Well after 6 months of research I am sold on WowUltra. Never thought I would say that, but after testing VB, the new phpbb and anything else I could get my hands on I can honestly say that personally I would recommend this forum software. Most know that I had/have been a Wowbb user in the past, but was frustrated with the fact that the software lacked basic features (like subforums and a variety of other basic admin features). It was maddening and I did not see the advancements coming quick enough for my liking. So I started doing my homework and testing out other software's out there to find a new one I liked. I gave ALL a chance and took the time to test each, etc.

Then about a year ago the owners of wowbb let a few established community members who had well known coding experience (including one of the senior moderators at the main wowbb community help site) take the core program and start their own offshoot versions of the software. They were given the ability to add ALL the missing features to the core code and package it so it was all built in and not additional mods that would have to be added later. What resulted is pretty cool.

The Ultra admin area has gotten both more feature rich, while remaining completely user friendly for users who are beginners or advanced. The new phpbb3 is definitely an advancement over the old versions BUT the admin area is completely baffling for most and just stupid confusing for no reason I can understand. So I kept looking.

So it came down to VB and Ultra for me. Both are software you have to purchase, but what really sold me was this. Ultra has all of the same features VB, a similar look, but also a few new things I had not seen, like one click in the admin area and you can change your entire board to 6 different built in layouts. That is super cool and I have never seen this with any other software. I can't believe I used to run a forum to make custom themes and changes for other wowbb sites and with Ultra it takes one (1) click, lol. It is also to easily customize if you have the coding experience. All the template files are completely laid out in the admin area and adjusting each if needed is very easy.

I am sold and plan to use it for a new forum I am launching in the next few weeks and switching my TVandDINNER forum soon after. So I wanted to recommend people check out WowUltra and their support forums. A lot of other people have already made the switch to using this software and I know many others in the process of doing the same.

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Good post, James. I too did testing, for over a year, starting with MyBB. It doesn't matter that I came to a slightly different conclusion for my new projects because I would vote for either WowBB-based franchise as a strong candidate for my new projects to be honest! I think people should check out both WowBB-based options - WowUltra, run by a highly skilled WowBB staffer, and WowClassic, run by WowBB's most successful mod and theme shop owner. Both excellent choices that grab what is best about WowBB. I think everyone should check out their testimonials, upgrade track record and plans, themes, and general personal service. For a $99 lifetime license and what you get in terms of upgrades and personal service, I think they are about to stand up to any software. I am excited to see what either does in the next year, to be honest. I can't even say which is better for someone because it really depends upon your likes and needs. Both both are, objectively and in my opinion, offering superior SERVICE. If you want great service with a constantly improving software, I suggest you check out either WowUltra or WowClassic. For example, WowClassic has only been around a half a year and already has had 2 upgrades with a MAJOR one coming next month, including a unique user-rated post voting system. WowUltra has some new kick ass sidebox layout switching feature in their Admin - sweet! Both have features that no other software has, and after next month, that will be more obvious. That is what is great about these WowBB-based options, you get serviced fully for any and all issues regarding those enhanced features. Regardless, if I had to pick a new software and wanted the best personal service, and there was no WowClassic, I would pick WowUltra from all the choices out there because it is hard to be in better hands with either. In fact, I've purchase services from WowUltra's owner in the past and will say he is one of the few people I trust with my main forum site.

In short, these new authorized franchises are excellent opportunities for the forum world to get a level of passion and personal service that is and will continue to be hard to beat. My personal tests, preferences and projects are irrelevant. You should check out all your options thoroughly.

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Good information Frank.
Can you please start a separate thread (if you have not already) to discuss Classic. This thread is going to be to discuss WowUltra only. There are a bunch of people who are going to discuss it in this thread. If you want to discuss just Ultra here then that is fine also. Thanks!

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I found an image of the new feature in the admin panel that allows you to instantly change your theme to a variety of different layouts. This is a one click process and your entire board adjusts for everyone. Very cool I think

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Hi James, I do not want to start a new thread because it is not my software - the owners of the software should be creating threads just for talking about their software or their software users. But that is what the Advertising forum is for - to control the conversation and just talk about something you want to promote. I hear what you are saying but was talking about WowUltra. You can't expect people to not compare it to other software, can you? You can't expect people to pretend it exists in a vacuum, right? That is what the Advertising forum is for. Your comments made me think one is not "allowed" to mention other software and compare it to Ultra. People who just want to chat about their Ultra boards with no mention of other software are likely better off posting at the Ultra site I would think.

Whatever software is being talked about in this forum, it is open to analysis, comparison, and context. Otherwise, the owner should probably consider posting something in the Ad forum like I said. There are also a bunch of people that are likely to comment about other software options and compare so you may want to prepare yourself better since your comments seem to say "don't talk about other software" even though you are starting the thread off talking about other software, saying you recommend Ultra after comparing, did tests, and talked about the history and context. Is no one to add to that context, history, test results, or other software you compared them to? What if people come here with different test results than you do? Are you going to go tell them to start another thread for VB to express their Ultra comparison results? I think you see my point.

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Yes, that is a cool feature. I think I mentioned that in my first post. I personally don't see how many would use it often since one tends to stay with a certain layout and custom things around that, but still a cool option.

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that's because "personally" you are blind.

do you make it be known that you are a shill for Wow Classic?

you act like your just a regular guy talking about competing software but you don't make clear that you are an Admin on Wow Classic.

you come in here with all these left handed compliments about ultra but really using that as a Trojan horse to inject copy about classic. that is greasy and low class-ic

Hi Rinkin
I would really like to keep this discussion focused on the WowUltra produce so I can get feedback from other owners and hear about their experiences. What is your Ultra board URL so I can see it?
Thanks!

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i agree, that's why i added a little perspective to some out of line comments.

you'll see my ultra board when the time be rightous, its going to be a compendium, museum and historical site dedicated to preserving and passing on the influences of 2Live crew, Public Enemy and NWA.
I betcha can't wait!

"Personally" I think that feature kicks ass like I said in my initial post but it is not like people are going to be changing the layout of their site weekly. Appreciating and admiring a feature doesn't mean being a robot and saying it will be used frequently by most license holders. That doesn't make it worse or something - some of my favorite features are set ONCE! So you are over-reacting and issuing juvenile comments unnecessarily.

Shill? I fully disclose that I help Nancy, so I am not sure what you are talking about with "shill." I've disclosed it readily on this site, in advertising threads, in conversations, all over. I do not try to come off like a regular guy - if I did, I would use a different username and remove it from my sig. You DO realize that a shill could just create a new account and post as they wish pretending to be unhappy with one over the other, right? But I am not into shilling or aliases. Yes, I wanted Classic mentioned in this thread and felt it should be part of the discussion about comparing software and what is going on with WowBB because I feel people should know the full story. How much more direct and honest can I get? I explain everywhere that I help Nancy out. I have been helping WowBB owners for a while now. I have even given Jim an idea or two if you ask him. I have produced mods for WowBB users only. However, no one has helped me more than Nancy so I feel indebted to her. James' history about WowBB left out how there was more than one franchise from WowBB. I didn't like that the story was incomplete because I wanted Nancy's work to be known. Is that honest enough?

I meant every bit of what I said - Jim, the owner of Ultra, is one of the few people I would trust with my main forum site and I even currently use his services (have mods of his). I was one of Jim's biggest promoters back before there was an Ultra, at TCDI. I used to tell people to be quiet when they complained about charging for mods! I was like, hey, you cheapies, buy the guy a cup of coffee once every few months (in effect)!

I am sorry that I did not treat this thread as some sort of weird advertising/testimonial thread for WowUltra people only. If anything that is something maybe a "shill" would try to get away with on a site and forum like this.

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