Probably you are interested in Social Network ( snw ) scripts - so you are reading this Probably you believe that FREE, OPENSOURCE community is the best resource for this scripts - I agree with you 100% and more. You need not read further! Probably you believe that BEST is to go with paid scripts and not 'free' stuffs - if so I will urge you to read below : Myth 1 "Good looks means good scripts" some scripts like dzoic or socialengine can be eyecandy BUT can be lacking in very basic snw functions For example, dzoic have no profile comments or scrapping, without which any snw is pretty meaning less. Myth 2 ''Good price means good scripts.'' Socialengine costs near $600 with all modules, dzoic near $350 Yet, VBB or IBB with their modules cost half the price and offer you MORE SOLID features and support. For example take a look at Invision blog and take a look at phpfox blog. You will have no second thoughts on what to purchase. Another thing is that these scripts like socialengine, dzoic have never been tested on huge, robust real sites like drupal or joomla or vbb or ibb - so that you never know how they slow down or perform in real pressure situations! Myth 3 ''Buying is good as I get support too'' Apart from VBB or IBB most scripts are start ups, they have very little number of developers. So most often you will hear - wait for version x - please get a developer from that xyz site and pay $xxx to get that done With scripts like ( not in any specific order ) Joomla, joomal CB and Groupjive Xoops, xoops Yogurt Drupal, drupal OG Boonex Dolphin Elgg.org you actually get all that you need. You can actually TEST for yourself ALSO in a snap as all has pretty easy installers. You may still need to do your tweaking or get a developer ( very rarely as they have huge support community ) BUT then since you are starting at $0 money wont pinch you. More important you can get your things better done as these developers have been there for years and not cropped up fly-by-night operators.
I agree that VB and IBB are good, solid scripts and are worth the money and investment. As for the rest of the pack, it is a real crap shoot. Yet. people still spend time, money, and other resources in the faint hope that they may get lucky. But like most games of chance, the risks are high and the only one that really makes money at the end is the House. Rich
I still haven't seen (or upgraded to) the new vB...the social aspect of it didnt look too appealing to me, though. Looks like I might give Dolphin a chance.
Really? Have you ever tested Dzoic Handshakes? It has profile commints since its beginning... See Dzoic Handshakes in my sig... What are you talking about? I have a Dzoic site with 40 000 members, I know some with 200 000... Really? Test for yourself as a single user? Put 100 users at the same time on any one of them on a single dedicated server, and come back to this thread with your experiences Dzoic and the like have been optimised especially for social networks, which can easily have up to 100 users at any one time on the site with a SINGLE dedicated server. Sure, the others can certainly do it too, but with how many servers? Hosting costs matter! A hacked CMS like Joomla will crumble under that load...Check out Dzoic Handshakes, the best SN script in my sig Good luck