V-bulletin

[David N. Snyder]

As many of you know there have been several glitches in the software, with more and more recurring ones. As one gets fixed, another pops up. We have been using the phpBB software to run this forum. So now we are looking into upgrading to V-bulletin. It should have some better features and then there should be the ability to subscribe to your postings too, which never worked here. We will possibly be doing this upgrade within the next 2 weeks. I'll keep you posted.

[SamKR]

Vbulletin should be much better. It is not free but has many features.
Thanks for this upcoming upgrade.

[appicchato]

[Modus.Ponens]

Thank you David.

[David N. Snyder]

Here are a couple of examples of forums using V-bulletin:

http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/forum.php (this forum has lots of ads, but we still won't have any)

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/

Although you may have to join to see the full effect of the features. The security code for the skyscraper forum shows a picture where you must enter a sentence to register; which should prevent a lot of spammers.

[Ñāṇa]

My goodness -- there's a forum for skyscraper enthusiasts!... And it has 3096 current active users online!...

[LonesomeYogurt]

I don't know about you, Ñāṇa, but I take my skyscraper enthusiasm seriously.

[David N. Snyder]

My goodness -- there's a forum for skyscraper enthusiasts!... And it has 3096 current active users online!...

But, of course! Skyscrapers are cool.

1. They are beautiful.
2. They are an efficient use of land.
3. They are an efficient use of resources.
4. They can reduce transportation costs with one office doing business with another in same building or very close by.
5. You can take the stairs for some great exercise.
6. The views are great.

A good architect must be good at science, mathematics-engineering, and the arts (creativity); sort of like chess.

[Dmytro]

Hi David,

V-bulletin is a good choice.

My friend runs such a Buddhist forum for years, and I worked there as a moderator:
http://board.buddhist.ru/forum.php

Please feel free to ask for assistance, if necessary. Though there will be an official support.

The security code for the skyscraper forum shows a picture where you must enter a sentence to register; which should prevent a lot of spammers.

Well, textual captchas can be automatically recognized.

Free KeyCAPTCHA is available for V-bulletin as well:
https://www.keycaptcha.com/captcha-for-cms/

[robertk]

vbulletin and invision are the most hacked boards . There will be attacks on a weekly basis, so be sure to make backups almost daily.
It also means regular updates where admins will have to upgrade the board as new hacker holes are found.

[Dmytro]

V-bulletin is often the target of hacking attacks, yet it is way more secure than PhpBB.

One can use additional security measures such as CrawlProtect, and follow the rules:

"Here's some things you can do to increase the level of security for your forums:

Always upgrade to the latest stable version.
Do not install any unofficial hacks or plugins as they are not written or reviewed by our developers.
Password protect your Administrator and Moderator Control Panels directories as well as the install and includes directories using .htaccess/.htpassword http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess3.shtml
Make sure the tools.php (vB3) file is NOWHERE on your website.
Remove the ImpEx files if you had used this import system.
If you have phpMyAdmin make sure it's password protected.
If you suspect a hacking attempt, ask your host to change the login password for your web account.
Make sure all the Admin and Mod passwords are secure. Change them if you have any doubts. And use hard to guess passwords.
NEVER allow HTML in posts, PMs or in sigs.
Make absolutely sure there are no viruses, trojans or keylogger spyware on your PC. Any of these could steal your password and other personal info.
Do NOT upload the directory called do_not_upload/
Use a different password for each forum you sign up with. Use a different password for your forum as you do for the .htaccess directory password.
Update the config.php file and set yourself as undeletable user so they can't touch your admin account.
Do Not Upload config.php.new when upgrading your forums.


Note your forums are only as secure as the passwords you use and the server it is on. If the server is accessed then there's nothing vB can do to prevent potential security violations."

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum/vb ... ore-secure

In worst cases, one can use http://www.cloudflare.com/ .

[Mawkish1983]

I look forward to seeing how the changes pan out. Thanks for keeping this place running!

[Cittasanto]

Thank-you!

[iforgotmyname]

V-bulletin is far superior to phpBB. phpBB while it is pretty great, had a lot of security issues and such (maybe they've improved now). V-bulletin is really well maintained. There must be some sort of migration path from phpBB to V-Bulletin that makes things easier.

[iforgotmyname]

V-bulletin is often the target of hacking attacks, yet it is way more secure than PhpBB.

This is true, because V-Bulletin is used by lots of people, hence targeted more. But still the guys at VB are quick to issue patches and if you keep the site up to date and follow some good security practices it should be ok.