Top 10 Vbulletin Hacks for Beginners

**Happy-Harry** · 02-24-2007, 07:07 PM

Hi All

I'm a beginner and have noticed that there is some very experienced vbulletin users around here.

So I was wondering if they could share the top 10 hacks they use on there boards.

Possibly even with a small explanation why they used them.

Happy-Harry

**Pure Adapt** · 02-24-2007, 07:54 PM

Great question, I know the first thing I installed was vbSEO for Search Engine Optimization.

Other hacks I installed right away:

vbSEO Site Map Generator
Zoints Synergy
NoSpam! - verification hack instead of the hard to read letter image verification

That's all I've got so far. I'm looking for a good ad / sponsor hack to install next. I'd love to see what some of the seasoned vB users say are the must have hacks, I'm still new at all of this.

George

**Brandon Sheley** · 02-25-2007, 10:45 AM

Great question... I'm not at my PC right now but as soon as I do, I'll post the top ten hacks I would suggest.. I agree with George that the first two woult be vbseo and the vbseo sitemap

whats zoints senergy do ? I've never used that one.

-Bs

**Pure Adapt** · 02-25-2007, 01:36 PM

I'm not 100% familiar with it but this is what I gathered from it. Synergy is like a digg setup for forum posts.

You create a forum for it and it displays the most popular topics / threads from other forums that are subscribed to Synergy. Basically it sends a feed to all forums that have Synergy installed and displays the popular topics in hopes to help drive traffic to the sites.

Admins, mods or registered users (you can control who) can submit the thread into que to go to the Synergy database to be displayed on forums who have it installed.

Their description of How Synergy Works.

I'm excited to read what your top 10 hacks are Brandon! If a sponsors/ad hack isn't one in your top 10, could you recommend one for me that you like? (or explain if there's an easy way to do it w/o a hack).

Thanks!

George @ Pure Adapt

Also, Brandon could you list where I can DL the Thanked hack you used on your forum? I would like to add that to mine if possible.

Thanks again,

George

Brandon, already installed it... I used this one:

[AJAX] Post Thank You Hack

I'm assuming this is the same one you have installed here?

Still looking forward to hearing about your top 10 hacks!

George

**Brandon Sheley** · 02-25-2007, 09:10 PM

oooh ya, I seen that zoints synergy b4.. I didn't care for it

and yes, thats the thanks mod we use here

**Xplorer4x4** · 02-26-2007, 10:53 PM

I see no reason to bother with the spam hacks when starting a forum. I have run several vb forums and never seen spam as a problem.

As for vB weather I would pass as well. Same for WebTemplates.

I would go with vBMicro Stats
vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=140449
This helps you keep an eye on server stats.

vBJournals may be a good possibility.

I think alot of it depends on the theme of your forum. Like is it a sports forum,news,history, or what?

**Brandon Sheley** · 02-27-2007, 09:45 AM

vbJournal isn't ported for 3.6 last I checked.

and we we're getting spam right away,, if your site is promoted correctly and/or has Any PR, you'll get spam

**Pure Adapt** · 02-27-2007, 10:00 AM

Brandon,

Any suggestions on ad management? Or do you prefer coding that by hand?

Thanks,

George

**Brandon Sheley** · 02-27-2007, 12:10 PM

I prefer to use thevbgeeks GAB The vB Geek I think it's like 20-30 bucks

**Pure Adapt** · 02-27-2007, 02:34 PM

The only thing that concerned me on this ad software is:

PLEASE NOTE!
GAB is a Pre-Release and not considered to be a complete and stable release.

Have you had any issues using this ad program?

George

**Brandon Sheley** · 02-27-2007, 02:53 PM

nope, I haven't had any issues..

I'm only using it in one place, but you can have as many as you like.
and I just happen to look at the site for a client and seen it's only 16$ USD

Once you have it setup, it's very easy to add new ad's in w/e spots you've selected.

**Pure Adapt** · 02-27-2007, 03:01 PM

Thanks looks like I'll be picking that up.

George

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon

oooh ya, I seen that zoints synergy b4.. I didn't care for it

Brandon after some careful thought and discussion with business partners we decided to remove the Synergy as well. I appreciate the input you have given me thus far.

George

**Xplorer4x4** · 03-08-2007, 06:11 PM

Why use ucash and vbplaza? You cant use ucash with the plaza, it is really buggy,and besides the project is long been abandoned.

**James** · 03-09-2007, 12:09 PM

I would agree with the one Brandon's list. I have most of those installed.

But most of all I think the Welcome Headers are a must! Especially for a new forum that is just starting out.

**JUdieDJ** · 03-09-2007, 03:51 PM

Any idea if there will be a replacement to vPlaza? My ladies miss it so much. Also, does anyone know the actual exploit? Would it be possible to reinstall it and make it available only for my users that have 500 posts? I apoligize for my amature questions.

**Xplorer4x4** · 03-11-2007, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JUdieDJ

Any idea if there will be a replacement to vPlaza? My ladies miss it so much. Also, does anyone know the actual exploit? Would it be possible to reinstall it and make it available only for my users that have 500 posts? I apoligize for my amature questions.

I wouldn't expect much of a replacement, but it could happen.

Basically the exploit lies some where in the ability of users to send HTML such as malicious javascript through PM notices like donating to users. The script can capture admin cookies and send them to the "hacker" and he can exploit these cookies to log in as an admin giving the "hacker" the ability to delete anything and everything, de-admin the real admins and any other option available via the admin cp.

That is what i read at vb.org(well the basics, of course I may be off abit as i am tired).

**tehPARADOX** · 03-25-2007, 07:59 AM

If you're only interested in a point system and shop features, I'd suggest looking into Icash & Ishop, both at vb.org. Though it has a banking add-on, but it's in beta stages at the moment.

**Michael Biddle** · 03-25-2007, 11:45 PM

I also feel no need to have a "set" amount of hacks, basically use the search feature or ask members about a kind of a hack that would benefit your community. IMO too many hacks kills a website

**GFin** · 04-21-2007, 03:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whitemike

I also feel no need to have a "set" amount of hacks, basically use the search feature or ask members about a kind of a hack that would benefit your community. IMO too many hacks kills a website

I agree with whitemike on this one- its easy to get carried away with mods and hacks, and alienate new forum members with the array of options available. I have tried to keep mine to a minimum, with my favorites being;

-vBSEO & vBSEO Sitemaps
-Community headers
-Ultimate Side Columns
-ibPro Arcade
-Members who have visited in last 24 hours

Hope that helps

Greg

**Michael Biddle** · 04-29-2007, 03:51 PM

OK well what I have running on my site is:

VBSEO & VBSEO Sitemap Generator
ibProArcade
Members who have visited in last 24 hours.
Hidden posts for staff members only.

Every once and a while i will enable shoutbox or my hack: latest X posts on forumhome

**harmor** · 05-07-2007, 08:02 PM

How could you leave out Advanced Navbar Links?

It will make adding links and drop down menus to your navbar easier.

**RedMatrix** · 05-09-2007, 05:27 AM

Vb Advanced!

(this post is too short)

**alaadin2003** · 05-11-2007, 06:19 PM

yes that femus

vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator for vBulletin 3.6.x, 3.5.x & 3.0.x - vBulletin.org Forum
Welcome headers - Improve community registration rates - vBulletin.org Forum
WebTemplates 3.5.x: VB Integrated CMS (Content Management System) - vBulletin.org Forum
AdminCP Top 10 Statistic - vBulletin.org Forum
vB AJAX Cron - vBulletin.org Forum
Akismet Anti-Spam - vBulletin.org Forum
Spam Decimator Version 1.0.5 - vBulletin.org Forum
Members who have visited the forum (Today or last 24 hours). - vBulletin.org Forum
Show Newest PM If Unread On Forum Home - vBulletin.org Forum
vBWeather Lite Discussions - vBulletin Modification Discussions

**RedMatrix** · 08-14-2007, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon

Members who have visited the forum (Today or last 24 hours). - vBulletin.org Forum

That links to version 3.5.x! OMGz!

**Brandon Sheley** · 08-14-2007, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedMatrix

That links to version 3.5.x! OMGz!

oh, I had just gone down my "installed" list at vb.org when I added those. I must of had an old version, is there one for 3.6 ?

**AzzidReign** · 08-14-2007, 01:54 PM

Yeah, I believe there is :P I think TMS should be the number 1 hack for beginners. Why? When you go to install a hack, it says:
FIND:
code

Add below:
code

In TMS, it has those options so they just have to copy and paste in the boxes, set the template to search in, and then save. And then they won't have to redo the edits when vb updates, and if they do, they will just have to change 1 line in TMS :P But more than likely, they won't have to do that too much.

**Brandon Sheley** · 08-14-2007, 02:44 PM

I use to use a mod like this TMS for phpbb2. It would automaticly add hacks for you, it was okay until it found find a line of code that broke the script.
I'm going to hold off on tms for a while still.

**bdude** · 08-16-2007, 02:42 AM

Yeah, EasyMOD is pretty good - only for 2.0 though

**Brandon Sheley** · 08-16-2007, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdude

Yeah, EasyMOD is pretty good - only for 2.0 though

That's sounds about right, Wonder if anyone will make a version for the new phpbb3.0 :burnout:

**MaestroX** · 08-17-2007, 07:05 AM

On my classical music forum I use:

AJAX REG
AME - The Automatic Media Embeder
Randomised Global Messages (RGM) - My own product
Commbull
Moderation Auto-PM
No Rules Agree on Register - Also my own product (available free on vbulletin.org and vBulletin Skin Zone)
vbWiki Pro - Great mediawiki intergration from nuhit
GARS
vBSEO
vBadvanced CMPS

On vBulletin Skin Zone I use:

NuSEO
Randomised Global Messages (RGM)
GeekMart
vBadvanced CMPS