We all know about the option to pay to remove the Branding at the bottom of the pages, but is that actually something you want to do?

For me, having that there is like a way of saying 'this forum is serious, not some fly-by-night organisation, and we will be here for a while'...because anyone reading it knows that I have paid for this software, and am likely to put more effort into making it a sucess.

VB is synonymous with quality, so for my needs there is no need to have it removed.

Those are basically my thoughts on it. Plus, unless its a real business like site, then people may think that you pirated it which hurts you rather than help.

Quite true indeed . Although, for some, branding is a good idea . I for one, however, wouldn't evr use branding on my vBulletin forum . I put good money into it, and I'm not gonna put even MORE money into it to have its name hidden. It's sorta like sayin .. "vBulletin .. loud and proud" , haha .

But, as stated earlier , some may choose to . Like say, for instance, if you run a more professional forum and don't like to have excess text cluttering up your footer :).

It's not really worth getting it removed. Hey, it's a Vbulletin forum, and you are PROUD of it! And it might lead Vbulletin to a few more sales. :D

Why waste the money on having it removed. Be proud, show your support!!

I would remove it if the need arises.

On my main site, http://www.gthelp.com, which uses vBulletin as it's core and is powered by an application I created has vBulletin Software: Copyright ©2000 - 2004, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. + my copyright -- simply because I am proud that it is vBulletin.

However, for my customers that will use my application I will pay to remove the vbulletin copyright notice.

2 sites currently running my application (gtpublish) is http://www.gthelp.com and http://www.gtwebhost.com. You can see that it's vbulletin by playing with the STYLE CHANGER.

I like to keep mine there...to me removing seems almost like saying you want to claim you developed it or something. I'm proud to have mine there....

Exactly, I think we all have that sentiment. I keep mine there, it shows dedication and well, yeah, what everyone said.

Indeed, it's just like having a brand on your site that shows that you care about your community and have put your own investment into the forums for your members.

My whole site is powered by vbulletin. Eventually I will get rid of the copyright, but not until the site actually gets busy (we need to start touring again befor ethat will happen).

My whole site is powered by vbulletin. Eventually I will get rid of the copyright, but not until the site actually gets busy (we need to start touring again befor ethat will happen).
But why lose the copyright? Does it really accomplish anything?

Because it is our perogative.

Because it is our perogative.
Well, I understand it's your right to remove it.
I was asking for your reasonings? Personally it takes up all of one line in the footer of a website. I can't imagine justification unless I just had money I wanted to throw away.

Eventually the whole site will be completely branded. Being a band we already have to have so many copyright notices. The vbulletin copyright will appear on all pages since the whole site is powered by it.
We are worried average viewers will get confused with copyrights appearing all over. We also feel it will be a small step in making our site completely branded.

Not for vBulletin.nl
What would be the use of removing 'powered by vbulletin' if we are a vbulletin fan site!

And a very good point.
The thing that gets me is when people act as if someone is an evil traitor or something if they purchase copyright removal. Jelsoft not only offers it for sale, but also decreased the price so it could be afforded by more users.
If they don't have a problem with people buying it, I think some people should get off their high horse and stop worrying how others spend their money. If the market for it didn't exist it would not be offered, so obviously there are people who find it worthwhile to purchase the copyright removal.

And a very good point.
The thing that gets me is when people act as if someone is an evil traitor or something if they purchase copyright removal. Jelsoft not only offers it for sale, but also decreased the price so it could be afforded by more users.
If they don't have a problem with people buying it, I think some people should get off their high horse and stop worrying how others spend their money. If the market for it didn't exist it would not be offered, so obviously there are people who find it worthwhile to purchase the copyright removal. You are right at that. 3 of my clients purchased the copyright removal for vBulletin at the old price, in an attempt to fully brand the website. I modified the whole board, and people would probably say the company had the board coded. (It was based on a vB2) no security flaws to my knowledge, most of the coding was modified.

Anyways original point, it is sometimes worth it. Neeto for which site will you be removing the copyright? If you are willing to make it public, I just want to get an idea of what you are trying to achieve (for pure enjoyment purposes :) )

My personal opinion is pretty insignificant in this area, but the only reason that I can think of for removing the branding is security. If a potential hacker doesn't know for cirtain what software the site is running, it takes more time to hack into it as they have to first figure that step out.

Nothing can be 100% secure, however it's a step to slow down hackers. If you trust vBulletin to make their product more secure then you can make yourself, then I don't feel removing it is worth the cost.

As vBulletin is so unique among forum software, even if you remove the branding a hacker will figure it is vb pretty darn fast!

I guess it all comes down to who you trust... Personally, I look for security holes all the time... I've been comming up empty so far on vb. So I'm keeping it =)

My band's website is the one I will eventually get the branding removed from.
www.centeredmusic.com

I'm still slowly working out the custom design for the whole thing. lol

A lot of people feel that it's a mark of pride to show that you support vBulletin by retaining the copyright, and they don't understand why someone who liked vB would not want to have the brand proudly showing that fact.

Well, aside from the users who have security or commercial reasons, I would like to give an example that might try to explain this desire a bit clearer (as it pertains to some, at least)...


Perhaps some of you are familiar with Russell Athletic clothing? There was a point in time, many years ago, when I discovered their line of T-shirts for the first time. Their T-shirts were comfortable, made of a high quality cotton that didn't pill, and lasted a long time. There were none better, as far as I had ever come across. As a result, every T-Shirt I subsequently bought was a Russell.

However, at some point, they fell into the new fad starting to take place with other clothing companies - of branding their own name on the outside of their products. It seemed that Russell was no longer content with having their brand name only on the tag at the back/inside of the shirt - now they had to slap their name on a tag which got sewn on the outside front of the shirt.


Did I like their product? Yes. Was I proud to own it? Yes. Did I want that advertised to anyone and everyone else within 50 feet? No. It was no one's business but mine, and they certainly didn't pay me to advertise their product for them.

Well, here we are in 2004, and now it's very commonplace for companies of all kinds to brand their products on the outside so that they can get as much free advertising as possible.


Personally, it offends me. Similar to buying a car, and allowing the dealership to slap a sticker on the back advertising to anyone driving behind you where you bought your vehicle.

In my opinion, it's none of their business, and unless the dealership is going to pay me to advertise for them, that sticker is coming off - and I'll make sure that they're the ones who'll do it.


It's not much different with vBulletin. Do I like it? Yes. Am I proud to use it? Yes. Do I want to advertise that to everyone and their mother? Not necessarily. That's my prerogative, and there's nothing wrong with it. :)