VBulletin - Donations

I'm thinking of making a VBulletin which get tons more views, members, activity, and post. I'd be able to host it too unlike Forumotion being the host. Of course nothing like that comes free... I'd need donations. I'd be able to pay most of it, but I'd need donations. Who knows if they would be able to donate and how much? (Don't do it now since I'm unsure). I still have about $50 of donations already and I have a job. Here's some topics I was looking at for more info. and cost.

http://www.vbulletin.com/faq.php

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/moving_servers

https://www.vbulletin.com/order/

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-312071.html

It would seem a license is about $180 and yearly updates are about $40-$60. I will definitely look more into this. We're a pretty big forum now, but all the biggest forums are VBulletin. Also hosting it myself I would be able to use chat Integration. It auto connects your forum user-name to the chat. No spammers or impersonations.

Hit $300:

$50 - From Previous Donations.
$100 - From me.

I probably can't donate because my mom would just.. be unhappy with me. When I move out in the fall it'll be different, and I'd be willing to throw a little money here.

I found this site a while ago - LinkBee - that lets you make a very minimal amount of money off of every click of a link you post, and it can be a link to everything. You could try setting up an account there and having everyone on this site - mods especially - use it every time they post a link (there's an option for only having a side ad, so it wouldn't be that annoying). I think it'd add up in a place like this which will only grow, and we can make a little extra revenue that was directly into a PayPal account.

LinkBee click on "create cash links."

Just an idea~

Alright I do have $50 from donations left. I'd also throw $100 more in so that would be $150. I think if we hit $300 that would be a great amount for the first year or maybe even 2.

My past experience with VBulletin is mixed. It's slow and crashes often, but it also has a lot of options for adding content (arcades, forum games (not posted ones), etc).
However, once you're already established with a site, it's often not a good idea to swap around. For example, all of our Topsite data would be gone, our Google bot would be gone, and the whole forum would have to be rebuilt from the ground up in the new system, which you'd have to familiarize yourself with.

The Google Bots would be back days after. The TopSites could move back up in no time!

PokeCenter wrote:The Google Bots would be back days after. The TopSites could move back up in no time!

I thought both were things you had to pay for with donations?

Oh no the Bots are from Search Engines, and TopSites is like "Hey put our button up for a rank". Both are totally free and simple to get back.

PokeCenter wrote:Oh no the Bots are from Search Engines, and TopSites is like "Hey put our button up for a rank". Both are totally free and simple to get back.

Yeah you're right, I was totally thinking of the Google ads.
"4. Google Ads to advertise the forum - PokeCenter - $100."

But you could probably just leave a redirect on this forum to the new place. I can go either way, just in my experience major overhauls and place-changes can lessen activity.

I'm really tight on money right now, so I can't donate.
I've had bad experiences with vBulletin. On other forums, it's taken half an hour sometimes to get from the front page to respond to a PM because the server gets bogged down and it loads really slowly.

And one of the main things I like about PC is that it's always instantaneous loading.

And one of the main things I like about PC is that it's always instantaneous loading

that's the main reason pokecenter is the pokemon forum I use serebii is way too slow for me and bulbagarden is slower than pokecenter and less friendly

Well maybe another time then. Serebii takes forever to load lol!!! Some VBulletins don't though Serebii is probably to cheap to get more space.