Max Taxable
The Wyatt Earp of Anti-Spam
The "need to upgrade my vBulletin" myth busted.
People get in such a big hurry to "upgrade" their vBulletin installations to versions 4 or 5, and seemingly never stop to think about it.
Well, you need to think about it. And you need to ask only one important question: "What is the compelling reason to upgrade?"
Truth: There isn't one.
After years of asking this question of people, none have given any answer close to compelling. I hear:
I try to get people to ask this important question and to THINK about this before jumping in - trying to save people the regret, buyer's remorse and screwed up sites that invariably result.
It shocks most people when I show them that out of the top ten largest, highest posting traffic message boards that run vBulletin, nine of them run version 3 or earlier, still. And of those nine, one still runs version 2! Yes, version 2.
They have no security problems and no compatibility problems. They get no spam. They have no complaints about their look, their "outdated" scripts, nothing like that. They have excellent mobile versions and their sites load greasy fast and serve their memberships well.
Here they are:
forums.offtopic.com - v3.8.7
forums.somethingawful.com - v 2.2.9! Yes, version 2.2.9.
forocoches.com/foro/ - v3.8.7
pbnation.com/forum.php - v3.8.7
forum.bodybuilding.com - v4.1.1 (And they still, rue the day they ever 'upgraded' from version 3. Ask them.)
fanforum.com - 3.8.7
skyscrapercity.com - 3.8.8 beta1
forumserver.twoplustwo.com - v3.8.7
neogaf.com/forum - v3.8.7
boxingscene.com/forums - v3.8.2 (They DID 'upgrade' to v4 but hated it SO much, they did the massive work necessary to revert back!)
Is someone here starting to get a clue? There's no arguing with the outstanding success of the sites listed. They know what I am trying to tell you - there is NO compelling reason to upgrade your vBulletin 3.8.7 installation to higher versions. None at all. (except for v3.8.8 when it is released.)
Even vBulletin dot org knows this. - v3.6.12
If you still want to do it, good luck. But don't say I didn't warn ya.
People get in such a big hurry to "upgrade" their vBulletin installations to versions 4 or 5, and seemingly never stop to think about it.
Well, you need to think about it. And you need to ask only one important question: "What is the compelling reason to upgrade?"
Truth: There isn't one.
After years of asking this question of people, none have given any answer close to compelling. I hear:
- "Better for security" - Patently false. vB 4 is one of the most hacked and defaced boards, all time. You kidding?
- "Better for support" - Debatable. Not compelling anyway, as I will prove.
- "Looks better" - Really? EotB Eye of the beholder - by definition, not a compelling reason.
- "ALL the big boards use (higher version)" - Patently false.
- "I just wannabe up to date." - Not compelling. Just feelgood, false sense of security.
- "Earlier versions not compatible with new PHP versons." - They can be adjusted to be so, and it's no mystery or even all that difficult.
- "Better for mobile users earlier versions are not" - Pretty compelling reason here I agree but, they can be and are. And again, not that difficult.
- "Better against forum spam" - FAR from it! This claim is one of the most laughable out there!
I try to get people to ask this important question and to THINK about this before jumping in - trying to save people the regret, buyer's remorse and screwed up sites that invariably result.
It shocks most people when I show them that out of the top ten largest, highest posting traffic message boards that run vBulletin, nine of them run version 3 or earlier, still. And of those nine, one still runs version 2! Yes, version 2.
They have no security problems and no compatibility problems. They get no spam. They have no complaints about their look, their "outdated" scripts, nothing like that. They have excellent mobile versions and their sites load greasy fast and serve their memberships well.
Here they are:
forums.offtopic.com - v3.8.7
forums.somethingawful.com - v 2.2.9! Yes, version 2.2.9.
forocoches.com/foro/ - v3.8.7
pbnation.com/forum.php - v3.8.7
forum.bodybuilding.com - v4.1.1 (And they still, rue the day they ever 'upgraded' from version 3. Ask them.)
fanforum.com - 3.8.7
skyscrapercity.com - 3.8.8 beta1
forumserver.twoplustwo.com - v3.8.7
neogaf.com/forum - v3.8.7
boxingscene.com/forums - v3.8.2 (They DID 'upgrade' to v4 but hated it SO much, they did the massive work necessary to revert back!)
Is someone here starting to get a clue? There's no arguing with the outstanding success of the sites listed. They know what I am trying to tell you - there is NO compelling reason to upgrade your vBulletin 3.8.7 installation to higher versions. None at all. (except for v3.8.8 when it is released.)
Even vBulletin dot org knows this. - v3.6.12
If you still want to do it, good luck. But don't say I didn't warn ya.
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