rogerd - 2:31 pm on Jul 5, 2007 (gmt 0)

This is huge news. One key aspect is that it gives Internet Brands instant access (as the software supplier) to thousands of communities.

My prediction: a "vBulletin advertising program" to help community operators monetize their websites with Internet Brands as the ad network manager.

Internet Brands has been acquiring communities directly - this could be a way to extend their content reach without actually owning the sites (much as Google has done with AdSense).

I do hope that it leads to some major product extensions for vBulletin. The vBB developers have been very good at implementing features to appeal to forum operators, but have been extremely slow to introduce major social networking features, member blogs, etc. There are hacks out there for some of these, but hacks aren't the best solution for robust communities. I haven't looked lately, but the last time I checked a "MySpace-like profile" hack required the installation of about ten separate hacks to work - what are the odds that all of these will play nicely together in every environment, including those that have other mods installed?

One potential downside is loss of focus. vBulletin has been a rock-solid platform and is used by some very, very busy communities. If they start getting turnover among the developers and launching new initiatives, they'll have to be careful not to compromise the stability of the software. This is mission-critical stuff for many sites.