NFLfbJunkie

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Trying to decide which one to use for my message board. Flash Chat (http://www.tufat.com) comes at an inexpensive cost of just $5, whereas vBShout costs $35. Convince me why I should go with vBShout. Is Shout less server intensive?
 
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Well I can't speak for Flash Chat but I know vBShout Pro is a dynamite mod for vB4. I am not sure how server intensive Flash Chat would be, but I know vBShout Pro doesn't lag my site at all. It doesn't appear to use many resources at all while keeping load times very nice. Again I have never used Flash Chat but I do know that one of the devs for vBShout was one of the devs for Inferno Shoutbox which was one of the best most popular mods for vB.
 
I remember toying with Inferno's Shoutbox back then and liked it a lot. Have only messed with the Flash Chat software a little bit. I guess the nice thing about Flash Chat is the user interface and and the customization on the admin end.
 
Well there may or may not be as much ability to customize vBShout Pro as there is Flash Chat but I can say it does what I need it to do and in my opinion worth the money. Right now the best thing going is their $50.00 25 year license.
 
I tried flashchat and well... it worked but just felt... clunky... It's a full chat system, not a shoutbox. There's actually a very large difference between those two types of things. On a website, for a chat that is on page integrated with your website a shoutbox is what you need. If you want a full on chat system where everyone hangs out, etc... then a chat system like flashchat would be more appropriate. Personally, my members like a shoutbox more (I have an IRC chat with mibbit built into my website as well). The IRC chat barely (and I mean barely) get's used.
 
=) Pretty sure the testimonials from our customers will mean more to you than anything i say but here's what i see as the big reasons to buy vBShout:

I have a track record of creating professional modifications which are very popular at Inferno Technologies. With our mods you know if you have a problem, someone will sort it for you very quickly, and you know there will be updates with new features etc.

I don't like to comment on competing products, so i will avoid saying anything negative about Flashchat or the creator, but theres a big difference between a company with several modifications that it sells and supports, and a coder who asks for a little cash for a mod or two he makes -shrugs-

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and find out more about vBShout, and i hope that it does everything you require and you decide to purchase and make suggestions that help us to improve it in future iterations =)
 
vBshout is build specifically for vBulletin software so you can be safe in the knowledge it does exactly what it says on the tin, Flashchat if i'm right in saying is a generic chat client that can be implemented on many different software packages and its "fit for purpose" is to ensure its widely available on any platform. vBshout has the technology that Inferno shout had and since it is created by the Cosmic (who like he stated above made inferno shout).

vBshout is easy to use and customize to your liking as it doesn't require a second admin account or logging into a seperate site, its all done through your ACP. Our customer feel that the price is reasonable for the ammount of features and functionality you get with the product and because its designed specifically for vBulletin, you'll know that there will not be compatability issues. Plus you get regular updates and our support, we like to think is second to none. The little extra cost you may spend purchasing vBshout compared with a flashchat chatbox is that you are paying for good customer aftercare too. We are dedicated to helping our customer out and going the extra mile to ensure our products work safely and to the highest standards.

Its nice to see people finding out more about our products and i hope whichever road you take that it fits your needs. Thanks for contacting us :) i hope we've maybe given you some insight as to what to expect should you choose to purchase vBshout in the future.
 
I purchased vBShout (and vBActivity) this past weekend and I really like the way both MODs work. I have been testing things out, keeping an eye on bugs and suggested improvements/enhancements, and really love the potential of this MOD for the kind of site I am putting together. And if the feature I had asked about (see post) is put in to this MOD, I will love it even more. I think I made the right choice. Thanks everyone for all of the feedback.
 
I'm glad you enjoyed our product, in the future we plan to improve it further with the suggestions our customers give us so watch this space :)
 
flashchat and the shoutbox both use a refresh system. Neither is superior and both can be fully intergrated into VB. If you want chat rooms go with flashchat, if u want a simple chatbox that shows on your forums then a shoutbox is good.
 
Actually FlashChat uses a socket server, as far as I'm aware it's real-time, but socket servers can be very intensive on a small server.
 
Actually FlashChat uses a socket server, as far as I'm aware it's real-time, but socket servers can be very intensive on a small server.

Also, you have to worry about whether or not the clients can use it as it's port specific if I remember correctly. Whereas shoutboxes in general run on port 80, which is the standard web port that pretty much everywhere has open.
 
Yeah socket servers can't use port 80 if apache is using it (Apache is just a socket server, a tad more complicated :p), opening ports though is relatively easy if your on linux with IPTables.
 
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