Why we use vBulletin?

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Hi all:

I known this is a silly question, but FreeBSD is a free operating system, it is a very important open source operating system and it plays a very important role in open source world.

So, why we use vBulletin?

I mean vBulletin is not free.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vbulletin

vBulletin (vB) is a proprietary Internet forum software produced by Jelsoft Enterprises and vBulletin Solutions, both subsidiaries of Internet Brands. It is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database server.
 
phpBB is crap. vBulletin isn't.

Besides, vBulletin *is* open source, it's just not free.

Remember, free as in free speech, not as in free beer ;)
 
Thanks for everyone.

I will not use vBulletin because it is not free enough for me.

I am trying to build a bbs server, I will try phpBB or others.
 
overmind said:
I found phpBB less secure.

You want something reliable don't you?

There were many problems with phpBB1 and phpBB2, but as far as I know phpBB3 (released several years ago) improved a lot security-wise.

The difference is really in functionality.

Not only does vBulletin come with better functionality out of the box, vBulletin also comes with a well thought out module system that works quite well. You can go to vbulletin.org and download & install the modification, it "just works"â„¢

phpBB3 on the other hand has no module system. At all. It does have "modules" though, which are more like patches. To make matters worse, they're usually not the diff(1) and patch(1) kind of patches we know and love. No, instead they've improved on that, many of these patches look like:

&quot said:
Open file.php, go to line 876 and find:
$file = OpenFile($var);
print $file;

And replace it with:
$file = OpenFile($var, $someopt);

... And so forth ...

It's just really, really silly and simply doesn't work.
 
I guess that counts as an inability to FreeBSD Foundation to sustain the process that let's produce something that's not crap. Making a forum software requires team effort with design, planning and architecture that is web-oriented. I believe FreeBSD process is too conservative for that, and there is no communication with upstream, because the process is polished by hackers to mess with operating system internals alone in the dark. =)

On the other side we have a working forum where people can really get answers, instead of crappy mailing lists. I would call this a big advantage (maybe even progress). Such concentration allows to keep OS development focused at least.

But I wouldn't mind if FreeBSD used some alternative forum soft where you can add plugins to switch to familiar Trac style markup instead of BBCode.
 
Calling everything you happen not to like crap isn't likely to get many responses from those who are capable of actually doing something.

Fonz (just a thought)
 
techtonik said:
I guess that counts as an inability to FreeBSD Foundation to sustain the process that let's produce something that's not crap.
No no, that statement is an indication of some people's inability to embrace and understand open source for what it is. It's not a top down system of foundations calling the shots and funding/motivating/enslaving others to do their bidding. It's upto ordinary people to see what they want changed and to have the dedication to make it happen themselves. Want a BSD licensed forum suite as good as vBulletin? Get off your ass and do it. No one's going to tell you to do it, and I'm sure you don't want someone else telling you what to do either.

No more responses to trolling from me. :)
 
I took his smiley face to mean he was just kidding. Why anyone would think the devs of an operating system should be responsible for bulletin board development is beyond me.
 
Yea, I don't meant the FreeBSD is crap. Otherwise I wouldn't bother myself with registering here at all. I mean that development is focused on operating system alone, which is probably a good thing for operating system, but not too good for open source community.
 
Then I'll repeat what I said. You shouldn't be expecting the developers of an operating system to be developing bulletin board software or any other software.
 
Ok. I'm convinced. An operating system should do one thing well, and it is certainly not allowing communication via forum-like interface. Let's get back on topic.

Carpetsmoker said:
phpBB is crap. vBulletin isn't.

Besides, vBulletin *is* open source, it's just not free.

Remember, free as in free speech, not as in free beer ;)

Let's make it clear - `vBulletin` is not Open Source as defined by OSI. This is what people expect to be used to keep the spirit of Open Source community.
 
techtonik said:
This is what people expect to be used to keep the spirit of Open Source community.

I personally do not care what software is used to run the forum. I care about the forum being run well.
So the forum runs on software for which the source code is available and changeable but not redistributable. Big deal.

The mailing lists are great as-well. They are just as easily searchable as the forums.
 
techtonik said:
Ok. I'm convinced. An operating system should do one thing well, and it is certainly not allowing communication via forum-like interface.
Actually no, I was talking about the FreeBSD developers, who have other and better things to do than programming their own forum software. As crazy as it might sound, the FreeBSD Project - like any other - has limited resources (time, personnel, knowhow, etc.)
So let forum programming experts do their job, they do it best.

As for using another software (instead of creating it), the Project simply decided vBulletin was the best choice. Just like some people who prefer the NVIDIA binary blob or the Opera browser. Free choice -- freedom to choose what suits your needs best.

techtonik said:
Let's get back on topic.
Because my post was way off topic in what way exactly?
 
techtonik said:
This is what people expect to be used to keep the spirit of Open Source community.

I'm not aware of any vote where the "people" named you their spokesperson, so please speak for yourself only.

Adam
 
techtonik said:
Yea, I don't meant the FreeBSD is crap. Otherwise I wouldn't bother myself with registering here at all. I mean that development is focused on operating system alone, which is probably a good thing for operating system, but not too good for open source community.

About every thread you have started, or babbled in, is telling people how stuff should be done.

techtonik said:
Feature I'd like to use are {{{ and }}} delimiters for code blocks. They are easier to type, and compatible with wiki systems, and may also include optional highlight hints.

techtonik said:
That explains it a bit, but still not sufficient to disqualify request to "have all ISO downloads shipped properly configured for package installation" as a valid feature request. The stuff that requires you to know what you're doing is the reason for all human errors.


Instead of carrying on about what you want, or dont want, or arguing how open source vBulletin is...why dont you spend some time reading the manual instead, and then you wouldnt have to guess at such things as....


techtonik said:
Thanks. That explains it. I guess `csh` is default root shell in FreeBSD.
 
mix_room said:
I personally do not care what software is used to run the forum. I care about the forum being run well.
So the forum runs on software for which the source code is available and changeable but not redistributable. Big deal.

It is changeable and available only to selected people, not to me, or other members, so in general case the code is not available. Basically there is no way to improve it like adding Trac-like syntax for code blocks if these selected people don't want to code it.
 
Sorry people, this is a non-discussion if I ever saw one. We use vB simply because it's the best forum software available (including support), regardless of whatever anyone feels about its license, extendibility, usability, or whatever. It's the community it helps create that counts. It's just a piece of software used as an instrument for that purpose. If we find something better (in terms of functionality and manageability first and foremost), we will use it. I don't think most people on this forum want to get caught up (again!) in some sort of Stallman/GPL type license bickering here. We concentrate on FreeBSD. Let's keep it that way.

Closing it now.
 
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