Any news about Xenforo 3.0, can we expect modern forum?

[qnkov]

Hello. For half a year, I have been looking for a modern forum system to start an anime/manga site with various features. For example, a video system for watching movies/episodes, a way to add manga/anime as pages with information about them, topics with posters, etc. I saw that all of this is possible with Invision Community.

I waited to see version 5, but it turned out that the self-hosted platform is extremely expensive and has functionality limits. They also changed the way we acquire add-ons, significantly restricting options, and almost no themes exist for their latest version.

On the other hand, XenForo seems like a better alternative in terms of user base and price, but the forum and themes, in general, look like they’re from the early 2000s. I understand that some may find this nostalgic, but it looks incredibly outdated and is not visually appealing.

That’s why I’m wondering what exactly to expect with version 3.0. Can we anticipate a modern interface similar to Invision Community? I really don't want to go to invision as they may drop self-hosted in next version, as they aim for big comapanies, not common users now.

 

[AjayJunkies]

Never, in our experience. Don't paint every forum with the broad "the Internet overwhelmingly collectively leaving forums" brush, as it's simply not true.

Most of our members complain that users on social media are, basically, either the less enlightened who have nothing useful to say, or prone to start arguments just to get others worked up. Just comparing the niches on the forums I'm an admin for, social media groups are dumbed-down versions of the topics our forums discuss, and are also full of argumentative individuals. Reddit only takes those same attitudes and amplifies them; Reddit is also overrun with AI-generated posts (generally rage bait) in some of its most popular subs.

Even on the few forums I participate in, where I'm not on the staff, the same holds true. Memberships are growing, and members often mention they're happy to be there as opposed to the stupidity they see on the greater Internet.

We gain and retain users from social media because of this intelligence, moderation, and common decency we offer in forums. IMHO the greater Internet (especially social media and Reddit) is a mess of anonymous opinions with algorithms pushing content at visitors that will gain them the most advertising dollars. A select number of those who will want something beyond everyday stupidity and rage bait (and being targeted by algorithms and Big Tech) once they've gotten fed up with circular arguments and being subjected to flame wars. We want no part of that crowd, but we'll gladly take those in who want serious discussion without the side dish of rage bait and bull.

I've been in this for decades. The oldest forum I admin (and own) dates back to 1996. The busiest I manage started in 2002, and is growing faster than staff can keep up with it, with tens of millions posts. I've been moderating forums since before the general public even heard of the Internet, and were using dial-up for services like CompuServe, GEnie, etc., long before AOL came along, or even the private "bulletin boards" accessible via dialup, back when 1200 baud was the blazing fast new technology. Even Usenet functioned as a forum of sorts, but its "open" platform allowed anyone to post, including spambots, and it quickly lost its usefulness once that happened.

If forums were as dead as some here are suggesting, XenForo wouldn't even bother existing. They've been around in one form or another since before a few on this board were even born. One might even joke that the forum discussion format is the cockroach of the Internet--nothing seems to kill it, and the number keeps on multiplying.

I'm bowing out of this conversation, as I'm tired of repeating myself.

Carry on.

You are confounding individual exceptions with aggregate experience.

Yes, individual forums can and do thrive. In no way did I intend to impose the same stroke of failure on every forum. But in aggregate? We cannot pretend that every forum is doing better than they were ten years ago. The overwhelming online experience and vast majority of conversations have moved to social engagement platforms. That needs to be recognized.

There's always that one forum owner who waves his hand and says "but me! I'm doing peachy and fine and therefore no one shouldn't ever evolve or do anything different."Well, okay. Don't do anything different. We aren't worried about you. Some of us are looking at the aggregate, and there are some of us who recognize that the online experience is constantly changing.

 

[smallwheels]

The overwhelming online experience and vast majority of conversations have moved to social engagement platforms. That needs to be recognized.

If you want to be social media and like social media and all you are interested in is user numbers and posts per day you will probably always be unhappy als facebook, reddit and alike use techniques you don't have and never will have and have more money to spend on a single feature than you earn with your day job per year.
If you focus on what forums can do better like quality content, real trustful communities and other things like that you will always win. No doubt XF is somewhat oldfashioned and clearly they are in many aspects years behind any modern standards - but if you expect that to change you will realistically always be unhappy as this is not going to happen.