Your Map for the vBulletin Ecosystem

Back on the old blog, I noted that how good a content management system was depended on how good its ecosystem was. And in this mini-series, we saw how value was moving outwards -- towards "the edge" -- and will continue to do so, thus creating a scenario in which the majority of the value lies not in the core application (vBulletin) but in the ecosystem it creates and fosters.

I've been working with vBulletin on a daily basis (for multiple hours a day) for the past three and a half years. Here's a breakdown of my thoughts on the ecosystem. Consider it a map that can serve you in your journey to become the web 2.0 hero you were born to be.

THE OFFICIAL SITES

The official sites are still the most important ones: first, buy your license at vBulletin; then, get some mods and learn about customization over at the development community.

GOOD

I place a big premium on good customer service and professionalism; especially with technical matters, I need to have confidence that the development team is committed to excellence. So far, I've been pleased with the following companies.

Zoints. We met Zoints already in this case study; their apps are great. The company is idealistic, humble, dedicated, and intelligent. They are probably the company I am most excited about on the web: they have all the trademarks of a company poised to change the game -- and they intend to do just that. One to watch, no doubt.

The Geek. Low prices, open source mods, great customer service, excellent documentation, fun but professional. In terms of who makes the best and most necessary add-ons for vBulletin, The Geek takes the cake.

vBlogetin. A blog application for vBulletin I was very impressed with. Good customer service, professional attitude.

NuHit. I haven't had too much experience with NuHit, but I have purchased and tried their "Digg functionality for vBulletin" modification. It's not perfect, but overall I liked it and recommend it. Would buy again from NuHit.

BAD

These are companies whose products I would not recommend. See the reason for each one listed below. (Sites have remained unlinked so as to not signal endorsement to bots).

extremechatforums.com. The developer is intelligent, but I need better customer service; I'm tolerant of missed deadlines once in a while, but cannot allow that to become the status quo.

supervb.com. Repeatedly missed deadlines, and a disposition I found to be unprofessional.

vBSEO.com. We met this in this mini-series; while I think they have great potential, I don't recommend the use of encrypted modifications, as that can create problems down the road. I also had a bad experience with their site map generator which I think caused search engines to drop one of my sites (I am not 100% sure on that, but I'm pretty sure -- and as such I don't use the site map generator). While I may not be a fan of vBSEO's products, I do think the management team has potential to disrupt vBulletin, and understands that the best strategies help the ecosystem as a whole flourish. So I'm rooting for them, even if I don't recommend their products.

DON'T FORGET: My vBulletin Bookmarks

Click here to find a list of vBulletin mods that I've bookmarked. I haven't tried them all, but those are the ones I thought looked interesting worth being aware of.


Here's the start page of this case study.