Once upon a time... ...and as some have already mentioned, vBulletin WAS a good company! I've owned very version of their software since v2. I have been considering purchasing vBulletin 5 Connect to host a new interactive website I intend to launch. Today, before acting on that thought, I did a quick Google search to get an idea of what other vBulletin customers have to say about their newest release. I was disturbed, to say the least, to have found this thread. I've feared for some time now; probably since IB purchased the brand, that vB was going downhill. After reading the reviews here and at a couple of other sites, my suspicion seems to be confirmed. I would contribute more to the conversation, however, those things would only reiterate many of the points already made. I also own multiple prior releases of vBulletin software, which I plan to use until they discontinue support. Meanwhile, perhaps something will happen to make them "see the light" so to speak. I gave vBulletin 3 stars, based only on past performance. Perhaps I am an eternal optimist, but I believe they still have a chance to make a comeback. I am curious to know if others have found good alternatives to vBulletin, and, if so, what they are?

Poorly Written Software Causes Many Many Duplicate Content Issues VBulletin basically does the job of a forum software, but leaves issue undetected at first, that should be revealed before purchasing. Most of the issue cannot be seen by the general public, as they are hidden in the password protected user area. None of their software will validate via the W3, which to me, clearly means that the programmers are not concerned with testing their software to make sure it is written to standards and does not contain basic underlying errors. Much much worse, is that the forum produces page after page of duplicate content, because every page can be addressed in many ways. Your Google webmaster tools account will very shortly be filled with duplicate Title tags and Duplicate Descriptions and there is literally nothing you can do about it. VBulletin's response was to create a new version 5, instead of fixing the issues with version 4 first. To their credit, they do seem to be continuing to work on V4. The support team seems to be working hard to try and help, but they do not appear to be supported by the programmers, so any issue that has any type of complexity to it, will not be solved. At least that has been my experience. If VBulletin were cheap software, I would not complain to much, but it is quit expensive, so you would think it would be very well written as such. Unfortunately it is programmed more like cheap software, with obvious and seriously written flaws. I cannot recommend VBulletin, nor can I advise against it, since I cannot recommend any other software that might be better, although I would think there would be. Should you decide to purchase, be aware of the duplicate content issues, that you will face. I would run any of there forum pages through the W3 validator, so you can get a feel for the quality or lack there of, also.

My forum is the lifeblood of my business and I picked VB5 - Don't know if I was wrong. I bought VB5 looked like a slick finished product, got expensive hosting, got it professionally installed. I spent a lot of money generating content, driving traffic and then in one instance my forum collapses. I panic - I kept my VB5 stock, did not change a thing, except for follow all instructions for updates. Now, I have to buy support packages to fix my problems. If you are not a technical person, and you expect VB5 to be an investment, it's not. It's a liability. It's better to use an older version of VB or another solution. VB5 needs another year of bug fixes or everyone needs to anti-up and start a class action. I work for a major auto company that has released cars that fell under class action. It just takes one motivated pissed off person who knows a lawyer or a pissed off VB customer that happens to be a lawyer - maybe it will bring down and bankrupt the company, and give rise to a better solution.

Was the best until 2009, but then the developers left and it's been rubbish since We are still using vBulletin 3.8 having been a vBulletin customer since 2001. It used to be the market leading software with good reason, but in 2009 the original development team left (all but one) and the replacement coding and management team has been very poor. What was needed in 2009 was a complete rewrite. However vBulletin 4 was vBulletin 3 with code 'updates', and vBulletin 5 connect is vBulletin 4 with code 'updates'. It took years before vBulletin 4 was considered a reasonable forum solution, and vBulletin 5 is truly terrible. Way too many queries and css definitions. Full of bugs just like vB4 was on release. We're migrating away from vBulletin as soon as possible, having seen that vBulletin 5 is not a viable product. In summary. vBulletin used to be the best. Now it's terrible. AVOID.

Your site, your vb After 9 years running a leading website in my niche (last 5 of them with a vb based forum) I've come to realize that my site would no longer exist if it wasn't because of vBulletin. The decission to include a discussion board in my site, and base it on vb, was the single most important and life-changing choice I made in my entire webmaster career. It's not only that it doesn't lack any feature you'd ever need to admin the busiest site. Not only the unlimited modding and customization power. It's not only the awsome support, the steady rate of new and every time more stable and feature rich releases. It's that vBulletin really gives you the best foundation to build your site arround it as you really really wish.