xenForo Support Staff?

[Grover]

Knowing that Mike&Kier develop it and even answer questions during development... who is going to support this product once it get's released?

One of the big benefits of vBulletin (you hear from many people) was/is the Support Department. How does this work with xenForo?

 

[Brandon_R]

I would expect nothing less.

 

[Grover]

The support thing is something that we'll have to grow into. In the early vB days, most people were dual purposed between support and development. Whether that would work here depends on the uptake and the amount of support needed.

Obviously there's a lot of excitement, but it's very hard to gauge what will happen after we release.

Well, from the looks of it a lot of people (including myself) are very positive about even this alpha release. At least, when it comes to the frontend UI/UX. We haven't seen the backend and all the possibilities yet. But, I am convinced many people will be interested to buy and when xenForo can actually offers us integrated Blogs and a CMS solution then I am sure many vBulletin owners will swap. I mean, I wonder how you guys can cope with an growing interest in this product and support it if you have to do development and participating in the community (which I think is of an unmissable value: direct customer communication between developers and customers is something I dearly missed over at vBulletin, in the Jelsoft days. (Internet Brands was not even in the picture yet). We as customers almost never really had any clue what you guys were thinking of our suggestions and what the status was of any development of our much needed requests)... and next to that you are thinking of providing support yourselves? How is this not hurting development, I wonder? One of the added benefits of paying for commercial software like vBulletin is that it comes with professional support. Not that I have needed it much, but you pay for it anyway. Maybe xenForo will be priced considerably cheaper as well because of this?

 

[Mark.B]

depends on the uptake

Hmm. Whilst it's always right to be cautious, I think it's a safe bet the uptake will be, at the very least, a bit reasonable.

 

[James]

Back on topic please.

The support thing is something that we'll have to grow into. In the early vB days, most people were dual purposed between support and development. Whether that would work here depends on the uptake and the amount of support needed.

Obviously there's a lot of excitement, but it's very hard to gauge what will happen after we release.

That's why this live demo is good now as it allows us to get used to it to minimise support requests when it's actually released!

 

[Scott]

vBulletin started with the developers basically doing tickets, I did it a lot back in 2002.

 

[Onimua]

vBulletin started with the developers basically doing tickets, I did it a lot back in 2002.

Whoa! Hi Scott!

 

[Vincent]

vBulletin started with the developers basically doing tickets, I did it a lot back in 2002.

Are you 'The Scott'?

Omg, omg

 

[Enigma]

Are you 'The Scott'?

Omg, omg

Scott MacVicar? Yes.

 

[Andy.N]

Yep, experience and approach is what will make us professional, not official I understand what you mean. We're already taking this site serious (one of the reasons I post a lot is just to get experience with the usage and functions, terminology, etc). And discussing questions by users on Skype, etc.

I have been knowing Floris for a long time and I can tell you from my personal experience that Floris will go way out of his way to help everyone in need.

I spent quite a bit of time talking to him on IIRC when I have a vbulletin question. He set up a chat channel for our Quant Network site for free and he has done numerous things for me and other people as well.

So while Floris may not have the cooperation cover, he is one of the most active people in the VB community and I have no doubt he will lead the way for the next XF wave.

 

[Vincent]

Scott MacVicar? Yes.

That wasn't a serious post

But yeah, he's a coding god, just like Mike & Kier

 

[Erik]

...just like Mike & Kier

Kier. I before E.

 

[Peggy]

Kier. I before E.

ROFL! I can't help but laugh when I see that. I think ooooops they did it again, lol.

 

[Peggy]

Hi Scott!

Good to see you here!

 

[Paul M]

Hmm. Whilst it's always right to be cautious, I think it's a safe bet the uptake will be, at the very least, a bit reasonable.

Initially yes - the trick is to keep it going.

Its one thing selling to a band of disgruntled vbulletin customers - they will all too soon run out, then the real test starts.

 

[Darfuria]

I imagine it'll be mostly community supported - but I can foresee lots of fansites branching off and providing support. Perhaps some wpquestions.com-style websites will launch, as well.

 

[erich37]

I would need some installation support.
Willing to pay.

 

[HannahP]

One of the added benefits of paying for commercial software like vBulletin is that it comes with professional support.

So given a choice between "professional" (i.e. hired) support, or support from the people who wrote the software, you would prefer hired support? I don't think a lot of people would share that preference, but what do I know.

The vast majority of internet businesses are started, run and staffed by small teams of people who wear a lot of hats. For the developers or owners to do support or be very active in the forums is not at all difficult or unusual. In fact, it's the norm. Until you reach a certain number of customers. That plateau is different for every business, but a new company isn't going to hit it for a while. A new company that sells something for real money, anyway.

 

[Onimua]

I imagine people will be taken into staff when the time is needed. Right now there's very few people who are familiar with XF enough to actually answer question and know where options are and how to do things both on the front and back-ends. Anything else and Kier and Mike would have to take even more time out to train/point out things to the new staff.

 

[Ruven]

If I do feel suicidal, you'll probably know. I get a lot worse.

[self censored]

 

[AmericanForum.com]

I would need some installation support.
Willing to pay.

You may want to consider LiquidWeb.com ...

I already asked them if they would install XF for free ... (they installed vB for free in their packages)

They said they would make the attempt but could not promise anything since it was new.

Ask them if this is still the case BEFORE you order if you do ... they have online pre-sales chat.