How okay are people with crowd-finding XF addons?

Jaxel

Well-known member
So I'm considering doing a crowd-fund for the rewrite of XenPorta. Doing a complete rewrite of XenPorta is going to take a lot of time; time I can spend on other things (things that earn me a living)... I was wondering how "okay" people would be with crowd-funding XenPorta, so that I can realistically dedicate more time to it. Or would that be a taboo?
 
Start : $50 from me. xenPorta is precious.

PS: Would be great if you could share a list of features that'd make it to rewritten xenPorta so that it's easier for people to decide.
 
I should have listened to the engineer on something that had to do with our emails, so now I’m going to follow his lead.

Plus we use your portal too.

I would gladly ship $50 for this too.
 
I,m willing to throw down as well count me in for $50, this is a great addon that alot of people use, so hopefully we get a nice turn out for this crowdfund, as a an updated rewrite will be excellent.
 
I'm in too. I don't think it is a taboo at all, and you are one of the most recognizable developers here, plus I'm sure many use your xenporta add-on, so the risk would be much smaller (than a developer we didn't know for example).

Go for it.
 
You did a lot of custom work on Xenporta for other webmasters that isn't in the product as it is now. Will some of that extra cool stuff be in XenPorta?

I'm not using XenPorta at the moment, just BD Widget. If your going to crowd-fund it, at least make XenPorta as good or better than the flexibility available in BD Widget.
 
Well, two things are on the top of my mind:

  • A list of features we can expect.
  • Support (at some quarterly / annual cost).
 
Did XenPorta stay free after rewrite + crow funding?
I'd be interested in chipping in as well. Provided it will mean the new version will be properly supported, of course.
My opinion on the matter aside...the problem I see with this being the obvious...people pitch in for a rewrite, they expect support...and that's fine...but what happens if it is released as free and 8000 installations go up most of which are from people who paid nothing and the total collected for the crowd fund is a couple grand, to me that means in the end the dev made the addon for free and is charging what equals 25cents an installation for support...which to me isn't fair for him or to the people who paid for the addon.

I guess the whole structure for the funding, rewards and availability of the software after that is quite important to reaching answers from people who would all be on the same page rather than approaching from different points of view.
 
I guess the whole structure for the funding, rewards and availability of the software after that is quite important to reaching answers from people who would all be on the same page rather than approaching from different points of view.

I would assume that the end result would be a paid add-on, where the reward system for the funding would allow for purchasing license(s) in advance, perhaps with some additional benefits (I.e. if the price Jaxel intends to put on the end-product would be 30 USD, funders/backers could pick up their licenses for 25 USD each, or at 30, with free branding removal, or perhaps bundles of 5 licenses, or something along those lines).
 
The most important aspect of a crowd funded project is to show case your plans for the new project as clear and detailed as possible.

I'd be more willing to support your product if I see something I like in the crowd fund page rather than an announcement of a rewrite.

I'd say go ahead buddy.
 
I've already paid for the branding removal and would not pay again. I'm paying for a better software and I do not mind whether the add-on is offered free or for a price. I'm willing to pay for the support as well (which is different from what I'm committing to the development of addon).

Support is a must; and I'm sure people would not mind paying for it.
 
I've already paid for the branding removal and would not pay again. I'm paying for a better software and I do not mind whether the add-on is offered free or for a price. I'm willing to pay for the support as well (which is different from what I'm committing to the development of addon).

Support is a must; and I'm sure people would not mind paying for it.
Support from Jaxel? Sorry, thats a joke.
 
@Jaxel I was actually thinking about this earlier and was almost going to contact you.

For me this is an essential plugin for Xenforo and I am sure there are people willing to make this happen.

Support is obviously a concern on some peoples minds. I am not worried about the idiots asking questions like "How do I change the route of the home button" or even people wanting to do custom css that can't seem to get a grip on doing it themselves or getting help from someone other than you.
 
A major problem with crowd funds is that everyone who invests has a right to the software, so unless the crowdfund project will offer what everyone wants and there is an exact list of functionality, there will be conflict.
I suggest that you make a functionality list / design first of how its going to be and then ask others to suggest new features and changes to the behavior.
 
So I'm considering doing a crowd-fund for the rewrite of XenPorta. Doing a complete rewrite of XenPorta is going to take a lot of time; time I can spend on other things (things that earn me a living)... I was wondering how "okay" people would be with crowd-funding XenPorta, so that I can realistically dedicate more time to it. Or would that be a taboo?

Why not just rewrite and sell it as a paid addon?
 
Why not just rewrite and sell it as a paid addon?

The problem is without the income there is no time. Money is right now and when you need to pay the bills things that are not paying out have to be put aside. A paid add on eventually pays out but when you can not commit the time due to having to do other work its not going to happen.

The beauty of a crowd funded software product is the developer gets what they need to get the job done and those not willing to take the risk can buy the product after it is out. That statement assumes 2 things, one is success and the other is the product is going to be paid and not continue to be free.
 
If I were you I would start charging $50 for each installation of XenPorta right away.
It is a software more than worth such price.

After the rewrite you can raise the price to $70.

Crowd-Funding should be reserved for much higher valued projects. A simple software can easily be paid for with a license fee.
 
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