Best Move I Ever Made

[BSchwarz]

I was a long time vbulletin user. Watched and participated in the discussions on EZBoard when John first started to develop vbulletin and was the first install on a large active site converting from UBB. I was the first to test the converter, John sent me many variations until it was right, and use it to convert the site I owned at the time. I never really thought I would ever use any other software. A couple months ago I decided having all my eggs in one basket wasn't a good idea. Many of the things that were going on with IB looked eerily similar to what was happening with UBB years ago. I bought my first IPB license for a new site. Since then IB decided that long time, loyal customers like me had no place with them and basically kicked us to the curb. I have since bought 2 more forum licenses and one suite license and converted 2 of my sites. I have 5 sites left. More licenses will be bought over the course of the next month or so I will convert the rest of my communities.

I am thoroughly impressed the software and the support. It says a lot when the owner, Matt, offers help via twitter. It used to be that way with John. It helps to build loyalty and trust. The software itself runs far better than vbulletin. I will be here for a long time and want to say thanks for opening my eyes. If I didn't buy my first license I would never have seen how powerful IPB is.

[DawPi]

Welcome on board BSchwarz! :)

[iAdi]

Welcome BSchwarz, you didn't do a mistake! You chose the best :)

[AndyF]

Thank you for your positive comments. :)


EDIT... I think I'll move this to the Feedback forum as that seems a more appropriate place for it.

[Enkidu]

welcome on board BSchwarz.

IPB kicks ass :thumbsup:

[Mike54]

BSchwarz and I have been teasing back and forth on Twitter these last few days about purchasing licenses and converting from vB. (Don't tell him, but I think he's become addicted to IPB. ;))

But it really isn't a joke, after all. Whilst he's buying licenses at the rate of two a day, I just jumped in the deep end and purchased four licenses up front. I figured if I was in for a penny, I was in for a pound. (OK, OK, so I'm addicted to IPB as well. :blush:)

I was with vB just shy of five years, so I don't have the history with vB that BSchwarz does. But five years is a long time, so you can imagine how hard it was to make the decision to leave. I posted a random tweet about looking seriously into switching over to IPB and within a few minutes, both Matt and Charles were there answering questions for me. I hope they both know what a positive impact that made on me.

BSchwarz is braver than I, so I opted to pay for conversions on my sites. Site #1 is set up for tomorrow! (w00t) But I did set up a test site so I could start learning. Wow, am I ever impressed with the software. It has a very polished and professional feel to it vB has never had. The scripts all integrate so well with one another and IP.Content is incredible. The blessing is the learning curve is much more gentle than I had anticipated. I admit I was reluctant to give up vBSEO, but when I realized that was the only reason I was staying with vB, my decision was already made for me.

Between the help Matt and Charles provided, the 'feel' of the software and this friendly community, I have to agree with BSchwarz. This is the best move I ever made. You can certainly list my name in the Satisfied Customers column.

[Spincycle]

I agree with BSchwarz. I was a loyal vB user for several years too, but bought and installed a test IPBoard yesterday and I have to say the more I get to know the program the more I love it. I wish I would have made the change sooner.

[tinycg]

[quote name='Mike54' date='01 November 2009 - 04:32 PM' timestamp='1257093164' post='1874311']
BSchwarz and I have been teasing back and forth on Twitter these last few days about purchasing licenses and converting from vB. (Don't tell him, but I think he's become addicted to IPB. ;))

But it really isn't a joke, after all. Whilst he's buying licenses at the rate of two a day, I just jumped in the deep end and purchased four licenses up front. I figured if I was in for a penny, I was in for a pound. (OK, OK, so I'm addicted to IPB as well. :blush:)

I was with vB just shy of five years, so I don't have the history with vB that BSchwarz does. But five years is a long time, so you can imagine how hard it was to make the decision to leave. I posted a random tweet about looking seriously into switching over to IPB and within a few minutes, both Matt and Charles were there answering questions for me. I hope they both know what a positive impact that made on me.

BSchwarz is braver than I, so I opted to pay for conversions on my sites. Site #1 is set up for tomorrow! (w00t) But I did set up a test site so I could start learning. Wow, am I ever impressed with the software. It has a very polished and professional feel to it vB has never had. The scripts all integrate so well with one another and IP.Content is incredible. The blessing is the learning curve is much more gentle than I had anticipated. I admit I was reluctant to give up vBSEO, but when I realized that was the only reason I was staying with vB, my decision was already made for me.

Between the help Matt and Charles provided, the 'feel' of the software and this friendly community, I have to agree with BSchwarz. This is the best move I ever made. You can certainly list my name in the Satisfied Customers column.


I'll echo that, as a former vB owner going back about the same time as Mike, it felt a little like a bad breakup at first, then I played with the 24hr demo and was instantly taken aback by how IPB gets the details right, and understands a user and an admin. Nothing's perfect, but IPBs attention to detail, communication with the customers and belief in providing a quality product at a more than reasonable price, its a real pleasure to see that kind of commitment.

Something that I think a lot of other companies could learn from, by no means has IPS' road been without its bumps but they've come out of it with a truly stellar attitude and direction that will only serve to benefit the company, as well as its customers.

[Mike54]

[quote name='tinycg' date='01 November 2009 - 12:08 PM' timestamp='1257095304' post='1874322']
I'll echo that, as a former vB owner going back about the same time as Mike, it felt a little like a bad breakup at first, then I played with the 24hr demo and was instantly taken aback by how IPB gets the details right, and understands a user and an admin. Nothing's perfect, but IPBs attention to detail, communication with the customers and belief in providing a quality product at a more than reasonable price, its a real pleasure to see that kind of commitment.

Something that I think a lot of other companies could learn from, by no means has IPS' road been without its bumps but they've come out of it with a truly stellar attitude and direction that will only serve to benefit the company, as well as its customers.


I don't know about you, but I feel as if I've been here and using IPS software much longer than just a couple days. I logged into the Admin CP on one of my forums this morning and it felt cartoonish to me, if that makes any sense.

I've seen some people posting on some of the vB-specific sites about how they've tried IPB and didn't care for it. I am certainly not in that category. Within a few minutes, I was already seeing more and more of vB's shortcomings. With one tiny exception (that I just need to sort how to re-code), I think the IPB Admin CP is much nicer and more intuitive.

I'm right alongside you in saying the IPS experience has been top shelf. Thanks to everyone that has made it so.

[Carl M]

Matt, Charles and the rest of the IPS team are brilliant! Welcome to IPB one and all! Im pretty sure it will be vB who? for you guys shortly! :)

[tinycg]

[quote name='Mike54' date='01 November 2009 - 05:40 PM' timestamp='1257097206' post='1874335']
I don't know about you, but I feel as if I've been here and using IPS software much longer than just a couple days. I logged into the Admin CP on one of my forums this morning and it felt cartoonish to me, if that makes any sense.

I've seen some people posting on some of the vB-specific sites about how they've tried IPB and didn't care for it. I am certainly not in that category. Within a few minutes, I was already seeing more and more of vB's shortcomings. With one tiny exception (that I just need to sort how to re-code), I think the IPB Admin CP is much nicer and more intuitive.

I'm right alongside you in saying the IPS experience has been top shelf. Thanks to everyone that has made it so.


I understand and agree with everything you're saying, the cartoonish perspective of vB's ACP, I had the same thought the other day, and was really disappointed a few weeks back when I found out they weren't re-doing that for the 4.0 release, thats something that even without a complete overhaul, a smart design refresh as a temporary solution would have at least shown they understand its outdated.

Out of curiosity whats the one thing you're looking for? I for one am looking into a way to show how many unread posts there are for the user, similar to the vB hack that would show that with a link to a search of said new content. I like the IPB new content link, but would like to figure out if I can update that link with some dynamic text for that.

[whitetigergrowl]

I'm personally impressed by the large number of long standing Vbulletin members moving to and supporting IPB. I'm very happy to see that and to acknowledge the overall quality of the IPB3 software.

[Matt]

Thank you all so much for your comments. I'm genuinely thrilled that you are having such a positive experience. I was just on one of your forums this morning, BSchwarz, and it's looking great.

Please do let us know if you need any assistance or if you have some feature improvements / suggestions. We do listen and we're all active in the feedback areas so we'll definitely see it.

[bfarber]

I said this in a topic in the feedback forum as well, but I'd like to reiterate that it makes us all so proud that so many of you are enjoying the software. Given that we do not generally remove negative feedback from these forums so long as it stays within the forum rules, and that the number of positive feedback topics is so heavily outweighing the number of negative feedback topics, it tells us we're moving in the right direction, and gives us confidence that we should keep moving in this direction.

Thanks again for the positive feedback. :)