Are you going to stop all the xenForo forums appearing?

[Neal]

One of the thousand things that annoyed me with vBulletin is all the vB forums that people create just to earn money from the name. I know it ends up good for vB in a way as it is free advertising, but it gets confusing and damn annoying seeing all the sites for vB. People new to the software could also, im my opinion, get misled thinking they are on a genuine site, etc.

Are you going to limit people using your brand for their own gain? A mod site could be a good idea, or perhaps a mod section add-on to this site, operated by you of course.

I'm seeing sites appearing already for your software, and it really is silly. If you want xenForo information, come here, simple!

 

[Jethro]

Obviously xF has every right to protect their trade mark, but I don't see why people are opposed to third party fan/support/addon/style sites, it's just good competition which ultimately helps the development of the software.

I think the original poster is objecting to sites with the full name in their url that appear to a new visitor to be "official". Clearly there are going to be a number of skinning and mod shops in due course, the software after all deserves them. No doubt overtime there will be sites dedicated to single complex mods etc that will have some deviation of Xen in their url, just not with the Foro added cream.

 

[Waddy]

I think the original poster is objecting to sites with the full name in their url that appear to a new visitor to be "official".

I think that is partly what the OP was getting at, but it seems to me that he also objects to the number of competitor sites, not just the ones abusing the trademark.

I agree there will be plenty of sites related to xF popping up, and I for one think it is a good thing for the development of the software.

 

[Lucas]

I personally think that people are honestly going overboard with the amount of domains and plans of creating this hundreds of XenForo related things all around the web when we know Kier and Mike will be supporting and pushing the modding/skinning community in one place for every to be able to have a healthy and already populated place for their things. There might be some that will do extensive projects and everything. But for a few simple mods or one/two skins, do we really need to have them all on hundreds of other domains? I honestly think it's a waste of time and money.

 

[dutchbb]

Why does bringing people together necessarily equate to a good thing,

Why not? Look at vb.org.

some people like to collaborate, others prefer to work alone,

As a coder you always have the option of working either alone or in a team. That has nothing to do with releasing your work in a community. Every coder likes to release their work in a community with a lot of traffic, not in a small one where no one is going to notice their work.

competition in software development is just as important as in other walks of life.

Competition can still exist in one and the same community. Besides the coders can still have their own website, it's not like one add-on community is going to remove all personal sites and competition.

 

[Waddy]

It will evolve as we go, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens, but the idea of stopping other websites from operating is quite absurd. It's like saying all of eBay's competitors should be shut down, because there should only be competition among the products being sold, not the platform for selling them.

 

[Paul B]

The success or failure of any related sites will, as usual, be determined by the user base.

I personally will only be using xenforo.com for addons and mods, simply because I expect the support will be better, based on what I have experienced so far.

 

[Erik]

It will evolve as we go, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens, but the idea of stopping other websites from operating is quite absurd. It's like saying all of eBay's competitors should be shut down, because there should only be competition among the products being sold, not the platform for selling them.

No, but they have the legal right to shutdown or assume control of any sites operating with their trademarked name as part of the site name or domain. They have to protect their trademark.

An auction site called better-eBay.com or ebay-auctions.com would be immediately shutdown.

 

[Lycaon]

I personally will only be using xenforo.com for addons and mods, simply because I expect the support will be better, based on what I have experienced so far.

I may have misunderstood you here and if I have I apologise but how I take that statement about support being better here, you mean support for mods from Kier & Mike?

I've probably totally misunderstood you but if I haven't, you can't expect Kier & Mike to give official support for mods made by other users.

 

[Waddy]

No, but they have the legal right to shutdown or assume control of any sites operating with their trademarked name as part of the site name or domain. They have to protect their trademark.

An auction site called better-eBay.com or ebay-auctions.com would be immediately shutdown.

Of course, and I've never disagreed with that, I am just making the point that having lots of competing sites for mods/styles/addons etc. is good for the consumer, it gives them choice, keeps the competition on their toes and pushes development forward.

 

[Paul B]

Of course, and I've never disagreed with that, I am just making the point that having lots of competing sites for mods/styles/addons etc. is good for the consumer, it gives them choice, keeps the competition on their toes and pushes development forward.

It can also dilute the brand and product and cause confusion amongst customers and users.

There are pro's and con's with both approaches.

 

[Waddy]

It can also dilute the brand and product and cause confusion amongst customers and users.

There are pro's and con's with both approaches.

I think it will only strengthen the brand, the more people and other sites are talking about it the better, there may be a handful of people who are confused, but I think it is undermining the customers' intelligence to think that there will be much confusion, especially as the target audience are generally going to be fairly web savvy.

 

[grant sarver]

The success or failure of any related sites will, as usual, be determined by the user base.

I personally will only be using xenforo.com for addons and mods, simply because I expect the support will be better, based on what I have experienced so far.

Really? If you see a dynamite "gotta have" mod on a XF site and find that it is available from an independent, you won't consider it? There are lots of established, high quality vendors out there who have said they will be making mods and skins for XF.

People are free to do what they choose as long as they don't infringe on trademarks or copyrights. What anyone here would prefer or like to see or thinks is better will have zero affect on what happens.

 

[Ruven]

Can someone tell me why this is even a matter of an importance?
Anyone should have the right to build whatever kind of site they want.
Not should... they DO have the right, obviously.
Using Xen in your domain name is not illegal, and if you want to challenge XF's mod community and start your own, then so be it.
If there is 10 different unofficial mod communities going on... whats the problem?
And if one of the unofficial mod communities grows larger and stronger than what XF themselves puts out... welll thats what the market bared.

You cant socially engineer these types of things, trying is just an exercise in futility.
You just got to let things play out as they may.

 

[EQnoble]

Really? If you see a dynamite "gotta have" mod on a XF site and find that it is available from an independent, you won't consider it?

No I have already lost because of just that with another forum software and a third party coder...If I can't do it myself and I don't find it here it's not happening until one of those two gives. Free-mods here..links to your own site for sales of truly worth while mods that took the time and effort to warrant an asking a price. Otherwise I'm not messin with you. I wouldn't invite a complete stranger into my home for dinner, why would I invite his code onto my server. If someone distributes from here they are held accountable by a whole community not by a site they own. Unless your mod is free to grab here and I can see it...I won't even consider your product. To me if the place that makes the software isn't good enough to distribute your free mods for said software... your not even worth my time. The only way an independent is getting my patronage (actual sales) is if they offer things sans fees to the community and within the posted free mods here, a link to their site with purchase-ables . If your not here helping your trying to come up off of XF's labor simple as that. By all means make your own community, just remember there is tons of people like me who feel that way about this in every community...most keep their mouth shut.

Don't believe me..talk to some of the people that make skins for vb, I buy them simply because they put out a bunch of free themes and they deserve some compensation...yet I don't even need the themes..I use all my vb licenses privately, have no ads running, pages not viewable to the public for personal communications and things I don't feel the need to discuss. Point is I put up money BECAUSE they help a community of people who are at a site for a community software to start their own communities. SHOW that you care about a community and get support from them based on the fact that you yourself support them. Otherwise your here looking to boost your own sites which is fine...but if that's the only reason one is here you won't get my respect or patronage. Period.
The most important thing to remember is community, If you don't care about this one I want nothing to do with you and subsequently you wont be getting any positive attention from me.