VBulletin

Note: the correct name of this platform is vBulletin; the capitalisation of the V is enforced by the wiki software.

Early history

vBulletin was founded in 1999 or thereabouts, run by a company called Jelsoft, with a first release in 2000, which was commercial only.

By 2007, the 3.x series had become one of the de-facto solutions for web based forums, and owing to the number of forums they themselves ran using the software, Jelsoft was acquired by Internet Brands.

Post acquisition

Plans were made in early 2008 or so for a new 4.0 version, but Internet Brands signalled their intent to move the development to an offshore team, leaving the Jelsoft team to 'review' the output.

This caused several departures from the team, including its then lead developer, Kier Darby, and a senior developer, Mike Sullivan, who would go on to form XenForo.

4.x era

In 2009, the 4.0 version was released, and initial uptake was limited because 4.0 was a significant overhaul compared to 3.x, such that a number of features were initially missing from the software.

During this time, Internet Brands sued XenForo citing breach of copyright and inappropriate use of intellectual property (implying that XenForo had taken some of the vB 4.0 design and materials). The lawsuit would eventually be settled in private.

5.x era

In 2012, the 5.0 version was released, and much like the 4.0 initial release, this was a significant overhaul that removed a number of features, some of which would eventually be re-added.

6.x era

In 2023, the 6.0 version was released. This appears to have been a modest development on top of the 5.7 series.

However, it was not unnoticed that the number of communities run by vBulletin was now cited as being 40,000, down from prior claims of 120,000 active installs.