Our first interview, and with an excellent person. Say hello to Brandon Sheley! Brandon is the proud owner of one the best vBulletin resource forums on the internet. vBulletinSetup carries a whole host of resources and great support for anyone using vBulletin. Brandon, rightly so, is very proud of his achievement with vBulletinSetup and we would like to say good luck for the future and thanks for taking part in this interview!
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Name: Brandon Sheley
Position: Owner of vBulletinsetup
Age: 30
Tell us a little about your self
I’m married with a baby on the way, we are selling and buying a new house right now. So I’m pretty much either working on the web, or working on the houses and will be for a few more months..lol
How was your childhood and education?
We moved around a bit when I was younger, but I ended up going to high school in Emporia Ks and graduating. I’ve taken 2 years in cnc machining but I didn’t really like the work. I’ve also taken a 2 year cisco ccna class just to learn about networking, servers and switches.
Who was your childhood hero/idol?
I didn’t really have one that I can remember.. I guess I would say my family was always who I looked up too.
Your favourites (music, movies, people, food)
Music- zombie, godsmack, rage, sod, beasty boys, I like most anything but country and r&b
Movies- Star Wars, the Simpsons
People- Bob Sagat.. what else needs said?
Food- anything Mexican and good sushi
What do you think you have succeeded, and failed with, in life?
I’ve been very happy seeing the development of vBulletinSetup as well as the last few years in Topeka. Since we’ve moved here, we have purchased a house, done some work on it, sold it and have found a new house to fix up.
vBulletin Setup --------------------------------- When were you first interested in forum software, or this type of niche?
I started a phpBB yahoo cracking site back in 2001-2002 I ran it for 2 years then moved to a fan forum for some friends of mine. They have 2 bands and travel the country. I had it on phpBB2 as well for a while, but moved to
vB for the plugins and products as well as the security and the ease of upgrades. ( I know phpBB has plugins now too, but they didn’t when I switched over to
vB)
When did you think about making a forum like you have, and why did you make it around vBulletin?
I looked around at the other
vB help sites and thought to myself, I can do better than this
How did you establish vBulletin Setup and how did you get it going?
I made the forum up with as much quality content as I could find. Then I would go to other
vB help sites and offer help to anyone and everyone, all the time having a few links to the forum in my sig. I would always change the links up so they would always be new to people viewing my post.
Have you ever wanted to leave vBulletin Setup and start other projects? If not, what keeps you at vBulletin Setup?
Not really, I don’t have time for anything and I don’t really have any topic that I would want to start a forum with. I stay with it for a few reasons.. 1 being I could never get out what I would want for the forum..lol and 2, I would get bored if I didn’t have something like vBSetup to tinker with.
Did you always think vBulletin Setup would be successful?
Yes, and I’ve always told people it would be as well.. I think that really will do a lot for owners.. You have to believe that your forum will be a success at all times! The first sign of doubt you show to your members will snowball to a dead forum.
What has been the hardest job as the administrator of vBulletin Setup?
Well, with our forum I have a zero tolerance for anyone that runs a warez site. So I have to check every vBulletin owner that signs up with us. We have over 1,000 confirmed
vB owners, I’ve often thought of dropping this confirmation but I think it’s something that makes us unique.
What do you do with ‘problem members’?
Ban them, delete their accounts if it’s a new member.. If it’s an old member that is just getting into trouble, I’ll pm the first time, infraction the 2nd and most likely a ban if the problem doesn’t go away.
Where do you think vBulletin Setup can improve?
We are a little weak in the graphics discussing because it’s something I’m not very knowledgeable in. I’ve merged a small graphics forum with us and I hope it will help kick start some design discussion.
How do you keep the members active and keep the content fresh?
We’ve been lucky to find sponsors for monthly contests, although the contest this month is 3 months long.
Do you believe you have the best support forum for vBulletin?
Ooo, It will be very hard for anyone to beat out vbulletin.org and vbhackers.com, but I defiantly think we are in the top 5
Do you ever get frustrated with working on vBulletin Setup?
Yes and no, what I get frustrated with is the support from 3rd party scripts that I have installed our forum. My host offers great support and I’m happy with the vBulletin support, but I’ve just had to walk away on some of these mod’s support sites.
How much work have you put into vBulletin Setup?
I’d say a good 30 hours a week for a year and a half
Did you build your forum from ground up? Or did someone help you along the way? What was the process like?
I started with the domain and a blank forum.
It wasn’t that bad, time is the only issue when you do it this way.. You want it active and setup the first day, but it took 3 weeks just to get the forums and some content on the forums and blog.
What does the future hold for vBulletin Setup? Do you plan on expanding to other forum softwares or other areas?
I have no interest in doing an IPB or phpBBsetup, I love
vB and it’s all I’ll ever use
Where do you see your forum in, let’s say, 5-10 years?
Over a million post in 5 years, a half million threads in 10 years.
Quick fire round: Life’s Ambition?
To enjoy life and take care of my family.
When did you first get an internet connection?
2000, dial up on winME
You got your first webpage up on the...?
Geocities yahoo free hosting, it displayed my “yahoo rares”..lol
Software you can’t live without?
I’m pretty flexible, I have a vista machine, a laptop with linux and my wife has a mac. I guess I need an FTP client, a notepad and Firefox as well as a multi-messenger system like Trillion or Pigon
Websites you visit often/can’t live without?
Digitalpoint.. I’m helplessly addicted..lol
A moment you were very embarrassed
Being new to vBulletin and asking what I thought were impossible questions, later finding out how easy the question really way.
Your greatest fears?
I don’t know.. that our new house is a lemon..
Something we didn’t know about you..
I have a stamp collection.
What do you do in your leisure time?
Disc golf, bike ride, ping pong and drink..sometimes all at the same time.
What do you wish to do in the future?
Have 3 healthy babies
What do you think of AdminFuel? (just for us! )
It looks like a good looking site, I think I remember it being just a blog at one time? I like the content you’ve posted, if you ever thought of selling, I would defiantly be interested..lol
Brandon Sheley - Owner of vBulletinSetup 
