Does anyone feel like this is the next-gen of forums?

Brad Padgett

Brad Padgett

Well-known member
I've been getting a good look at Xenforo 2 and I personally like it a lot.

My question to the community is does anyone feel like the step being taken here by the creators of Xenforo is going torwards a new way of using forum software?

Sort of a next-gen approach. I can say with all surety it's as if the approach is truly something that's never been done before. Everything seems unique and perfect. It seems as if Xenforo will truly take the whole market share when it comes to the competition such as Internet Brands vBulletin 4 (which is mainly the only forum software currently competing with them). Forums are starting to die out and it seems that the main reason vBulletin 5 is even able to hold a candle to this is because of that reason. People don't seem to care much about the add-ons and the amazing trophies... etc. It seems they just want a system that will do the job. But real webmasters want quality and I think Xenforo is obviously the best quality there is on the market.

Do you think this will make competitors rethink how they create forum software? Do you think this is the next-gen of forums and not just that, of the Internet?

Please share you thoughts. I'm interested in hearing what you guys think.
 
Considering the 2 year goal for XF2 has been feature parity with XF1, I'm not sure how you can call it unique or next-gen.
And you need to look wider than IB if you think they are the primary future competition of XF. In the 2 years it has taken to develop XF2, I believe XF has fallen behind and will now need to catch-up, when comparing to what others have done or are doing. Only time will tell if the new platform/framework for XF with XF2 translates to that catch-up.

You also appear to contradict yourself in saying that Forums are starting to die out, yet shortly after say that people don't care for add-ons and want a system that will do they job. If you agree that Forums are dying out, then XF needs to be more than just a forum system but a suite of community engagement and collaboration functionality so that it supports and provides for a wider breath of customers requirements and enticements.
 
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Mouth said:
Considering the 2 year goal for XF2 has been feature parity with XF1, I'm not sure how you can call it unique or next-gen.
And you need to look wider than IB if you think they are the primary future competition of XF. In the 2 years it has taken to develop XF2, I believe XF has fallen behind and will now need to catch-up, when comparing to what others have done or are doing. Only time will tell if the new platform/framework for XF with XF2 translates to that catch-up.

You also appear to contradict yourself in saying that Forums are starting to die out, yet shortly after say that people don't care for add-ons and want a system that will do they job. If you agree that Forums are dying out, then XF needs to be more than just a forum system but a suite of community engagement and collaboration functionality so that it supports and provides for a wider breath of customers requirements and enticements.
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I completely disagree with you when you say 'feature parity' with XF1. There's literally nothing else with a forum software you can do 'but create new features'. The rest is back end and how the system can operate and function properly. Everything else is feature related no matter what you do about it.

Forums in 'general' are dying out. That's not contradicting myself. As a matter of fact the very reason they don't care for add-ons is because forums are starting to die out. That's actually the point I was trying to make.

And on that last part, that is what Xenforo is. You apparently described it perfect. Also when you say XF is needing to catch up you should try to understand what I was trying to say. The only way that can be true is if people are not caring about what a forum software can really be capable of. Instead they buy it for the 'posts' or 'messages' factor and don't care about add-ons or anything that would set it apart. They just care about a content management system. That's all they care about. Because they don't intend to put the work into their site as a web master. They just want a toy they can play with and use for a short amount of time. Not preparing their forum for a future that lasts.

It is Next-Gen as far as everything goes. Just look at the 'extra.less' factor. Just look at the 'new posts' and 'post new thread' area right on the forum_list. There are tons of additions that make it out to be next-gen. The administrative panel might not be as next-gen but the way it looks is. I'm more or less trying to say it's the way it appears that looks next-gen. The way it has that vibe.

I was trying to say does it not look next gen? It gives off the look. I see what your trying to say but I'm talking about the look it gives off.
 
I think one of the primary competitors in the forum space is Discourse which I don't see mentioned often on these forums.

Feature parity is a difficult thing because many of the improvements of XF2 aren't considered "features" it is the about the improved design and increased use of JavaScript to give a more dynamic experience.
 
Mouth said:
And you need to look wider than IB if you think they are the primary future competition of XF. In the 2 years it has taken to develop XF2, I believe XF has fallen behind and will now need to catch-up, when comparing to what others have done or are doing. Only time will tell if the new platform/framework for XF with XF2 translates to that catch-up.
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Sometimes one has to take one step backwards in order to advance two steps forwards.
 
XenForo isn't the hip and trendy thing anymore. Even Discourse or something like that isn't going to be hip and trendy.

XenForo 2 isn't really a new generation of forums. It's just a better version of their XF1 platform with more modern technology and better coding principles. It's a huge backend overhaul but as far as end users will go, their experience will feel smoother but they won't be changing how they browse the site.

And I'm pretty sure that's the point. Forum admins are very conservative, at least the ones that XenForo attracted as its active customer base (mainly over from vBulletin). They tend to hate change, and early on in XF2 when the demo board was first launched, there was a bunch of negative feedback that shown conservative ideals in the customer base, and other negative feedback that suggested XF could've done a lot more.

XF2 is just a way to please the developers that were repeating so much code, which is going to please the forum admins in the end as well, since developers can make more advanced functionality without getting annoyed because they're repeating themselves so much or writing redundant code. In the end, end users will benefit from the new things developers make, hopefully.

This isn't really next generation, though. Traditional forums aren't as popular as they were, but the idea of discussion boards isn't dead at all.
 
No !! It looks different, but definitely does not belong to the next generation. Then you'll have to do it better and totally different, like Facebook did. The most important thing is the acceptance of your customers. For example, look at VB's launch with the release of Version 5. The customers did not take this opportunity and went to other forum products.
 
Brogan said:
It is way past feature parity.
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Yeah. Taking off my admin hat and putting on an end-user hat, apart from a What's New navigation - which I find functionally confusing - those additional features, tweaks, and improvements are really hard to see.
 
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ManagerJosh said:
Sometimes one has to take one step backwards in order to advance two steps forwards.
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Agreed. And I'm happy with the XF step. I just know that it will need either XF core add-ons or strong 3rd party add-ons, to realise the benefit and see the catch-up 2 steps forward. With little roadmap or direction on XF2 add-ons, then it's hard to see the path bright and shiny.
 
XenForo style forums are too complicated for a typical web user. Most of them would land on these forums through a search result page and get their info and leave. These forums are not very inviting to new users. I have personally liked Flarum from the new generation of community software but it does not suit my requirement. XenForo remains the best option of the lot for my particular forum which I have to admit is on its way to shut down in the coming years. No matter how mobile friendly the theme might be, XenForo is best used on a desktop computer while the current generation of internet users are mobile first. There is no official solution for a mobile app. Third party solutions are a big compromise. I have tried this forum on my Android phone and the experience remains meh. The other problem is revenue generation... Ad blockers were a big problem. Now we have browsers that block ads out of the box (Firefox Focus, Brave etc.) which means that communities which rely on ad revenue are also on the verge of shutting down in coming years.

PS: This is just my point of view and I am sure other people have completely different opinion!
 
ManagerJosh said:
XF plugin creators themselves what are their intents?
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Yes, that's the reliance isn't it. At this stage, I don't see any flagging or road mapping next-gen functionality. Just intentions to upgrade their (some/all) XF1 add-ons to be compatible with XF2. Given that beta hasn't even beta released, that's expected I guess.
 
I think that we will see the true nature of the platform at XF2.1
While XF2.0 does have new features, I think this show will really get on the road with 2.1
The XF team has big plans for it. So we will probably see what cool stuff the new framework will allow them to do. And by that time most XF1 addons should be ported.
 
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Alfa1 said:
I think this show will really get on the road with 2.1
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This, and to say I think we’ll see 2.1 in a timely manner after 2.0 is the norm.

Alfa1 said:
The XF team has big plans for it.
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Haven’t seen it directly mentioned in those terms but I’d have to say by the comments of addon developers I’ve seen it looks quite promising! ;)
 
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