PhpFox - Social Network Script Reviews and Testimonials

I dont know what the other person who reviewed is complaining about, when you buy the script you get support for like 6 months so its not like you have to keep buying it, if in 6 months you still dont know how to use it you simply didnt care, no program takes 6 months to learn imo. When I bought it I had a hard time installing it and support kept telling me to go to their wiki (they have a wiki with tons of articles so I dont know why ppl complain about no documentation) and it was hard for me to see what I was doing wrong but after a couple of days they pretty much finished the installation for me which they would normally charge. Ok default look is not pretty, there are things that just dont make sense, but Im here for a real business so I didnt care, I just got my theme done and that was the end of it oh yeah doing your own looks is not easy, there was more coding than I had expected, definitly a learning curve there but in one month I had the site looking exactly like I wanted it so guess it wasnt sucha big deal in the end. I still go to the forums a lot because they answer faster than in official support and its free as in you dont have to pay extra to use their forums, answers may be slow to get around christmas and holidays but ppl have lives too. Think common problem is ppl jump to setting up a website and expect the money to just roll in without any work, read a little, plan a little and you'll make your good bucks, for me phpfox has been great

For $300, you would think the script would be for the most part seamless and easy to use. I've paid less for better scripts that did more. The script is pretty, the social networking aspects are good. I like the drag and drop features from the user end, it does lag the server at times. I like how easy making custom pages in the CMS section of the admin cp is. Very basic to no HTML knowledge is needed for making custom pages which is really great if you have staff that aren't as tech savvy, but are willing to work on adding content. I would recommend if you're serious about this for a social networking site that you get a dedicated server. The content aspects of the site leave much to be desired, if you're hoping to set up a site that has social aspects to a content website, this script has a lot of flaws, so shop around carefully before you decide. I'm not saying it won't work for everybody, I'm still hoping it will work out for me, but I'm just warning before you invest too much to shop around and definitely, definitely read the rest of my review... The bad news: It doesn't ALL work properly out of the box. I did a fresh install on a fresh server. I get error messages and fail 404 error pages when I try to do very very basic changes in the Admin section. I'm not some n00b that messed up on the install either. My install was flawless, like I said, I run more complex websites than this script already, so I know what I'm doing. This is definitely a script bug thing. Not that big of a deal, if they could FIX it. (Read on, you'll see what I'm talking about.) Trying to actually customize your site is a nightmare and there is NO documentation AT ALL on how to do it yourself, only links to 3rd parties that want another $40+ for different templates. This is such crap. I've never had such a difficult time customizing a php script. It gives the illusion of being easy, and it's completely not. It's all guesswork, and guesswork on someone else's code is never fun, but to add to the party they locked up a bunch of stuff so you don't even know where to start for things like changing the site template. The music section is formatted very poorly. There are no category options for users to add their music to, it's all a mess. If you assign a genre to a user it sorts it into a genre, the genres have NO PAGINATION so random 10 in specified genre show up. I *hate* the way the music section works, I don't know how to fix this at all as it's hard coded into the sites functions. Trying to fix it will probably break all kinds of stuff. The Admin section, customizing your site, setting up your site is all guesswork. There is no documentation. Nobody responds on the "community" forums. If you don't have A LOT of experience working with PHP scripts and admin cp systems, block systems, etc, this script will never work out for you as it is now. It is NOT for the n00b if you want to have any control over your site. The tech support that comes with your purchase (for 6 months only) is like calling India. I've been getting the run around for FOUR DAYS on the most basic ticket issue. I wish I was kidding, I honestly expected a lot more for how much I paid for this. If they can't fix my super easy basic ticket issue I'm going to have to drop this whole project and get a refund for the script after investing a whole week on building up the site, so in conclusion, I'm not recommending, but I'm not saying definitely don't get this script I'm just saying BUYER BEWARE. Do your research, be warned that it's not going to be the walk in the park they advertise it to be, and that if you want help, and/or customization be ready to throw more money into it.