[Donnacha]

I have posted about BuddyPress on vBulletin.org, the official vBulletin modifications community, suggested that BuddyPress/MU would be an excellent match for existing vB communities, if only a WPMU bridge could be written – there is already a competent and well-supported Bridge with the regular WP.

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=196906

The thread has generated a certain amount of interest, please add a post to it if you have the time.

VBulletin is a highly-regarded but proprietary forum application used by a substantial portion of the larger, more established online communities. Encouraging them to work on a WPMU bridge now, in anticipation of the pending BP release, would certainly spur high profile adoptions of BP and add momentum to the overall project.

Donnacha

[thelaw]

The WP bridge does not work with MU? It thought it did. I plan on developing that privately if it does not exist, at the very worst, a synchronization of login information.

[metrofan]

I would love to learn more, the law…

[plock]

I read that post. They’re very involved with their own prerogatives if you know what I mean.

But you’re totally right. I know *I* would pay $$ for a working vBulletin WPMU bridge.

Good luck!

[Donnacha]

Unfortunately, vBulletin decided that a vBulletin WPMU bridge was not in their commercial interests and locked the thread, despite 30 of their licensed users expressing an interest. The thread, http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=196906, remains readable but not new posts can be made and, therefore, can no longer be used to rally together all the vB users who would like to see it happen.

I swapped a few emails back and forth with vB and they took the time to explain their position. I don’t agree but I guess I can understand their panic; WordPress is one of the few Open Source products that has wiped out commercial products in it’s sector, blogging, and they’re desperately worried that there is no longer that much difference between their $180 product and the free alternatives.

There is, of course, nothing to stop any of you being a bit cheeky and starting your own threads on http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/, innocently asking why there isn’t a vBulletin WPMU bridge

Personally, though, I’ve deciding to transition away from vB – I’ll be keeping my existing vB sites going but, for new projects, I don’t see the point of buying any more vB licenses.

bbPress is pretty bad but I’m optimistic that they will improve over time, especially now that BuddyPress is advancing so quickly. I like the way in which, in BuddyPress, the forums are spread among the groups within the social network – it makes a lot of sense, sort of like wrapping each section of your forum in it’s own homepage, featuring the users who “hang out” in that section.

[evilchicken]

I currently use vbulletin and a regular wordpress blog and find that the bridge is so nice. I agree that an MU/VB bridge would set things perfect for me. However, seeing that we can’t have the bets of both worlds just yet, can anyone give me a good reason why I should more to bbPress? I understand that it is a young forum but does anyone really see it getting better? And if so, soon?

[Donnacha]

@EvilChicken

Yes, I believe bbPress is already improving quite rapidly; while it has nowhere near as many features as vB, my instinct is that the combo of BuddyPress + bbPress is actually more useful overall, especially when you consider how the forums are spread out among groups, giving a more intuitive and “lighter” feel.

bbPress 1.0 should be released with the next week or so (it is currently on RC1) and it’s development has been given a boost by the resources Automattic are pouring into their new commercial service, TalkPress.com.

Upcoming bbPress improvements include easier integration with WP and MU, which will be a huge relief. If the massive WordPress community starts to swing behind bbPress, we can expect some pretty good plugins to emerge, whereas I believe vB’s community of voluntary plugin developers has already started to hemorrhage. Certainly, the fact that they are closing all threads mentioning BuddyPress suggests they feel threatened by it.

[fid]

I too am in the market for a WPMU / vB integration. Did some googling and found out someones working on it recently!

https://buddypress.org/forums/topic/integrating-several-buddypress-one-vbulletin#post-25949

I just hope he does it! I will donate for sure!