XenForo.com Add-Ons / Resources System

Just model it after the Apple App Store. $99 a year to become a "Xenforo Developer" and then XF takes 30% of the add-on sales. That will separate the professional addons from the enthusiasts ones. If you want to sell your addon on the official forum you have to become a developer, if you offer it for free you become a "Xenforo Enthusiast" and can post them to the free addons section.
 
User said:
Just model it after the Apple App Store. $99 a year to become a "Xenforo Developer" and then XF takes 30% of the add-on sales. That will separate the professional addons from the enthusiasts ones. If you want to sell your addon on the official forum you have to become a developer, if you offer it for free you become a "Xenforo Enthusiast" and can post them to the free addons section.
Click to expand...
personally, I think that would be an unmitigated disaster for XenForo administrators and add-on developers alike.
 
Kier said:
personally, I think that would be an unmitigated disaster for XenForo administrators and add-on developers alike.
Click to expand...
Seems to work alright for the iOS developers and their customers. The idea here is to generate revenue for XF so that you (as in the corporate you) can spend the time to maintain a professional resource which is servicing addon devs and addon users alike. Becoming an official "Xenforo Add-On Developer (XAD)", and paying up for that, will separate those for whom it's just a hobby from those who are committed to ongoing development and timely support of their add-ons.

If anything vB.org has shown that the open source community mod type of concept really doesn't work well when there's only one developer and dozens if not hundreds of sites which use that mod. The one dev got frustrated because end users feel entitled yet they don't financially support the dev. The dev walks away, the mod dies because other devs experienced the same issue and didn't want to pick up where the original one left off.

Paid services tend to be better because for one there's an expectation of quality and on the other side there's a commitment to meet that expectation (ideally anyway). Leeches are kept to a minimum, devs retain their sanity and are more likely to deliver quality since they are being at least partially compensated. Whether the numbers need to match the Apple store is a different matter, but the concept as such has been proven to work. I will admit that the scale is vastly different, obviously no add-on dev will be selling thousands of copies, but I can't really see how it could turn into a disaster.
 
It would be kind of nice that if someone wants to sell their paid mods you charge like a 1-time fee of $50 and don't take any % of their earnings. It would just help with the prosperity of XenForo Ltd. and would also make it so that paid add-ons will be forced to be of higher quality(or at least in theory...)
 
User said:
Just model it after the Apple App Store. $99 a year to become a "Xenforo Developer" and then XF takes 30% of the add-on sales. That will separate the professional addons from the enthusiasts ones. If you want to sell your addon on the official forum you have to become a developer, if you offer it for free you become a "Xenforo Enthusiast" and can post them to the free addons section.
Click to expand...

This would only hurt XenForo development. Comparing XenForo's Development Community to that of Apple's makes very little sense. While XenForo should be considered at this point a very refreshing forum application, it is no where near the size of an "Apple-Like" development community. The point here is to ENCOURAGE developers to engage with XenForo and create wonderful resources for current/potential customers. Forcing those same developers to pay a yearly fee to post their addons on top of XF taking 30% of that price is awful. I for one would not release my addons here, ever. All that would do is further divide the development community rather than unite it under one site, one community.
 
Kier said:
Are you suggesting that vBulletin.org is not or has not been a success? :cautious:
Click to expand...
It was a success till it wasn't anymore (albeit years later) when jaded devs simply walked away and the/a new crop of devs didn't take over because they saw what would happen to them over time. From my limited observation the main issue was that end users as a whole don't support devs, neither by clicking "installed" nor by donating. Putting a focus on commercial/paid addons even if it's just microtransactions would imho alleviate that type of issue. Either way though, these are obviously just suggestions, not demands. ;)
 
User said:
Just model it after the Apple App Store. $99 a year to become a "Xenforo Developer" and then XF takes 30% of the add-on sales. That will separate the professional addons from the enthusiasts ones. If you want to sell your addon on the official forum you have to become a developer, if you offer it for free you become a "Xenforo Enthusiast" and can post them to the free addons section.
Click to expand...

Forum boards are a very little niche...impossible a comparation with Apple App Store...

I've seen more than a few people claim that the success of vBulletin is because of vBulletin.org, not in spite of it.
Click to expand...

Agree. IMHOthe key is a social idea...something better than the MOTM that will create a good competition between developers...i have an idea...a "social fund"...Xenforo can collect donations made by customers for a mod, and the best mod for a certain time wins the prize. It's only a little idea, but i think can be refined...
 
vBulletin.org was a tremendous success, back in the day. Times have changed, webmasters and their communities are demanding different things. I want Xenforo to do better than vBulletin anyway. Replicating vBorg wouldn't take Xenforo to the next level.

Maximilian said:
i have an idea...a "social fund"...Xenforo can collect donations made by customers for a mod, and the best mod for a certain time wins the prize. It's only a little idea, but i think can be refined...
Click to expand...
+1
I have an idea similar this concept.
 
I definitely don't think there should be an upfront fee charged to Xenforo developers but there should be some kind of way of using the addon system to help Xenforo raise extra revenue, a small transaction charge that is considerably under Apple's might be acceptable, maybe 10% would be a reasonable, but then again I'm not a developer so I have no idea how badly that would affect them.
 
kkm323 said:
they are to low forum's owner than iphone/ipad's owner
stop comparing the two
Click to expand...
Pay attention and stop saying that I am comparing customer numbers, had you actually read my entire post rather than just write a reply as soon as you read Apple Store you'd know that I specifically said that the scale is different. My posts are about the concept, not the numbers. Creating a vehicle for devs to sell their mods here is like CafePress giving one the ability to sell t-shirt designs (with shirt) online. Yes, Wal-mart sells billions of t-shirts a year and at lower prices, yet individual designers still sell a few shirts a year at CafePress and both the designer and the customer are happy about that. Just because the scale is different doesn't mean the concept as such is not applicable.

Add-on developers need a viable way to be rewarded for their time. Receiving community gratitude, which is just gratitude in name because as seen elsewhere most people who download and install an add-on don't even bother to post "Thanks!" to the appropriate thread, is simply not enough for folks who have busy lives where many things are competing for what little time there is.
 
Wow, this addon is undoubtedly one of the best I've seen so far for xenforo, it will be distributed along with the new versions? will be available here in the forum for free? (n)
 
It's a system for managing add-ons here on XenForo.com and won't initially be available to customers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom