I have always taken you as a reasonable poster but I disagree with your reasoning. Making fun of users that pay an annual fee for asking about updates is kind of petty. Sure, there are limitations to request for information but why is it wrong to expect a reasonable understanding of what you will get when you pay forward for a product.
Consumers should expect those delivering goods or services to have a certain level of standard. When you purchase a service you should have an understanding of what that service will look like. This doesn't mean some type of written guarantee but just a reasonable expectation of the type of service you expect to receive.
When one obtains a Xenforo license they should expect security issues to be addressed and they are. One should expect the code to work on supported technology standards such as PHP and it does. One should expect support when requested and that is also provided.
Where I believe Xenforo falls short is the value associated with annual renewals. Users expect this to include additions to the product and that has not been the case in several years. Two years ago Xenforo expanded their staff but somehow this has led to a decrease in major release frequency.
So who is at fault here? The consumer, because they accepted it. Every single post that questions the direction of the product is attacked (seems odd consider the product is forum software). It's one thing to ask a company to release a roadmap but at this point a general update on expectations will do.
What can a Xenforo license holder expect over the next few years? Can we expect major updates to occur every 10 to 14 months? Is the core leadership of Xenforo (Mike, Kier, and Chris) still developing full time or has this past on to newer staff members? Without being specific, why has version 2.3 been delayed or is it even a thing?
My post was more about the people who incessantly need validation about every step of development and bring up these same points every time there is a little silence or a delay. They are literally arguing to argue at times for no reason other than they do not get what they want. I could have been a bit more specific about who I meant in the last post but 🤷♂️.
The delays are likely caused by XF Cloud; it is something that has been in the works and is something that would take a lot of planning and development investment to get right. It is also the single biggest investment XenForo could make for growth and sustainability. It would be nice for them to announce that delays happened because of it, or that they are now catching up and giving a new ETA but demanding it and trying to lead a coup is just throwing a tantrum.
I even said earlier if people do not want to renew then do not renew. I do not renew until I have a reason to normally or if it falls within my normal maintenance cycle, so foregoing renewal immediately is nothing new. Hell, I went without renewal from XF1.5 until XF2.2 because I had no reason to renew.
I do not think most of these issues are solved by a roadmap, because it is rare that a roadmap is completely followed. I also do not think a development newsletter would change much because developing a whole platform takes time and is more than just the addition of one or more features. I do believe there should be more transparency (especially with resource providers and is something that we begged for in 2011-2012), but these threads aren't the way to get it.
EDIT: Just wanted to add, for my own projects I have the opposite stance that XenForo has, but I am not in a competitive market where (if I remember correctly ideas were poached by a supposed friend at one point). If I am asked about updates or development, I will give teasers or supply details, if I cannot I'll explain the reasons for delays. I am not beholden to license holders, and I also do not answer to anyone however, and my customers rarely ever treat me the way that I've seen people act here (most of them are also scared of me so there is that).
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