Hosting with xenforo ?

[GodForum.com]

I'm sure its no since you seem to be more VB like ...

but it doesn't hurt to ask to see how progressive XF will be

Any plans to offer hosting with xenforo like IPB ?

 

[Floris]

I had a time with vB where I discussed this internally with them, and there is just so much that comes with this, even outsourcing wasn't a solution I could/would be happy with.

I haven't put thought into this myself, for XF, but I can imagine people wanting it, I however rather have the staff focus on developing the software, fixing bugs, rapid maintenance and feature releases, and quality support. Than having barely time for it, because they're forced to focus on handling hosting solutions and those customers, with a custom build and the problems that come with it.

 

[mlx]

I however rather have the staff focus on developing the software, fixing bugs, rapid maintenance and feature releases, and quality support.

Amen to that.

 

[Cezz]

I am sure this is a service a 3rd party could ultimately offer, but there is a lot of complications and hard work that can go into all of it... How much control do you give to the user, if it is a specific xenForo hosting solution should they be aloud to also add other sites to it...

Should it be on a central domain like username.xenForohosted.com or should each user have to register their own domain. etc etc...

Then there is pricing like, should the user still have to pay the licence cost for xenForo or just a higher monthly cost for the hosting, if this is a 3rd party and they go for the higher monthly costs what happens if the user stops using it after a month the company loses out etc...

Still if thought out and planned it could work out to become a very profitable business but I think the xenForo guys should concentrate on the software and leave the hosting up to someone else if they want to.

 

[Ashley]

It is wonderful that there are so many ideas and thoughts about how and what XenForo should and shouldn't be able to do and include. We are keen to make a forum solution that people like and want to use and the experience and knowledge that we have in Mike and Kier is very strongly biased towards forum software, and ~all~ that it entails.

So, whilst a hosted XenForo is a good and exciting idea, realistically, it is not something we can seriously consider at this time. There are still a long road to travel in terms of the forum alone and we hope that many will support us so that we can in turn support them and perhaps we can reach a point when a hosted XenForo could be considered.

 

[Dean]

So, whilst a hosted XenForo is a good and exciting idea, realistically, it is not something we can seriously consider at this time. There are still a long road to travel in terms of the forum alone and we hope that many will support us so that we can in turn support them and perhaps we can reach a point when a hosted XenForo could be considered.

In the short term I 100% agree.

From my own selfish point of view, I want XF to succeed, and part of that would be maximizing XF revenue.

In the long, or even mid term, it might be good if somehow people new to forums could have a XF forum set up for them easily. 2 examples are URLjet which installs vb on their servers after people buy vb (expensive initial investment), and ipb which operates their own servers and does not necessitate the initial software cost. I think there could be a hybrid of those that could be friendly to everyone which could involve anther company, but would probably require special licensing arrangements. And now might be the time to start thinking about those things, because changes to license structures are not very popular.

Possibly something as simple as allowing a independent hosting provider to have a per site fee, as opposed to a full license for every site cost.

The number of people that know nothing about forums, but have ideas they want to try, seems *extremely* large to me.

 

[Dean]

For the record, I have only been doing forums a few years, and would have given up sorting through how to set up a forum if I was not so stubborn. It was a long and not fun road to travel.

 

[Ahmed]

I don't think it's a good idea. I mean, let them focus on the product, now they have only the forum, and they need to put all what the can of efforts and time to make it ready ASAP, after that they need to focus on other required stuff such as CMS, Blog, Gallery, etc....
But maybe in a later time they can do something like that.

 

[XFA]

I had a time with vB where I discussed this internally with them, and there is just so much that comes with this, even outsourcing wasn't a solution I could/would be happy with.

I haven't put thought into this myself, for XF, but I can imagine people wanting it, I however rather have the staff focus on developing the software, fixing bugs, rapid maintenance and feature releases, and quality support. Than having barely time for it, because they're forced to focus on handling hosting solutions and those customers, with a custom build and the problems that come with it.

+1, having them release the software is the first important point (so that we can have our hands on it completely hehe)

 

[Forsaken]

In the short term I 100% agree.

From my own selfish point of view, I want XF to succeed, and part of that would be maximizing XF revenue.

In the long, or even mid term, it might be good if somehow people new to forums could have a XF forum set up for them easily. 2 examples are URLjet which installs vb on their servers after people buy vb (expensive initial investment), and ipb which operates their own servers and does not necessitate the initial software cost. I think there could be a hybrid of those that could be friendly to everyone which could involve anther company, but would probably require special licensing arrangements. And now might be the time to start thinking about those things, because changes to license structures are not very popular.

Possibly something as simple as allowing a independent hosting provider to have a per site fee, as opposed to a full license for every site cost.

The number of people that know nothing about forums, but have ideas they want to try, seems *extremely* large to me.

If they were to do that, I could probably get many hosts that I work with through my work to become interested in this.

 

[Brandon_R]

I doubt this will ever happen as there is just too much to do.

 

[Enigma]

I doubt this will ever happen as there is just too much to do.

Once the product nears feature completion, there's no reason Ashley can't explore this type of idea.

 

[XFA]

And basically if they were to provide such possibility, that would meant for them to dedicate workers on that specific part of their activity.

As they are a small structure for now, this is honestly something they are not up to go into But that doesn't avoid someone to provide such service, some hosts already do that you know so...

 

[Floris]

While outsourcing it to another company sounds interesting, first of all you're sharing the customer data with that company, and secondly you're relying on that company not going bankrupt or changing the agreement every year, etc. Thirdly they are trained differently than the staff on the official site. So conflicting support answers might occur and what not. It has all sorts of potential issues letting someone else deal with it.
This is usually why domain registrars offering hosting with the domain actually offer pretty crappy hosting and pretty crappy support to go with it. And that reflects on the company itself.

 

[XFA]

I never said the customer data shall be shared with that company

But yeah I agree on the fact that support might get crappy when not from the official site.

 

[Floris]

I never said the customer data shall be shared with that company

But yeah I agree on the fact that support might get crappy when not from the official site.

No, but it is required to get certain things working right.

 

[Erik]

I wouldn't want this even if it was available...

 

[x3sphere]

Same here. I would not feel comfortable leaving a third-party - no matter who it is - in control of my sites. I will admit, though, it could be an attractive solution for companies/individuals that want a forum setup quick with no overhead. IMO XF doesn't really have the manpower to do something like that right now so I can't see it happening anytime soon. If XF is the market leader ten years down the road then perhaps it would be something to look at.

 

[Dean]

While outsourcing it to another company sounds interesting, first of all you're sharing the customer data with that company, and secondly you're relying on that company not going bankrupt or changing the agreement every year, etc. Thirdly they are trained differently than the staff on the official site. So conflicting support answers might occur and what not. It has all sorts of potential issues letting someone else deal with it.
This is usually why domain registrars offering hosting with the domain actually offer pretty crappy hosting and pretty crappy support to go with it. And that reflects on the company itself.

For the people completely new to forums, and know nothing about how to set things up, there is a need. And that market is in my humble opinion is not small.

It might be a good time to at least think about any license accommodations that an external company might have, if a hosting company wanted to provide a turn key service. Changes to licensing structure is not a popular thing to do.

 

[Erik]

For the people completely new to forums, and know nothing about how to set things up, there is a need. And that market is in my humble opinion is not small.

It might be a good time to at least think about any license accommodations that an external company might have, if a hosting company wanted to provide a turn key service. Changes to licensing structure is not a popular thing to do.

In cases like this, I think time and resources would be better sent writing an easy-to-follow and comprehensive guide to finding a host, getting the software setup, and explaining what is needed rather than trying to provide a hosted service.