vBulletin

[scythe]

Why is it so popular? A quick check of big-boards.com shows that nearly half of the top 20 use vBulletin (true, SA doesn't quite count), yet it lacks a whole lot of standard features and costs a bundle of cash.
Am I missing something here?

[Kablizzy]

Because people are freakin' idiots. vBulletin is the worst board I can *think* of using, and since everyone is stupid, therefore - Everyone stupid uses vBulletin. It really makes sense.

[Animator]

Scythe, this question can be easily grouped with other questions in this wicked, unfair game we call life.

"How is 4chan one of the most popular boards existent when it's users are not exactly the best people around?"
"How did Meet The Spartans and Disaster movie get a decent amount of cash (not enough for a flop), while the movies are really not that good?"
"How is Crank That - Soldja Boy one of the most popular songs out there in the market, while you can barely understand half of the lyrics and the beat is off-course?"
"Why did people dance the Macarena? (Nothing against the original song, just the dance. *shiver*)"

And the answer, for the tidy sum of $100,000, is:

Because people are freakin' idiots.

Couldn't be summed up any better.

[Kablizzy]

Oddly enough, after I left HoI, they downgraded the site to vBulletin. Lets you know precisely how well their Administration is doing.

[乳头的早餐谷物]

"Why did people dance the Macarena? (Nothing against the original song, just the dance. *shiver*)"

Fuck you.

[Animator]

"Why did people dance the Macarena? (Nothing against the original song, just the dance. *shiver*)"

Fuck you.

Alright, that one was a bit of a personal opinion really, but my previous point remains (honestly never liked the dance, but if it's fine with you, alright).

[Sniperwhere]

I don't like vBulletin. All i ever see on vBulletin is flashy skins. Other than that, no warn system, costs about as much as a PS3 if you're gonna get all the features they have, and has more problems than i'd like to deal with.

There are others I didn't mention. But I really don't like it.

[jean-luc]

A lot of people want to spend money on things. There may not be any good reason, but they will still spend money on things.

One of the projects (and potential future products) I'm working is built on Windows Embedded, for no reason other than that my research has found that people feel more comfortable paying $80 for a commercial product than using a FOSS alternative, at least $80 more comfortable.