I have cursed the Ventrino TE script but now I love it!

Why I became a Ventrino Fan

I you may have guessed i was not a fan from day one. I bought an existing TE some time back when Brian Jones was not yet the owner of Ventrino. I really never wanted to be a TE owner. Why?

Because I was not familiar with set up and configuration. I bought that TE to help out a former partner financially. As he promised to help I thought I could grow in gradually and familiarize myself with config and setting. Things were not as I expected.

Things were not working on this TE. Te timer froze, hits were not counted and many other issues. I struggled for months with settings and config. Support that I knew of was the forum but I did not understand the lingo in there. After months of trying I found out the DB was corrupted and beyond repair.

I started from scratch with zero members on another domain name, confused with settings and everything. I sent in a lot of support tickets which all replied the sane: visit the forum. Despite that I explained in my tickets that English was not my native language and I had great difficulty with the lingo. After a few months I got the most important things working but I still was confused with many settings despite the manual and instruction videos. I cursed the script a lot in those days.

I was not getting anywhere despite the many hours I put in. I was about to give up when I was invited in some TE Skype rooms where I met other TE owners and others in the TE scene. Some gave me good advice, other not so good as I discovered later.

In that time many were switching to LMFTE an other popular TE script. For many the reason for switching was confusing, they felt LMFTE was easier to set up an manage. For that reason I seriously considered to switch also. The only reason I did not at that time was lack of sufficient funds.

While I was saving funds for the switch I finally was invited in the Ventrino Skype support room. That pretty much changed everything. I learned tons from discussions in that room through which I also got to know Brian Jones who was not an owner at that time. He and some others gave good advice on how to get things to work. I invested in some mods and decided not to switch.

That, despite being active did not make me a good TE owner though. I am now in the process of becoming a better one. It is amazing what Brian has done since he took over. The latest management update for the manager is awesome! There are now tool tips for every setting in the configuration with lots of info on settings and giving a lot of insight in the math of a TE. Because of all these tips I changed a lot of settings and I already see the results especially for traffic delivery for members. And that is what TEs supposed to do, deliver traffic for members.

Many TEs are not because several settings are wrong. You really need some insight in the math of TEs and the tool tips in the manager provide just that. So if you are considering starting a Traffic exchange I recommend Ventrino.

They have hosting as well; some issues are caused by limitations of some hosts; not all are suited to host an exchange. Some have limitations for sending out mails to the membership. How are you supposed to keep your membership active when your mails don't reach them because of sending limit?

The lay-out of the standard version is pretty plain but are editable. You need some skills for that though. The best option for most starters is to order a custom design or to order a pre-built exchange; all set up with a nice template, installed and 3 months of hosting included in pricing. Best value for tour money!
Don't worry if there is none to your liking; new pre-built Ventrino's are added on a regular bases. Ventrino: I love it!