Open Suggestion: Forum Structure / Content
 

Here's my friendly and open suggestion to the forum structure and their contents. Feel free to ignore it, feel free to implement it, feel free to add-on suggestions. I do not expect changes to occur immediately. But I hope it's being considered at least for the (near) future with version 4 in mind.

Version 3.6 is now end of life, "vBulletin 3.6 Legacy Version" category could be moved below the "vBulletin Legacy Versions (2.x, 3.0 and 3.5)" category.

The category "vBulletin Legacy Versions (2.x, 3.0 and 3.5)" Could then be renamed to "vBulletin Legacy Versions (2.x, 3.0, 3.5, and 3.6)".

The 3.6 forum "vBulletin 3.6 Installation and Upgrades" which is currently under this category, could either a) become a subforum under "vBulletin 3.6 Questions, Problems and Troubleshooting", or b) be merged with it.

I recommend to keep the order logical, so the 'legacy' category goes from 3.6, to 3.5, 3.0, 2.x.

I also recommend considering merging the content from "vBulletin 3.0 Fixes and Patches" sub-forum into its parent forum: "vBulletin 3.0 How Do I and Troubleshooting Forum" as the content isn't that much, and outdated, and the "fix" 9/10 times equals upgrading to v3.

The "Archive" category is a mess : http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=66 and despite (for me) being logical, it is perhaps worth considering removing some of the [forum is actually a link] forums, and merging 'beta' (pre/post) forums together to clean up the clutter, but .. it's an archive, perhaps it doesn't even matter.

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Regarding the "vBulletin Downloads" forum.
Would it perhaps be an idea to remove clutter from users and motivate them to upgrade to the latest stable, by offering a) the latest branch 3.8 releases, and b) an archive with older releases moved into it?

Just browsing 3.8 releases for language packs and styles would be a bit nicer than having to go through multiple pages to see if there's perhaps a newer version somewhere else.

And the "Announcements Discussions" forum could perhaps be moved to the archive, as their data is outdated once version 4 beta is out, and there's a new licensed users feedback forum to replace it.

The forum "Managing your Community" to my understanding only allows licensed customers to post. However, this is not clear. It's just something I happen to know. Newcomers might now. The forum description could perhaps be updated?

The forum "Server Configuration" in my opinion should be limited to licensed customers too. Pre-sales questions can go into pre-sales or the 'vb hosting' forum above it. This might cut down on the spam, and limit requests and support for it, from staff and experienced customers, rather than people with commercial agenda : oh with that config, you are better of with a better host, look at my sig, i just happen to be a host!

I also recommend to move this forum up 1 so the first three under general category are for licensed customers only to participate in (and the rest to view). While the php/html and hosting and the chit chat forum below it are for unlicensed users.

Regarding the forum "Licensed Customer Feedback", I recommend allowing people to read this. Having this locked down doesn't feel right. If it has been decided upon, please reconsider it. Not all customers are set up as licensed, or know how, for a company that promised improvement in communication it sounds counter intuitive to lock down content. But, I can understand why. Again, an open suggestion.

And finally, before I go, I like the team to please reconsider making it easier to identify which forums are for licensed customers, and not. The notice system might allow this, a index.php forum description or forum_licensed index icon, etc. Enough opportunities to use the default features to make it clear to potential customers where they can post and not.

The forums that are actually a link that link to their project- project.php section, is illogical if you ask. If I would put them four below eachother, it looks like a sales pitch, but does not explain what it is. I rather read 'follow this link to issue a new bug report for vbulletin 3.8' and 'Go here to report confirmed issues with the blog software' or whatever sounds more reasonable than 'you can use the PT to suggest features', which.. you can't. it's not setup to suggest features for the project tools for example, only bug reporting.

Ok, One more thing Perhaps consider adding a quick link to the albums and social groups as a 'demo', or have there be a demo forum with subforum links to various demo options, or change the pre-sales forum description to have something like ' test.zip | demo vbulletin | example: social album / social group / social profile | available languages / styles ' .. stuff like that. This can provide both pre/post sales users with great links to learn and try vbulletin and find out where to look next.

Thank you or your time, I am here all week :)

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