The future of vBulletin software

[David Baxter PhD]

For those of you interested in blatant corporate stupidity, read this thread at Misc/Other - vBulletin.Org Staff - vBulletin.org Forum which outlines how IB Brands, who purchased the vBulletin software a few years back, have continued to run the product into the ground and to alienate their customers and now their (mostly volunteer) staff.

The names mentioned in that thread will likely not mean much to most of you but I can tell you that they represent an enormous wealth of knowledge and expertise, and they are leaving as a direct result of the blindness and ingratitude of IB Brands.

Forum activity in general has been declining somewhat in recent years but I am determined to keep Psychlinks going as long as I can. This might, however, require trying to find funding to move to the Xenforo forum software, which in many ways has outstripped and surpassed the vBulletin software in the past couple of years. Xenforo was founded several years ago by former employees (coders) of vBulletin when IB Brands bought out vBulletin from the former owners in the UK.

vBulletin used to be the "gold standard" in forum software. Sadly, that ceased to be true rather quickly when IB Brands bought the brand and it has been going downhill at varying speeds ever since.

 

[GDPR]

Forum activity in general has been declining somewhat in recent years but I am determined to keep Psychlinks going as long as I can

I agree,forum activity has been declining.I feel like much of it's due to social media.I don't know of any of the 'younger' generation that delve any further than Facebook,twitter,etc.They join FB groups now instead.I was really disappointed to find that some forums I have been a member of in the past(women focused ones) are no longer up and running but do have FB groups.

It makes me sad to think some day this place may not be here anymore,but nothing lasts forever,all good things must come to an end sooner or later.

 

[Retired]

Frankly I don't understand the current market, and find the flight from evidence based forum venues for mental health peer to peer support disappointing and baffling.

There has always been a pattern where individuals would participate only as long as they received the information they needed, and would disappear; but there was always a core of dedicated members who would continually participate in discussions with new members as well as discussions of a more general nature.

We've seen an erosion of that core, not only here, but also in other similar Forums in which I participate and administer, with Forum closures reluctantly being the result of that loss of participation.

I expect some difficult decisions will likely be made here in the coming months, though David appears to be committed to maintaing Psychlinks:

I am determined to keep Psychlinks going as long as I can

I hope** for all concerned, that there can be a solution, satisfactory for everyone.

**Hope, being the fuel of life

 

[GDPR]

If this place did end up closing,what would that be/look like?

One forum I was a member of is still there,I can still log in,it's just that nobody has visited or posted in a very long time.Another one just has info about their FB group on their homepage.Another just says "this board has no forums" on a basically blank page and another just has chat now,no forum(this one surprised me because there was close to 70,000 members and was extremely active just 8 or 9 years ago).And another one just can't be found anymore,it has vanished.

I'm just curious.

*sorry if it seems I'm jumping the gun on this*

 

[David Baxter PhD]

All I can say is this: I will keep this forum open as long as I can.

 

[GDPR]

All I can say is this: I will keep this forum open as long as I can.

Okay.I'm sorry.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

No need to apologize. I think this forum still has merit.

 

[GDPR]

Of course it still has merit,I'm sorry if I made it sound otherwise.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

No, no... you didn't. I just meant that even if the numbers have dropped I still think it has merit. There is a lot of information and good advice here that has been contributed by a lot of people over the years. 13 years, I believe.

 

[forgetmenot]

I had started to post but i deleted something as usual but in my post i had said this forum is different it is. It provides a wealth of knowledge from not only professionals but from the members here that through their own experiences have been able to help others.

If i was a student going into the field of helping others this forum would be one i would use and use again.

 

[Retired]

13 years, I believe.

Yes, March 26, 2004

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Almost half my life :lol:

 

[MHealthJo]

Hmm.... If the scenario occurred that this incarnation of the forum had to close, is there any kind of free forum platform, group discussion platform etc that it or part of it, might be switched over to? Or even just starting new threads similar to the ones that are used most often. If the usage is a lot smaller than it used to be, I wonder if one of the many free forum platforms would suffice for the purpose? Or perhaps some kind of social media group or blog-with-comments sort of somethingorother.

Hmmm... you've got my brain ticking about it now... But hey, that's assuming that it does happen. Give me a little notice if you end up thinking that it has to close Dr B - I could do some research and see what's out there..... :reading:

 

[David Baxter PhD]

The platform isn't the issue, MHJ. I still own the license for the vBulletin software (3 of them in fact). My comments about vBulletin were more of a rant about how the corporation, IB Brands, has allowed the product to go downhill, and about how they treat people like machines with no concept of loyalty or appreciation and gratitude for their efforts.

The issue for keeping the forum open open is overhead (hosting, domain name, etc.), time and effort, and apparent lack of interest in participation by most members.

 

[MHealthJo]

Ah, I see Dr B. Hmmm... my brain will no doubt continue ticking on this....

 

[GDPR]

The issue for keeping the forum open open is overhead (hosting, domain name, etc.), time and effort, and apparent lack of interest in participation by most members.

And the sad fact about member participation is there's really not anything that can be done to change it.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Other than trying to find ways to let more people know that this place exists.

 

[forgetmenot]

Perhaps somehow if colleges or universities knew of this forum the students taking psychology or becoming a psychiatrist or just social workers.nurses health care professionals they all could access it for information and knowledge but it is how to get them to know it is here as i said it is somewhere i still go to to help me understand mental health issues and more. Wish there was a way of posting it as a research tool for them to use thus bringing more people here just a thought.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Perhaps somehow if colleges or universities knew of this forum the students taking psychology or becoming a psychiatrist or just social workers.nurses health care professionals they all could access it for information and knowledge but it is how to get them to know it is here as i said it is somewhere i still go to to help me understand mental health issues and more. Wish there was a way of posting it as a research tool for them to use thus bringing more people here just a thought.

Yes but those people probably already find the forum with Google search but they would show as un-logged-in visitors. If they are looking for information, there would be no reason or need to register as a member.

And we probably wouldn't want them to, for that matter. This is primarily a peer support forum and we really don't want to encourage theoretical debates - that wouldn't really serve our current members very well at all and it would quickly become a nightmare for moderators if we encouraged it.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Wondering....

Is it possible that the look and feel of this forum just looks old, tired, and outdated?

Look at this forum: Small Business and Entrepreneur Forum | BizWarriors Forum

Do you think that one looks more modern and inviting to new users than this one?