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

qnkov

qnkov

New member
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 I understand that some may find this nostalgic, but it looks incredibly outdated and is not visually appealing.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.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Dad. said:
I said it 5 years ago, I say it now. The moment we post the code, Im going to see a HYS video looool

But yeah Ill see if I can post it somewhere just for those who want to play a bit. We may delete later so use at your own risk if using free version, our supported version is, well, supported :D


Cheers, though I think it looks best when our theme is applied as itll do things like remove page jumps or other things that are not consistent on default theme, imo. Even works with decked out full ads haha

View attachment 321574
Click to expand...
Looks like one of those dangerous malware adverts to be honest.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I feel like we’re getting pretty close to the point where AI can do a complete rebuild of the design and even some of the features. At the very least a good developer could speed up their development process by 100% and knock some things down really quick. Of course, testing will be still important. But if things aren’t sped up a bit, I think something is gonna start to speed away.

But let me qualify that. There’s gonna continue to be a need for this sort of outdated model as there are a lot of people who still like to post on forums like this.

But the problem is there are too many viral apps out there that emulate a lot of the same features we have in forum software, and if forum software doesn’t offer that too, it will sort of get left behind. It already has some.

And on the subject of AI, the content of pretty much every forum is being digested in assimilated into AI. This will present lots of challenges from server load of the bots hitting the forum to there being less reason to come to the forum because the information is widely available.

Some of the larger communities are surely going to want to close off some of their content to non-logged in users, but they won’t really be able to do that unless there are more competitive features that allow content to become more viral. Let’s not forget how viral forum content used to be.
 
Last edited:
Upvote -3 Downvote
qnkov said:
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.
Click to expand...

Just out of interest, would you be interested in helping working with an existing anime forum? I totally understand if not, as running your forum is often the whole point.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
qnkov said:
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.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've been saying this for years. The old school 1990s forum look puts off anyone born in the last 30 years but you have the same old farts saying how awesome it is and nothing ever needs to change.

It's both sad and depressing.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ArtG said:
Better yet, sell it to XenForo.
Click to expand...

Exactly. XF’s done pretending to handcraft every damn line, now they’re on a shopping spree, grabbing code from anyone who can string a function together. And honestly? Good. Frankensteining modules together like mad scientists is the only way we’re ever gonna see XF 3 before we all turn to dust. Ship it. Patch it later. Let chaos code.
 
Upvote -2 Downvote
While we are grateful to be able to incorporate some popular and much-needed features from third parties into 2.4, we have "hand-crafted" the features in prior releases, even if there were similar add-ons available, and even now we aren't incorporating anything without careful consideration and manual adjustments (even improvements in some cases).
 
Upvote 2 Downvote
So, are we still far from version 3.0? I'm just wondering if it will actually happen this year. I'm already waiting for year to see which platform to chose. :)
Happy that my thread become most popular thing here, lol
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
dvduval said:
I feel like we’re getting pretty close to the point where AI can do a complete rebuild of the design and even some of the features. At the very least a good developer could speed up their development process by 100% and knock some things down really quick. Of course, testing will be still important. But if things aren’t sped up a bit, I think something is gonna start to speed away.

But let me qualify that. There’s gonna continue to be a need for this sort of outdated model as there are a lot of people who still like to post on forums like this.

But the problem is there are too many viral apps out there that emulate a lot of the same features we have in forum software, and if forum software doesn’t offer that too, it will sort of get left behind. It already has some.

And on the subject of AI, the content of pretty much every forum is being digested in assimilated into AI. This will present lots of challenges from server load of the bots hitting the forum to there being less reason to come to the forum because the information is widely available.

Some of the larger communities are surely going to want to close off some of their content to non-logged in users, but they won’t really be able to do that unless there are more competitive features that allow content to become more viral. Let’s not forget how viral forum content used to be.
Click to expand...
I saw this was rated down, but it is at an alarming rate of achievement how quickly this technology is advancing. One must wonder what takes place when it tries to abridge, append, or prepend its system instructions.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
qnkov said:
So, are we still far from version 3.0? I'm just wondering if it will actually happen this year. I'm already waiting for year to see which platform to chose. :)
Happy that my thread become most popular thing here, lol
Click to expand...
Without any personal attack to you, but this is what’s wrong with the internet today.

Everyone is so focused on likes, being popular, and the whole nine yards, they forget what it’s all about. Valuable discussion.
 
Upvote 3 Downvote
CedricV said:
Without any personal attack to you, but this is what’s wrong with the internet today.

Everyone is so focused on likes, being popular, and the whole nine yards, they forget what it’s all about. Valuable discussion.
Click to expand...
This. But the problem is that we have so many people who are impatient and keep asking when things will be ready.
We're lucky that they still provide updates. They could tell us all that there won't be anymore updates unless they're needed.
These guys are a hard working group who are currently fixing faults up. Read the bug reports. Read the stuff they wish to implement.
Most importantly read the Have You Seen? articles.
 
Upvote -5 Downvote
Suzanne O said:
This. But the problem is that we have so many people who are impatient and keep asking when things will be ready.
We're lucky that they still provide updates. They could tell us all that there won't be anymore updates unless they're needed.
These guys are a hard working group who are currently fixing faults up. Read the bug reports. Read the stuff they wish to implement.
Most importantly read the Have You Seen? articles.
Click to expand...
This should not be a concern of paying customers. XF defined their pricing and licensing terms. Showing sympathy was not there it. Not everyone runs a forum with 10 members in it.

People are not impatient about the future of XenForo. People look unto XF to lead the march because they once did and we all celebrated.

What people are impatient about is the future of their own forums and they have every right to be worried about what they are responsible for. So what people are asking for is reasons to be hopeful and have something to look forward to. Posting something from XF to allay the concerns is the least one can expect, not saying anything also says a lot. XF is fully entitled to exercise that option. @qnkov Get the hint!

"What you are asking for cannot be put in a single feature suggestion and we can only work when there is a feature suggestion with 1000 likes". Sounds like a battle tested way to say, "not interested".

XF1 was in 2011, XF2 was in 2018. We are in 2025, and yet nobody is saying we want a release right now. We just want a high level roadmap. I would say people are being reasonable, patient and empathetic.

Maybe XF has a large number or paying customer who want uploads larger than 100MB and who are crumbling down due to the current inefficient editor which is not letting them compose next generation posts. In that case XF is doing a good job releasing HYS to serve their target market.

As I said, not saying anything also says a lot.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Suzanne O said:
This. But the problem is that we have so many people who are impatient and keep asking when things will be ready.
We're lucky that they still provide updates. They could tell us all that there won't be anymore updates unless they're needed.
These guys are a hard working group who are currently fixing faults up. Read the bug reports. Read the stuff they wish to implement.
Most importantly read the Have You Seen? articles.
Click to expand...
Do you have a XenForo tattoo? Honestly, just curious…
 
Upvote 3 Downvote
CedricV said:
Without any personal attack to you, but this is what’s wrong with the internet today.

Everyone is so focused on likes, being popular, and the whole nine yards, they forget what it’s all about. Valuable discussion.
Click to expand...
Boom, you got it. 👍👍 The less the boards I run are like social media, the more that members like them. They flock to us because we are not social media. Social media is mostly about bragging/preaching/*****ing, mainly for likes, and having algorithms push up content since their users are often too stupid to find things on their own, and/or like being analyzed, tracked, and monetized...basically becoming the product. I will never subject users to this; we are their safe haven from all that.

People come to our boards for intelligent discussion. If they want social media, they can leave us alone and find that elsewhere. As our membership is growing on these boards, and has been for over two decades, I fail to see a problem--we want members who contribute quality content, not post "lol" to everything, or make low-effort posts of things that are beaten to death, like typical social media dolts (or worse, Reddit, the Internet's echo chamber). The ones that visit us who are only used to social media tend to adapt quickly to our boards because our content is worth taking part in. Those who don't get it, well...who cares? They visit, have little to offer, and drift away on their own. We don't want them participating, to be honest, as they are more trouble than they are worth. We do skew older, yet we still get many younger users who want answers. The ones who stick around and take part actually begin feeling like part of our communities.

So, yeah. Don't shove a feed in my face. It insults my intelligence. Don't tell me about "engagement"--that's a term that greedy corporations use to turn their visitors into the product. We don't/won't ever do that. The way XF works now--one or two clicks, and I'm in a forum on my board where I scan through whatever I am looking for, and stay on task. The hundreds of millions of forum users out there understand this, and all these feeds do is complicate things for the masses. Forums aren't broken, and don't need to be fixed. And I'm certain the folks at XF will find some clever way to add new options that visitors can use, yet keep the basic function of "forum" intact for all of us who want the simple, uncluttered interface it offers.

Mr Lucky said:
What is community software then?
Click to expand...
I've had "communities" since I first put a forum online in 1997. And visitors had no issue finding our content back then. Crude interface, sure, but even back then, nobody every complained that forums weren't useful to them. "Community?" Well...I still have friends online that I've met in person due to those forums. So yeah, I don't see how turning forums into social media = community.

I'm so over this...

If someone wants to clutter up their boards with this, feel free. Just don't force it on me or my members.
 
Upvote -2 Downvote
imno007 said:
Although they could maybe add some more filters to accomplish this, I don't think most people see any pressing need to add profile posts and feeds to the same page. What's left after that that needs to be consolidated?
Click to expand...
It's not just profile posts and threads - the idea is that the unified what's new could be used as well for other content types from 3rd party addons like @Bob 's AMS etc.

Of course it should be customizable.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
Wildcat Media said:
The less the boards I run are like social media, the more that members like them. They flock to us because we are not social media. Social media is mostly about bragging/preaching/*****ing, mainly for likes,
Click to expand...

Forums need to create better structured content.
Xenforo's main content structure is "chit chat". Threads become virtually unusable to new participants after 5 pages.


CedricV said:
If only we'd see some of these features on Xenforo.
Click to expand...
... such as ....
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Back
Top Bottom