Audent.io

[imno007]

Missed that thx!

Actually, you might want to try the addon out with PHP 8. I was told some months back that they would be adding PHP 8 support, and I'm not aware of any update after that time, but I think I tried it out with 8 not too long back and didn't encounter any errors with it. I had problems with another addon, I know, which is why I reverted back to 7, but you might find things okay with Nodes...?

 

[Dad.]

I've got absolutely no issue with you changing you business model and don't want to confuse issues.

The issue is that, the first your customers have heard of this in many cases is seeing an alert for an addon they've bought notify them that it's been deleted. Then they have to search on here and find this thread. Then read through to find out what's happening. Even with all of that, they still don't know if the addons they care about (e.g. Trending and Nodes in my case) will be open-sourced, supported, etc.

It's just really poor communication. Delete the addons on here and leave a reply in each thread linking to your announcement should have been the bare minimum.

You're not wrong.

There is an email going out shortly. Some internal issues caused the delay.

 

[mattrogowski]

Actually, you might want to try the addon out with PHP 8. I was told some months back that they would be adding PHP 8 support, and I'm not aware of any update after that time, but I think I tried it out with 8 not too long back and didn't encounter any errors with it. I had problems with another addon, I know, which is why I reverted back to 7, but you might find things okay with Nodes...?

Yep, I think the PHP8 ticket for Nodes is still open, but not forgotten about.

 

[Dad.]

You're not wrong.

There is an email going out shortly. Some internal issues caused the delay.

@RobParker unfortunately we cannot, due to the massive amount of people who get an email and delete it thus causing a bounce. The amount of people who steal software from XenForo community (and I have to assume XF themselves) is underrepresented. So much so Amazon has been closely watching emails. Just a few bounces and we get banned for a few days. So, unfortunately, I can only send emails through to subscribers.

We'll post it here, and our social media, but not sure what else we can do to get the word out. Will reply to each thread as well.

 

[Dad.]

Also, in case anyone is curious, we've decided to give lifetime access if you bought anything that is moving to our main subscription. Not lifetime support to be clear. Support will be "as available", so if you have an issue you need us to look into we will log it into our tracker but if you need us to do further work we will charge for that or ask you buy the subscription.

Hope this helps, something we should have done from the launch. Those products that you should keep getting updates to (but will have limited or no support, create a ticket if youre unsure) are:

• Ignore More
• Image Optimizer
• Monetize
• Reactions Plus
• Style Switch
• Spotify
• Trending
• XPress

The rest are being open-sourced.

 

[RobParker]

Zero support but maintained for updates (much like Stuart does for the AV Forums addons) would be excellent.

 

[Dad.]

Zero support but maintained for updates (much like Stuart does for the AV Forums addons) would be excellent.

For those addons, yes. For the rest we will open-source. That table is almost posted.

 

[Kirby]

For those addons, yes. For the rest we will open-source. That table is almost posted.

I am still confused

We do have a couple XPress and Ignore More licenses.

1) Do we still get updates for those without that 250$/quarter subscription?
2) Can we purchase further licenses for XPress in the future without that 250$/quarter subscription?

 

[Dad.]

I am still confused

We do have a couple XPress and Ignore More licenses.

1) Do we still get updates for those without that 250$/quarter subscription?
2) Can we purchase further licenses for XPress in the future without that 250$/quarter subscription?

1. Updates, yes
2. Uh, contact me about that. Officially, no.

 

[victoriad]

This post has been updated with a list of products. Feel free to reach out with any questions!

 

[RobParker]

This post has been updated with a list of products. Feel free to reach out with any questions!

Has it? I don't see it.

 

[Dad.]

Has it? I don't see it.

Requires a refresh a few times, cache. Had the same issue.

 

[sbj]

Here is the list:

 

[sbj]

Like it or not but there are 3 big powerhouses in the XF community: Andy, TH and Xon.

Now even TH semi-leaves XF, I think this is very concerning for the future of XenForo.

You were even doing videos with Kier. I had the impression that there will be a big corporation between XF and you guys very soon in the future. What happened?

There is a lot to say but at this point nothing matters ("forums are dying, reeeee"). Thanks for all the support over the years. I am only concerned about the Nodes addon personally, so I am not hit that much but I understand the frustration it brings to others.

Good luck.

 

[l3ta]

@Mike Creuzer

I still don't understand for how long are we getting updates for UIX 2 and the nodes addon. Is update release cancellation for these two products effective immediately, or will we continue to receive updates for a few months?

BTW, I totally understand your decision and will like to thank you for the excellence of your products. I've enjoyed customizing UIX 2 a lot. It would be nice to see support for the TH Node addon continue in the hands of a trusted theme developer, like @Russ.

 

[Slavik]

Like it or not but there are 3 big powerhouses in the XF community: Andy, TH and Xon.

Now even TH semi-leaves XF, I think this is very concerning for the future of XenForo.

This is not the first time, nor will it be the last time a provider with a large number of XenForo services leaves/quits/changes direction in their business model.

In fact the exact same comments were made last time this happened, yet here we are years later and all that concern was, just like this time, unwarranted.

 

[RobParker]

all that concern was, just like this time, unwarranted.

I think I disagree. In pretty much Mike's own words, the XF market can't support a financially viable add-on developer ecosystem as the money's just not there to sustain it. Those arguments were made before by other developers who left and there's barely anyone left operating now.

I'm strongly in favour of more "official" addons for this reason, it gives some long-term confidence and reassurance.

 

[mattrogowski]

I think I disagree. In pretty much Mike's own words, the XF market can't support a financially viable add-on developer ecosystem as the money's just not their to sustain it.

I've only been part of XF/Audentio for a short while so can't speak for other developers' reasons for leaving, but I think when it comes to sustainability, it at least in part comes down to the size of the organisation. I don't know precisely how much we made a month from public addon sales, but I think it is a figure that would be great (or even amazing) for a single developer working alone, but not so great for an agency like us. When we start getting into billable hourly rates for custom work and other services we provide, 3 hours of my time working on a feature for a $20 addon isn't sustainable when compared to what that same time could be being billed for, in terms of the number of sales needed to make the same amount for the 3 hours time investment. When that's extrapolated out over every addon and every feature or bug fix, it soon becomes a bigger problem for an agency than an individual developer making the same amount. If a developer is working on their own I would imagine it would be more viable, but again I can't speak for others if they've left for similar reasons.

At a previous agency I worked for we sometimes had to jettison smaller clients who maybe only did 5 hours work a month for a lower rate, as it wasn't sustainable to keep doing so when we had bigger higher paying clients. However, that same client would be perfectly sustainable for a freelancer or smaller agency. As companies grow, some services may have to be dropped, but I don't think it automatically means the model itself doesn't work, it just doesn't work for every company forever.

 

[Slavik]

I think I disagree. In pretty much Mike's own words, the XF market can't support a financially viable add-on developer ecosystem as the money's just not their to sustain it. Those arguments were made before by other developers who left and there's barely anyone left operating now

The money is there, as to sustainability, it comes down to business model. Plenty of solo devs and 2-3 man guys are earning very good money. My import work has never been busier and have signed a new client looking to bring hundreds more boards over to XenForo in coming months to the point I'm referring potential customers to other import providers much more than id like!

 

[Lukas W.]

My import work has never been busier

You see, that's one of the problems though. Everyone who migrates to XenForo needs an import, so unless you are starting a new forum, 100% of people need a migration.

That's not the same for the add-on market. Plenty people don't need add-ons at all, or only a handful, and only very specific ones. If you want to survive from broad market addon sales, you need a very big portfolio to fill enough needs that people buy some of your products. As you stock up your portfolio, maintenance work will quickly outweight any new sales, so unless you'd drive an aggressive no-support-unless-explicitly-paid policy, you'd probably just drown in support work at some point. And many products you develop may never make back their time investment in the first time, given how hard it is to gauge market interest. This is additionally made even harder by features being taken from the add-on market and being integrated into the core software, effectively blowing up income streams of high selling products from one day to the next.

If you do individual client work, then you're also constraint to the people that have the budget, which is only a fraction of the community, unless you intend to sell yourself under value just to have some bread on the table in order to compete with developers from countries that have lower living expenses. A lot of people would just outright decline if I named them the hourly rate I had to charge to support my (pretty average) lifestyle, and that doesn't even include the extra budget that is needed to fuel an agency but just a single person.

There's of course a lot of bigger clients in the market, and we happily work with them every day, but when they don't need some of our add-ons, it's just not viable to keep them around anymore. And it hasn't been for years.