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 I understand that some may find this nostalgic, but it looks incredibly outdated and is not visually appealing.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.

 

[ES Dev Team]

Essentially anything exposed to the internet is going to get attacked ruthlessly by AI scrapers or people probing for vulnerabilities at this point.

 

[smallwheels]

Please cite where almost all hobby forums are running on shared web hosting.

I never said that. You spoke of "websites"...

Given the simplicity to drive a CPU spike on many websites nowadays especially behind shared hosting - it’s just a matter of when. That being said, your shared hosting forum is one L7 attack away from RIP. If someone wants to make money that is an instant no-go because down websites make no money. And even hobby websites should aspire to not go down easily.

... and so did I. Given the amount of offerings for shared hosting and the amount of private people and small businesses that run small, low traffic web sites it is simple math and probability that a huge amount of the existing websites is living on shared hosting.

I would say more people have likely graduated to a VPS, or dedicated server due to some of the reasons I am sharing above.

I think this is rather confirmation bias than actual facts: You have done it so every reasonable person has to have done it. Do you have any reliable numbers? I heavily doubt that the average person running a website is running an own VPS. A bunch may have moved to cloud offerings, but joe average's private or small business website will probably happily live on shared hosting.

Regarding

it’s just a matter of when

I've been running websites for roughly 25 years. Own projects as well as for others. From tiny private ones to massive eCommerce businesses. The latter obviously typically used a swarm of dedicated servers and most of them have been moving to the cloud over the last ~17 years. The others typically ran on shared hosting and many continue to do so. I've yet to see such an attack on any of those small websites. As @Faust says

First of all, you need to have a website worth of being attacked.

I've seen more startups running a massive server park for 30 daily visitors than I've seen attacks on smaller projects.

Still this has not the slightest to do with the topic of the thread.

 

[Austin Bollinger]

Essentially anything exposed to the internet is going to get attacked ruthlessly by AI scrapers or people probing for vulnerabilities at this point.

Spot-on, that is effectively all I was trying to say. Your wording is most-elegant.

I will hit the eject button on discussing any further as seemingly some folks believe their $1 dollar store shared hosting charges are worth it to take the risk of web security, and lack layered security controls. "I hit the anti ddos button I am safe"

 

[Max Fridman]

Would definitely love to know why niche those websites were.

Some were dedicated to very specific topics like wine and beer. Others focused on hobbies such as falconry; in some cases, they were private community forums with paid access.

If you produce valuable content, people want to interact with others who share their passions; it’s up to us to provide them with the space to do so. The point is to create content that isn’t derived from “research” but from direct experience, and therefore from genuine passion.

Wouldn't agree here. Shared hosting is suffient, so the monthly cost is low. Initial licensing may seem not too cheap but extensions are. So you can run a forum on a shoestring and it is surprisingly cheap. If you install a lot of paid add ons this will open a lot of possibilities but it will turn out that it rises the monthly/yearly cost significantly - I do pay way more for add on updates per year than I pay for the XF license.

I was talking more about advertising than about the costs of “launching” and “maintaining” the site. Especially since, at the beginning, you're bootstrapping it, treating it as a hobby, not making a single cent, and actually running at a loss.

Sooner or later, you'll have to try to break even. That said, it’s not necessarily the case. Many people are perfectly happy to run their communities as a “hobby” without any financial return. And I respect them. At least they don’t complain about how outdated Xenforo is.

I often read about people who want to make money from their websites but can’t, and that’s why they believe forums are completely dead. And these are the usual arguments. Then you go check out those websites and see poorly organized content, even worse-managed sections, no useful plugins purchased in years, no content creation plan, no content hierarchy, and, to top it all off, outdated and sloppy design.

It’s just that every now and then—and I’m speaking as a business owner—it would be nice to read objective perspectives from people who share their experiences from X years of management. Instead of always reading empty complaints and wish lists that often don't actually include useful items.

This is the first time someone has shared their experience with Discourse and explained why they preferred XenForo. I see it too: we’re stuck in a rut. But there are plenty of ways to make your communities “special” and better for visitors and users.

But no one talks about that. For example, how we structure premium subscriptions, what’s offered, whether Page Nodes are used and how they’re utilized, or interesting ways to use custom fields in discussions or whether custom BB Codes are used, and if so, for what.

Perhaps—and I say perhaps—we’ve lost the desire to share, to challenge ourselves, and to learn from others’ experiences, and that’s why our communities have died out.

 

[Faust]

Some were dedicated to very specific topics like wine and beer. Others focused on hobbies such as falconry; in some cases, they were private community forums with paid access.

If you produce valuable content, people want to interact with others who share their passions; it’s up to us to provide them with the space to do so. The point is to create content that isn’t derived from “research” but from direct experience, and therefore from genuine passion.

Thanks for the tips, my communities are niche focused as well, but didn't made any money. Regarding the content, people nowadays can get that using Ai

 

[Max Fridman]

my communities are niche focused as well, but didn't made any money

First of all, every forum needs to figure out how it can be monetized. B2C, B2B, or both? So, should you reach out to companies in your industry? Or can you provide services to your users?

Can you create sponsored content? Can you feature their logo and backlinks on your site, as well as do content marketing for them to help them achieve higher SEO rankings? You can look for partners (bronze, silver, gold) who will pay to keep your site online if they’re associations or similar organizations.

Regarding the content, people nowadays can get that using Ai

AI can't find everything or explain everything. There are some things that require human input. Many AI responses lack critical thinking.

For example, if I ask Gemini 3.1 Pro, GPT, or Claude how to optimize my website for SEO, they’ll give me suggestions, but some of them will be obvious mistakes. So it’s best not to implement those changes, or I risk hurting my ranking.

 

[Mendalla]

There are some things that require human input. Many AI responses lack critical thinking.

Amen. My site isn't about factual material that can be obtained from AI or a search engine (or, as is increasingly the case, a combination of the two). It is people discussing their spiritual beliefs and ideas and sharing in a community. There's no answers, just ideas and feelings. AI can't do that.

 

[Suzanne O]

I don't use AI on my forum.
It's there for us to use but we haven't needed to use it.
If we chose to use it would be used at registration.