead, I’ve been able to spend that time focusing my energy on making the board grow.
I am not saying that phpBB and other free software is worthless — far from it. This board was originally started with phpBB. I quickly rolled it over to vBulletin when I saw how fast it was growing. If you are considering starting a board (or lots of them) I’d recommend you do the same.
The truth is, $363 is an absolute bargain. The software is regularly updated, very usuable, and has a huge user base who develops plug-ins and modifications. Contrast this with dropping thousands on having custom software developed to do the same thing. On some level I wish I was developing sites ten years ago, but at the same time I’m very happy to be here right now instead.
I think vBulletin is a very good investment. I didn’t know vBSEO, but I played with the idea of creating this “plugin” myself but was unsure about the increased loading time on large forums. (The server has to parse and rewrite the url everytime a user requests a page.)
I just took a glance on Photopost and thought by myself: “Why aren’t they using AJAX?” The refresh is annoying. But I guess it’s better than nothing and I agree with you: If you have the money you should by the tools.
Comment by anty — February 9, 2006 @ 5:59 am
About that vBulletin. It’s a good idea to buy the leased license. I feel cheated since I bought the permanent license. Sure the license is ‘forever’ but you have to repay again after the year is up to get updates. I wish they would have made that more clear when I bought the thing.
Comment by Joe — February 9, 2006 @ 4:43 pm
Yeah, for the first two years, leased makes more sense. However, if your in it for the long term purchased is definately a better deal.
Comment by Andrew — February 10, 2006 @ 12:54 pm
Yep - I do the same on my best forums.
SMF for the smaller projects, though.
Comment by Brian Turner — February 10, 2006 @ 1:32 pm