[toc] We use a lot of different terms throughout the software. Here are the definitions for some of the.

Administrator Control Panel
Also called the AdminCP. Area of a vBulletin installation where the administrator sets up and manages the site. This is a tool where you can control how your site works. Only administrators have access to the AdminCP.
Administrator
Administrators are a user role which can manage users, content and the overall systems of a vBulletin site.
Announcement
Specialized module that allows administrators and/or moderators to relay information to the end users. Announcements appear on the appropriate page under the breadcrumbs.
Attachment
External file that is uploaded to become part of a topic or post. These files can be images or other documents.
Avatar
A small image that users can include in their profile and that is displayed on their posts or comments.
BB Code (vB Code)
Tags used in place of HTML tags when formatting text in posts.
Blog
A web page on your site that is updated by one or more users.
Bulletin Board
A software package designed to allow users to carry on conversations via the Internet. Unlike chat software, the threads and messages are stored on the server and can be accessed by users until the board administrator deletes them, allowing the conversations to continue over long periods of time.
Category
A special channel used to group forums that are similar in content or theme.
Channel
Channels are content containers. They can hold any content including other channels. Channels are provied to build forums, articles, blogs, social groups, private messages, visitor messages, user albums, and flagged (reported) content. Channels can have special users assigned to them.
  • The Channel Owner is the user that has ownership of a particular channel. Owners control what happens in the channel.
  • Channel Moderators are users appointed by the channel owner to moderate a particular channel.
  • Channel users are individuals who have permission to access a specific channel.
Command Line Upgrade
A method of running the upgrade scripts via the command line interface of your webserver. Often referred to as a CLI Upgrade.
Customer Number
A unique number allocated to everyone who purchases a vBulletin license. The customer number, along with a password, is required to access the vBulletin Members' Area in order to submit support requests or download the software.
Discussion
A synonym for Topic.
Facebook Connect
The ability to register and log in to a vBulletin site using Facebook’s API.
Forum
A type of channel primarily used to group topics that are similar in content or theme.
Guest
A visitor to a site who is not logged in as a member. This could be because they have not yet registered on the site, or because they are a registered member who has logged out.
Infraction
Warning sent by the administrator or moderators for violating rules established for the site.
Inline Moderation
Functionality that allows administrators and moderators to moderate the threads and posts in forums using without having to log in to AdminCP or ModCP.
Member
A registered user on a vBulletin website.
Members’ Area
A private part of the vBulletin.com site for registered licensed customers. The area is security protected and requires members to enter their customer number and password to get access. From the Members’ Area you can download vBulletin releases and updates as well as gain access to documentation and resources not publicly available.
Message
Messages can be posts sent from one user to another. They can be private or visitor messages. Visitor messages are public and will be shown on the user’s profile.
Moderator
A user appointed by the site administrator who is put in charge of maintaining one or more channels. Moderators are usually appointed by Administrators to maintain the Forum channels specifically. Moderator duties include tasks like deleting offensive or inappropriate posts, pruning old threads, and banning users from their particular forum(s).
Moderator Control CP (ModCP)
An area of your vBulletin installation where moderators can do administrative tasks for which they have the relevant permissions.
Module
Modules are the building blocks of pages. You can use Modules in the Page Editor provided by Site Builder. Modules allow you to apply predefined pieces of code to your pages.
Notice
Similar to Announcements, Notices allow Administrators to create information blocks that appear under the header. They can be triggered to show when specific conditions are met and users can dismiss them.
Notification
Notifications are alerts telling users that content they are interested in has been added to the site. Users can opt-in to receive email notifications as well as notifications on site. They can receive notifications for new private messages, replies to subscribe topics and more.
Page
Pages are what build your site. They are controlled through Site Builder. Administrators with the appropriate permission can edit existing pages or create new custom pages.
Paid Subscription
The vBulletin Paid Subscriptions system allows you to charge your visitors for access to specific site areas and services that you offer.
Patch
One or more files that fix bugs and issues for your site. Patches are released to close security vulnerabilities and to resolve other critical issues.
Permission
Permissions are various access rights granted to users or usergroups. vBulletin organizes permissions for various functions with a usergroup or role system. Default usergroups include Administrators, Super Moderators, Moderators, Registered Users and Guests. You can use the Usergroup Manager to edit the various permissions for each group, and to add new usergroups to create a permissions system unique to your site.
Phrase
A bit of language used to build the output of the site along with templates. All the text except that contained within posts are phrases.
Poll
A type of topic which allows users to ask a question and provide pre-determined options for voting. Other users can vote on the question as well as post with replies and/or comments.
Post
An individual message entered by a user, making up a part of a topic or article. Posts can create topics or act as replies and comments.
Post Icon
A small image file that appears next to a post title and in the post icon column of the main forum page. An administrator can allow or disallow the use of post icons for posts or private messages.
Private Message
A message sent to one user from another. They are similar to email but remain in your system. They are stored in the user’s message center. Only participants in the private message topic can see them.
Product
A downloadable package used to extend or modify functionality in vBulletin. Products consist of code snippets (plugins), templates, options, phrases, admin help, control panel navigation entries, and bitfields definitions. vBulletin products are arranged in a such a way that they can be semi-automatically installed and uninstalled through the Product Manager.
User Profile
Public user information that is shared with other users.
Promotion
Promotions allow users who already belong to a given usergroup and who also meet additional specific criteria to be automatically made secondary members of another usergroup, generally one with greater permissions. You manage usergroup promotions in the Usergroup Manager inside the AdminCP.
Prune
To prune is to delete a large number of posts and/or threads from your site. This is often done as a task in maintaining a small database.
Reply
A post made in response to a topic.
Reputation
A measure of how well a user is received on the site. User’s gain Reputation through the post likes on their content. They also give reputation on by liking other user’s content.
Scheduled Task
Scheduled tasks allow you to run scripts at specific intervals. vBulletin tasks are similar to ‘Linux Cron jobs or Windows® scheduled tasks.
Site Builder
Site Builder is a tool that allows an Administrator to build or edit content pages on their site.
Smilies
Synonym for emoticon or emoji. Small icons that can be used in posts that denote a person’s emotional state (for example, happy, mad, or sad).
Social Group
Social Groups are semi-private channels where users can form clubs or small discussion groups. Social Groups can be public or private.
Sticky Thread
A thread that always shows at the top of the threads listed in a forum.
Style
A style controls the look and feel of your site through templates and style variables. You can use styles to change colors and look of individual modules.
Style Variable
Also called a stylevar. Style Variables are used to modify the colors, borders, backgrounds, and fonts of vBulletin elements.
Subscription
A subscription allows users to follow topics, channels or other users and get updated when new content it added. Users can opt in for subscriptions by clicking the subscribe button where it apears.
Super Administrator
An administrator who has additional permissions. For example, a super administrator could be created to manage other administrators.
Super Moderator
A moderator who has their moderator permissions available in all channels.
Tag
A tag is a metadata keyword or term string attached to a content item. Once the tag is attached, it can be used in a search for similar content.
Template
Block of HTML code and vBulletin Code used to build the output sent to the user.
Topic
A collection of posts usually with a common subject matter.
User Control Panel
The User Control Panel is the area of the site where members can administer there own profile preferences, such as signatures, avatars. This is accessed from the My Settings link on the user menu.
Usergroup
A usergroup is a named group of users, all of whom have the same permissions. You can access many screens involving usergroup tasks in the Usergroups menu of the Admin CP.
User Settings
See User Control Panel

Internet Terms

Miscellaneous Terms