January 2007 Forum of the Month

Current stats:

• Owner: loco.m
• Age: 8 months
• Members: 980
• Posts: 5,900

Final Thoughts (majority opinion of the AdminFusion staff):

There are many official and unofficial vBulletin support and modification communities, but vBulletin Setup has what a lot of them do not, and that is organized content. The overall layout, design, and navigation of vBulletin Setup is special. We usually try to focus on the forums and not any front pages, portals, landing pages, etc., but we couldn't help but notice how clean and intuitive the front page at vBS is. The design may not be 100% integrated with that of the forums yet, but it is still very clean and easy to navigate. The forums themselves look great as well. Again, they are easy to navigate and offer a refreshing look for vBulletin owners. The forums really do illustrate what is possible to do with vBulletin given the appropriate resources. vBS uses many custom forum icons which offer a nice touch to the forums with varying forum listing layouts. Some of the listed forums are in a two column format which eliminates a lot of vertical scrolling on a page with many forums.

The modifications at vBS are also something that speak for themselves. For those of you who know how the default vB installation looks and functions, you will know that the software at vBS has been heavily modified and tweaked to assist the end user. This is important for a vBulletin support and modification community, because it helps to show the users what vB has to offer as long as you are willing to work on it. At vBS you'll find user blogs, a bridged blog/front page, a directory, a skin database, vBSEO'd URL's, and perhaps even more that we failed to spot.

So what kind of resources will you actually find at vBulletin Setup? Well, vBS is not so much about installing and upgrading vBulletin, but it is more about making vBulletin shine. At vBS you will find many very talented designers and coders who offer skins and modifications for vBulletin forums, both free and paid. You will find over 50 free skins for the vBulletin 3.6 series which itself is only about 6 months old. If you've got a question about vB and ask it at vBS, it will be answered. Unfortunately this is not something that you can find at many support forums in today's world, but the members at vBS are very helpful. There are many very knowledgeable vB owners there who could very well be working elsewhere for their own benefit but instead choose to help others. The vBulletin Support forum is the busiest forum at vBS, and we couldn't find a single thread which had gone unanswered.

vBulletin Setup has only been open for 8 months or so but is already closing in on 1,000 members and 6,000 posts. The activity there is very good, and even more important is the fact that it is steady. The traffic, backlinks, PR, and Alexa rank (admittedly not the best measure of traffic) shows the fact that vBS is well known on the internet in less than a year's time. What seems to be the most promising, however, is that vBS has not received a sudden surge of activity. The traffic and posts have come steadily over an extended period of time which means that they will continue to do so for quite some time.

Great job with your forums, Brandon. You've always been very helpful to all vBulletin owners, and your forums vBulletin Setup are invaluable.

To discuss and congratulate loco.m, please go here

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