phpBB 3.1.7-pl1 to vBulletin 4.2.3

azgunner · Post by **azgunner** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:31 pm

Hi,

phpBB isn't quite what I need so I'm trying to convert over to vBulletin 4.2.3. What converters are out there for 3.1 to vB? I've battle with Impex but could not get it to work. It only supports phpBB3

Post by **KevC** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:34 pm

You need to ask on a VB site. We can only help you get TO phpBB, not from it to some other software.

Swanny · Post by **Swanny** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:33 am

Ugh, vB. Why not give us a chance to figure out what you feel needs changing in phpBB. If I was going to the effort to switch from phpBB to something else, the best choice is Xenforo, it's far better than vB IMHO.

khris · Post by **khris** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:23 pm

@ Swanny,

i also love phpBB but compared with other forum software it does not offer best community option. I am observing titanium since a while but no progress (of course everything is free!) but i really wish to build a better community. I really love the template of the phpbb.com site with all these benefits like menu bar and download area.

- i miss a working gallery for the forum and users
- more functions for user profiles ... gallery, blog, pinboard
- like function
- menu bar that is fully responsive viewtopic.php?f=456&t=2330071&p=14352916#p14352916

khris

Post by **KevC** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:29 pm

khris wrote:- i miss a working gallery for the forum and users
- more functions for user profiles ... gallery, blog, pinboard
- like function

None of these are common enough to be core features so they are (or will be) available as extensions.

khris · Post by **khris** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:36 pm

Hi Kev,

really? woltlab, vbulletin, xenforo all of them offer gallery, blog, menu bar Why you think it isn´t common enough? What must happen to look more for these features?

I have to say i am using phpBB now for more than 8 years ... works stable and was always reliable but building a community makes it hard to stay with phpBB.

One option could be to use bridge mod but i don´t like the idea to mod the standard forum more and more.

Thanks
Khris

Post by **KevC** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:41 pm

Because they're highly specific to the subject of the board you're running.

If you want to champion a feature, the discussion for that stuff is on the area51 development board.

SalazarAG · Post by **SalazarAG** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:43 pm

khris wrote:Hi Kev,

really? woltlab, vbulletin, xenforo all of them offer gallery, blog, menu bar Why you think it isn´t common enough? What must happen to look more for these features?

I have to say i am using phpBB now for more than 8 years ... works stable and was always reliable but building a community makes it hard to stay with phpBB.

One option could be to use bridge mod but i don´t like the idea to mod the standard forum more and more.

Thanks
Khris

I disagree. phpBB offers what is really important, in my view: a forum for discussions. If you look at the VB5 you will see that it has both resource that becomes a heavy software. PhpBB is light, a clean installation does not reach or 2MB, and an administrator will prefer a stable forum that heavy.

khris · Post by **khris** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:49 pm

Don´t get me wrong, phpBB is pretty good and i appreciate the work by all that ppl that belong since years to the dev team, but from my point of view i miss some features. I really love to see this menu bar as an extension or fully included https://blog.phpbb.com/ ... https://www.phpbb.com/downloads/ and so on.

Setting one of these menu buttons as landing page would help to have a overview of what is new in the forum and make it more attractive with pictures or included youtube links for tutorials.

regards
khris

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 4:47 pm

the point is that phpbb is a bulletin board. that is all it was ever meant to be. a bulletin board is not a blog, or a imgage gallery etc.

If you want to add a blog, image gallery, or a custom menu, you can add them but why should everyone have to suffer with all the extra bloat if they just want a bulletin board?

therefore, those things are all available as MODs/now extensions.

If you want an extra that is not already available, then as always, you request for someone to create it for you.

currently, all those things you mentioned are either available or very easy to do yourself following instructions you can find here.

that has always been one of the reasons that phpbb is so popular, you start with the basics and add whatever you want to make your site, your site.

robert

khris · Post by **khris** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 5:06 pm

Hello robert,

you suggested something similar allready there viewtopic.php?p=14351666#p14351666 but its nothing out of the box this it what it makes so difficult for none phpbb developer. Most of phpbb forums are administrated by users and not by professionals otherwise there wouldn´t be that many help request on this great forum;-). I am a user and i want to use it and don´t like to start developing something. It is the same with cars, if you like to have some new function you ask for it and don´t start try understanding how to build cars

All i like to see ppl open their mind ... the phpbb.com forum logo says "creating communities" and in my opinion a community more then just text based forum look and this is what we actually get (of course for free!).

You gave me the hint about pages extension and i saw today it officially certificated by phpbb since today but there could be much more to build communities. If dmzx will improve the menu bar extension viewtopic.php?f=456&t=2330071&p=14352916#p14352916 i could combine it with pages but do you really think most of the users prefer to do it the hard way?

Imagine you have big forum with over 80.000 users and when they visit your forum you like to keep them up to date about new stuff ... do really thing ppl now a days start reading every topic in news area ... you need to bring topics directly in their view with pictures and videos (just an example).

Best regards
khris

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 5:17 pm

extensions do not require you to do anything but upload them and enable them. no editing, etc.

if you want something with all the extras already installed then you need a different software.

If you want something that you can control then phpbb is for you. phpbb is not for everyone and was never intended to be so.
however, despite what you consider to be things that are needed, I believe it is still the most popular bulletin board system in the world.

a "community" does not have to mean software that has everything under the sun as default. there are many many users out there that dont care about blogs, or galleries, or facebook like junk etc.
we just want a plain simply text bulletin board to have community discussions.

for those that do care about these things ( and there are a lot of people that do ) there are very quick and simple ways to add them to the basic board.

If you are going to have a website that you are serious about, then you need to know some basics about how to maintain and work with that website. If your website is only phpbb then that still holds true. you will need to know how to work with and maintain phpbb.

If your website is just basic html then you will need to be able to edit/customize your html to make the website what you want.

If your website is phpbb you need to be able to edit/customize it to make it what you want.

sorry for the rant.

robert

khris · Post by **khris** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 6:03 pm

hi robert,

everything is fine for me. We just having a nice discussion that is all

It is not about controlling the board or installing extension (this is easy of course!) it is about how to bring something forward. Back to my example with the cars: it is not my intention to understand what happens under the hood when i start pushing the gas or turning the steering ... but i can still run the car

Why does bridges exist? Because ppl want to use cms with the great phpBB forum software if not these bridges would not exist. Imagine wordpress and joomla would not offer a intuitive backend ... and keep ppl in the dark ... they would never become that big as they are now a days. I don´t say phpBB has no backend and that it is bad. No it is great!

The only thing i am pointing on, it grows out of my demand and i am pretty sure there are many many more out there that would love to see phpBB becoming more community compatible.

- side bar with more information´s screens are big enough

- menu bar + sub sites + the option to set the landing page e.g. starting on a news site
- gallery 67 pages of discussion means to me it really welcome to the phpBB community viewtopic.php?f=456&t=2273501
- customize user profiles ... private gallery, blogs and more
- download area ... well not everyone needs this but would love to see this as an working extension ... it a great function https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/extensions-36

best regards
khris

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 6:27 pm

you are making my point. all of those things are already available or in process. like I said, the point of phpbb is to be a basic bulletin board. if someone wants a cms they can get a cms and as you said, they can bridge phpbb with it.

if someone wants a image gallery, they simply install the image gallery extension ( when it is finished )

by the way, remember that the people that come here with problems or requests are a very very small sample of the people that are using phpbb. it would take hundreds of thousands of people requesting something to even begin to be a large portion of the total users.

phpbb is not behind in anything. it is exactly what it is supposed to be.

if people want something different, there are lots of choices out there.

vb has a lot of extras that do not relat to a bulletin board but even with all those extras, they have a very large number of MODs that you can download and install to get other things.

cms's are basically blogs but nowdays you can create whole sites using them. if , as part of that site, you want a bulletin board then you can bridge to phpbb or maybe other systems as well.

to user your car analogy;

If you have a car and you want that car to have a high power engine, you have choices.
1. you buy a different car with a high power engine
2. you pay someone to modify the existing engine.
3. you learn how to modify it yourself.

you can not expect to be able to simply wish it was a high power engine, nor can you expect to be able to just click a button on the dashboard and have it magically change into a high power engine.

yes, we are just having a nice discussion.

robert

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