Add-On: Drive Thru Online – Professional Grade Products for vBulletin

[gnatster]

Since 2002, Drive Thru Online has been building online communities using vBulletin forum software combined with our own custom products. Our products deliver revenue from member and vendor features, and also reduce and automate administrative and moderator tasks. Drive Thru Online now offers these cutting edge products and best practices to vBulletin communities everywhere. Professionally developed and supported full-time, our products will supercharge your vBulletin community and turn your passion into profit!

Our Product Line Includes:

DTO Clubs – Simplify administration and organize, aggregate, and share club information with your community.

DTO Garage Plus - Provide your members a browse and searchable Garage feature to show off their rides.

DTO ShowCase - Completely customizable, provide your members space to showcase anything that is related to your site.

DTO Vendor Tools - Vendor management tools which facilitate site revenue generation, reduce administrative overhead and ensure long-term vendor advertising.

Please view our comprehensive Demo Videos for the full line of DTO Products.

Drive Thru Online products include online Help tailored for everyone from the Site Admin to new members. We don’t leave you at the door after purchase either. Our products include forum-based support, implementation examples, best practice discussions on implementation, management, and operation of vBulletin-based sites. We also offer installation services for all of our products and can support your custom development needs.

Contact Us today and let Drive Thru Online help you turn your passion into profit.

[kneel]

i saw this on the org... i use vHoist right now... but i wanted to know if anyone used this ... hows it work? pretty user friendly?

[gnatster]

Originally Posted by kneel

i saw this on the org... i use vHoist right now... but i wanted to know if anyone used this ... hows it work? pretty user friendly?

I admit I am biased but I did recently prepare a vHoist vs DTO ShowCase presentation for one of our current clients.

A lot of the same is transferable to our Garage Plus

As follows...

It was asked what this product (ShowCase) has to make it more compelling than the vHoist product y'all currently use.

1. ShowCase is definable to suit the needs and desires of the site owner and members. As you can see I've been able to take your ideas and quickly work them in.

2. Images in ShowCase can be placed in areas that correspond with the attribute offering direct involvement with the members browsing that particular ShowCase.

3. The search function is ShowCase is more robust. Members can create searches as broad or as fine grained as they desire. No other product in the space allows you to pick as many or as few attributes to narrow results.

4. ShowCase can be configured to offer more than just a vehicle listing. On my site I am using it as a wheel database since so many MINI enthusiasts often use aftermarket wheels. See Motoring Alliance :: MINI Cooper Forums - Search Wheel Rack

5. Single sign on - Products that are hosted elsewhere such as vHoist require the member to sign in and become a member as well. This could raise issues over control of personal data.

6. Images in ShowCase can be displayed as a slideshow. Other products require you to open, view, close again and again for each image.

7. vHoist does not have a method to navigate back to the original site. With ShowCase members never leave the site to search of view other members displays.

From a site admin perspective ShowCase offers the following:

1. Control - Being hosted by the site and not on a third party site the site owner can be sure the entries conform to the site guidelines.

2. Images are hosted locally, this prevents members from viewing a ShowCase where a linked image is not displayed by being over quota or moved.

3. ShowCase is permission based. A site owner can use the product as an incentive in a premium membership level. For example on this site the intention is to offer all members the R170 and R171 Garage types. The additional Garage for other vehicles will be limited to premium level members. Also the number of ShowCases per member is defineable by the usergroup. Premium level members will be offered more slots per type.

4. ShowCase integrates into the site using the headers, footers and overall site skin offering a consistent look and feel to all areas of the site.

5. vHoist is supported via Google Ads. This could lead to placement of advertising that is competitve with established site sponsors.

6. Being hosted by a third party of vHoist were to cease operations all data would be lost.

[kneel]

thats definitly sumthing im going to look into...matter of fact ill prolly get on the org and try it out...

[gnatster]

If you are using DTO Garage or Garage Plus and also use vBadvanced for your site we've developed three modules to further integrate Garage functionality throughout your site. The modules are:

• Random Garages
  This module allows you to specify the number of garages to randomly display in either a horizontal or vertical layout. Additional display options are also provided.
• Featured Garages
  This module allows you to feature a garage for a day, week, or month. The selection of the garage is currently manual but an automated selection process is being considered for future releases of Garage and Garage Plus. As with the Random Garage module additional display options are provided.
• Garage Statistics
  This module provides a number of statistics including number of garages, number of members with at least one garage, models represented, and more.

As always full documentation and our professional - grade support is included.

Download from http://www.drivethruonline.com/products.php

[Nick]

I've gone ahead and stuck this thread since DTO is an official advertiser with us.

[footose]

I'm not sure where this thread turned into a "bash vHoist" thread - but a lot of the information provided here is NOT correct, so I'm here address it.

First and Foremost: vHoist is free.

1. ShowCase is definable to suit the needs and desires of the site owner and members. As you can see I've been able to take your ideas and quickly work them in.

vHoist is updated fairly often, sometimes weekly. I constantly change it's interface and back end based on user input taken from vBulletin.org, as well as current members that use vHoist.com.

3. The search function is ShowCase is more robust. Members can create searches as broad or as fine grained as they desire. No other product in the space allows you to pick as many or as few attributes to narrow results.

vHoist offers a generic and advanced search that is available to all users, from within the users site or from outside of it (at vHoist.com).

4. ShowCase can be configured to offer more than just a vehicle listing. On my site I am using it as a wheel database since so many MINI enthusiasts often use aftermarket wheels. See Motoring Alliance :: MINI Cooper Forums - Search Wheel Rack

vHoist offers multiple vehicle "parking", and different types of vehicles, not limited only to autos, buttrucks, boats, bikes, etc.

5. Single sign on - Products that are hosted elsewhere such as vHoist require the member to sign in and become a member as well. This could raise issues over control of personal data.

vHoist is a single sign-on product, it always has been. Once you are "signed in", you will never be asked to come back to the vHoist site. *

7. vHoist does not have a method to navigate back to the original site. With ShowCase members never leave the site to search of view other members displays.

* vHoist offers the user to "park" their car on any site which they have visited, and then add's a profile link back to the site they were just on. vHoist will never take a user away from your site, particularly once your vHoist profile is setup. The only instances which you will be asked to leave the site are:

a) To Create an Account

b) To park a ride on a new website.

1. Control - Being hosted by the site and not on a third party site the site owner can be sure the entries conform to the site guidelines.

2. Images are hosted locally, this prevents members from viewing a ShowCase where a linked image is not displayed by being over quota or moved.

3. ShowCase is permission based. A site owner can use the product as an incentive in a premium membership level. For example on this site the intention is to offer all members the R170 and R171 Garage types. The additional Garage for other vehicles will be limited to premium level members. Also the number of ShowCases per member is defineable by the usergroup. Premium level members will be offered more slots per type.

4. ShowCase integrates into the site using the headers, footers and overall site skin offering a consistent look and feel to all areas of the site.

6. Being hosted by a third party of vHoist were to cease operations all data would be lost.

[/quote]

Again, most (if not all) of the above "issues" have been addressed here:

vHoist : Garage / Car Showroom - Page 10 - vBulletin.org Forum

I'm not going to go into the "benefits" of my product, but they are clear and concise, listed at the above link.

5. vHoist is supported via Google Ads. This could lead to placement of advertising that is competitve with established site sponsors.

vHoist will *NEVER*, and has never put a google ad on your website, period. vHoist.com itself has google ad's, but not on a clients site.

To list a FEW:

SLKWorld
Devil-Riders.com
EliteTuners.ca
Fiat Scotland
GenerationDub.com
IBTO Headquarters
Michiganvw.org
2006+ Mitsubishi Eclipse Enthusiast and Performance
Mitsubishi Owners of Florida
MNstreets
MX-6.ca
Golden Triangle Automotive Network

... and the list goes on.

I am a developer, and I specifically wrote vHoist for my own website, Generationdub.com, which has been running for the last 8 years.

I understand that you want to push your product which is completely fine, however, specifically comparing your product to mine by manipulating the "truth" to benefit yourself is, in my opinion, not very ethical and borderline slanderous.

I wish you the best of luck in developing your application, just please make sure you have your facts right about competing products, before you post.

If I moderator or administrator is going to remove this post for whatever reason (since you are sponsored by another garage package) then I ask you take references regarding vHoist.com out of this thread.

Thanks for your time.

Harry Scanlan
vHoist.com - Owner.

[gnatster]

Glad I subscribe to threads...

Anyway, it was not my intention to slander your product, I'm sorry you feel that I did. I based my findings by using vHoist on a site we have. This was written about 3 months ago and I've not used it since. Since you continue to develop your products and we do ours some of the points may be out of date.

ShowCase and vHoist really are two different products. My bad for comparing them as they were both Garage type products since ShowCase is capable of so much more. We have clients that use it for tracking bodybuilding, another that is using as it a review system.

Sorry for any misunderstanding....