Did you post the same question reversed on their forum?
I read some of their forums talking about it should be a easier integration with WP. There might be some plus side to it but in my case I’m already on WPMU and BP and their not up to that yet.
When I click the plugin filter and select more, I only see ~40 items in there.
Even the entire unfiltered list is less than 50 items and only one is labeled vanilla2.
So the 450 is from their own claim I guess, which must be unhosted plugins.
They also claim 300k people using it, which might actually be how many people have downloaded it, not using it, unless they have a “phone home” function.
They have a clean layout but their plugin structure is a bit confusing.
@_ck_
According to this video interview by RedWriteWeb, Mozilla.com, OReilly.com and others use Vanilla
http://www.readwriteweb.com/readwritestart/2009/06/vanilla-forums.php
What’s interesting is the founder, Mark, goes on to call Vanilla the “WordPress of forums”
Well I guess there’s a different forum program for everyone’s tastes.
Personally I’ll be sticking with bbPress as I am not particularly impressed.
Good luck with your conversion.
@_ck_
I’m not saying that I like/dislike Vanilla more than bbPress.
Just watching that video on ReadWriteWeb, Mark makes some pretty big claims about Vanilla and it’s use.
My original post is simply trying to understand *what* makes one of these forums systems better than another (pro/cons).
I’m particular integrued as to Vanilla claims that they are the “WordPress.com of forums systems” and how they integrate soooooo easily with WordPress.
Mark, Vanilla founder, talks as though bbPress doesn’t even exist.
My original post is simply trying to understand *what* makes one of these forums systems better than another (pro/cons).
I’ve said this many times before: It all depends on your needs in a forum.
I’m not trying to avoid the subject, I just think it’s SO subjective that there is no answer. _ck_’s needs are different from mine, mine are different from yours. We may all have some things in common, but not all. Make a list of what’s important to you and then go find a forum that fits the bill. There is no one answer that forum A is better than B and they’re both better than C but worse than D except if you want to do foo and bar … You see how that gets weird? 
I didn’t like Vanilla when I tested it, and I certainly didn’t find it easy to integrate with WordPress. In fact, their Single Sign On page says it’s still in Beta.
Also most apps talk like their competitors don’t exist not to be mean, but because it quickly turns into bashing and no one likes that. The beauty of open-source is that anyone can do anything with everything
@Ipstenu
So, what are bbPress strengths?
What are Vanilla’s strengths?
What are bbPress’ weaknesses?
What are Vanilla’s weaknesses?
Knowing what each products strengths and weakness will help determine if it fits needs.
I only used Vanilla for a couple hours. I have a knee-jerk reaction to most code and if I don’t enjoy using it right away, or have issues setting it up/themeing it how I want, it gets dumped.
And I’m not comfortable telling you strengths and weaknesses because they’re subjective. Seriously, I say it a lot but it’s true.
Me? I don’t like PMs and reporting posts, membership ‘levels’ and all that hoopla. So for me, bbPress is great because it’s small, simple and I can write plugins for it since I’m familiar with WordPress. But see how subjective that is? You may want those things and see it as a weakness that bbPress doesn’t have them.
Knowing what each products strengths and weakness will help determine if it fits needs.
I think you’re doing it backwards. Start with a list of your needs and your wants. Then go ask each place ‘Can you do this and if so, how hard is it?’
Hehe, most people talk as though bbPress doesn’t exist.
I personally talk as if bbPress 1.0 doesn’t exist… 0.9 or bust!
I haven’t used Vanilla, so I can’t comment on them… I wish there was more benchmarking across boards platforms for speed. But I haven’t seen much on that front…
It’s a bit out of date- but ForumMatrix: http://www.forummatrix.org/ allows you to compare feature sets.
