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 I understand that some may find this nostalgic, but it looks incredibly outdated and is not visually appealing.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.
 
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jul said:
It might be misleading for new customers to present your most active (highest message count) staff members who are no longer involved. Presenting as a ‘Xenforo developer’ while not being part of a team for years is pretty misleading if you’re looking for a product/service with an active and large developer team behind it. Just my take.
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Staff members are actually part of a small business that is run on the side of their own jobs.
You can get others who impersonate them that makes it misleading for somebody like you who doesn't post here often.
 
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I think that is a narrow way to evaluate a platform. Platforms value should be judged by the software, the ecosystem, third-party developers and the community around it.
 
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Tamer said:
I think that is a narrow way to evaluate a platform. Platforms value should be judged by the software, the ecosystem, third-party developers and the community around it.
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Yes that's a great way to justify non existent 'xenforo developers' and small incremental updates of the core over years, while you have to rely on third-party developers to keep something alive and new-looking. Super narrow.
 
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That is a different discussion. We were talking about whether an old profile/title is misleading; now you are turning it into a general complaint about XenForo’s development pace. Those are not the same argument. Don’t use my comment to make a different point.
 
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Tamer said:
That is a different discussion. We were talking about whether an old profile/title is misleading; now you are turning it into a general complaint about XenForo’s development pace. Those are not the same argument. Don’t use my comment to make a different point.
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Literally the discussion/thread is about the progress of the Xenforo development pace… Having staff members labeled as ‘xenforo developers’ while they’re gone for over a year is related to that. Especially when those of staff have been listed as top 5 biggest contributors in terms of messages on your forums. It relates to why aren’t my presale questions or other questions answered anymore by these ‘staff members’ who aren’t staff anymore. That is misleading if they are in fact ex staff. Instead of gloating a platform and justifying something wrong you might want to contribute and be helpful. I renewed my license of Xenforo not long ago. When I went back to the Xenforo forums and watched the staff members list and this thread it really came across as if Xenforo is dead. If you have them labeled as staff but not being active for over a year that comes across as if the developers team abandoned Xenforo.
At least label them as ex staff so they still get credit for what they contributed and thus be labeled trustworthy for old threads where they posted. All I did is agree that it is somewhat misleading to have staff members be labeled like that when they are apparently gone for over a year. You can’t justify that.
 
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I understand your point, but I still think misleading is an exaggeration. An outdated profile or title does not mean XenForo is pretending to have a fake team of active developers. If someone sees a few old profiles and jumps to XF is dead or customers are being deceived, that says more about their bias than about the profiles themselves.

Edit reason: Reworded because the previous version sounded like I was conceding a point I do not actually agree with.
 
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Recep Baltaş said:
Sorry to interrupt but where is the 2.4? We have reached summer 2026 and I am still waiting for 2.4! Hell, at that point I should be asking for 3.0 or even 3.1!
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Lots of patience hahaha. It’s a little weird to how much we can expect. I gave up on looking what’s ahead and just settle with what Xenforo is as its current state.

Suzanne O said:
Staff members are actually part of a small business that is run on the side of their own jobs.
You can get others who impersonate them that makes it misleading for somebody like you who doesn't post here often.
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I really don’t appreciate the rude attitude “…somebody like you”. I only shared my opinion and view regarding the misleading argument… Just for the record, I’m a long time member that almost daily read the Xenforo forums and actively purchase third party add-ons. Not posting doesn’t mean I’m not aware. Still you can label ex staff and deal with misleading as well as updating profiles.
 
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Tamer said:
I understand your point, but I still think misleading is an exaggeration. An outdated profile or title does not mean XenForo is pretending to have a fake team of active developers. If someone sees a few old profiles and jumps to XF is dead or customers are being deceived, that says more about their bias than about the profiles themselves.
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I agree with that but when development slows to the degree that it has it's likely customers will start to speculate.

What is important is whether the product as it is meets people's requirements which given Xenforo's share of the market it clearly still does for the most part. Unfortunately it doesn't for me and I jumped ship a while ago but I still visit here in the hope that we will eventually see an updated product.
 
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zappaDPJ said:
I agree with that but when development slows to the degree that it has it's likely customers will start to speculate.

What is important is whether the product as it is meets people's requirements which given Xenforo's share of the market it clearly still does for the most part. Unfortunately it doesn't for me and I jumped ship a while ago but I still visit here in the hope that we will eventually see an updated product.
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Did you find an alternative to Xenforo? Or completely gave up on forums?
 
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jul said:
Did you find an alternative to Xenforo? Or completely gave up on forums?
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I found alternatives. Two forums went to Facebook, one to Discourse and another to SMF. I did walk away from a couple more but they were not doing well and I was happy to let others take the helm.

I'm sure the majority of admins will laugh/sigh at my choices but they were right for those communities all of which are still flourishing and serving a purpose. More traditional forums have a place and I would like to move my forum running on SMF back to Xenforo but not the other three.
 
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