I sure miss the old Xenforo days

[nodle]

I was thinking about how I sure miss the old Xenforo early days. I miss all the interaction with the members and staff, and how alive the forums felt. I find myself only coming here weekly now to check in to see if there is a new version out, and it seems like all the new posts are nothing but AI-generated addons. I miss the times with @Chris D, @Kier, and @Borgan, interacting with everyone. There are still some old members roaming behind the scenes, I see, like @Bob and @Russ, etc., but it just doesn't feel the same anymore. Anyone else miss it?

 

[mjda]

I miss @Paul B and general staff participation, but mostly just Brogan. I guess I should also mention that I don't blame them for taking a step back. These days it seems they're in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. So, if it were me, I'd probably take the route with less stress too.

 

[Mr Lucky]

I get the feeling that there used to be more help and support on the forum. ie more people answering questions and providing solutions. Maybe I’m imagining it though.

 

[jeb35]

Forums aren't what they used to be. We can all agree to that, activity is down everywhere.

 

[rdn]

activity is down everywhere.

Not for all the forums, 30-day stats:

But yeah, I do miss Kier and Mike's development pace.

 

[duderuud]

I've joined quite a few workshops back in the day, hosted by Kier and the Themehouse team. Those were the good old days.

Now development seems to have died completely, such a shame

 

[ehd]

Not for all the forums, 30-day stats:

View attachment 340058

What's the url?

 

[GW2]

We all get older. Some of us do not have the time available to keep doing what we have been doing in past years.
I still like XF and all the help I get here on the XF forum from numerous XF owners.

 

[scskmg]

Maybe I’m imagining it though

I could imagine a realistic scenario in which XenForo might be sold in the next 6-12 months at a good price to a “data giant”- one we’re all familiar with.

After that, different rules will apply - a ruthless value-creation strategy under the motto “Take it or leave it” . In practice, there are numerous real-world examples - unfortunately

 

[RobinHood]

I could imagine a realistic scenario in which XenForo might be sold in the next 6-12 months at a good price to a “data giant”- one we’re all familiar with.

As slow and frustrating as the progress is, I hope that doesn't happen. At least until we get to see what their vision for XF3 really is.
As if that did happen I imagine the enshittification would begin, prices may become astronomical like with IPS and who knows what else.

 

[zappaDPJ]

If you have Xenforo's landing page bookmarked (what?) you'll see it describes itself as a 'Compelling Community Platform'.

It used to be that forum software was written by community minded programmers for people that wanted to build communities for community minded people. That sense of community has substantially diminished. It happened with communities built on vBulletin, it happened more recently with Invision Community and it's happening here.

Sadly forum software has struggled to engage with a modern audience resulting in a few crusty old codgers reminiscing about the good old days. That's not to say forums are dead but their application is now less about community and more about providing a service.

 

[Wing]

I was thinking about how I sure miss the old Xenforo early days. I miss all the interaction with the members and staff, and how alive the forums felt. I find myself only coming here weekly now to check in to see if there is a new version out, and it seems like all the new posts are nothing but AI-generated addons. I miss the times with @Chris D, @Kier, and @Borgan, interacting with everyone. There are still some old members roaming behind the scenes, I see, like @Bob and @Russ, etc., but it just doesn't feel the same anymore. Anyone else miss it?

Dont we all... aka why some of us have "spoken up" the last couple years about the state of affairs. Its just sad to see IMO the way things are today, but maybe we are getting old.

 

[Rusty Snippets]

It's like leaving behind an old love. It feels quite melancholy, actually, knowing that soon she'll be but a memory. Yet here we are, still unable to move forward. Goodbyes are so heart-wrenching!

 

[scskmg]

vision for XF3 really is

XF Version 3.0 is unlikely to be released in the medium term.

Less is usually more , so it would likely be much better to finalize Version 2.4, which has been announced for quite some time. On the one hand, this would signal that development is continuing, and on the other hand, it would likely give license sales another strong boost, which in turn would ultimately help finance the development of future versions (V3).

 

[Digital Doctor]

I could imagine a realistic scenario in which XenForo might be sold in the next 6-12 months at a good price to a “data giant”- one we’re all familiar with.

That’s a very interesting take.

Working in this truth void, of course this is in the cards.

 

[Digital Doctor]

Sadly forum software has struggled to engage with a modern audience

This was part of the problem.

A bigger factor is a free (Freedom, democratic, independent) internet isn’t ideal for the powers that be. Controlling minds and information is Power and Profit.

Google almost singlehandedly allowed forums to survive as long as they did. I’m not sure the future will be so kind.

 

[Suzanne O]

What i've learned to is to be exetremely patient with Xenforo as their projects are taking longer than expected times.
For me i'm not fussed when they release their projects onto us.
But if it was as simple as changing over the editor suite then that should be it and should be released soon. Even if the next one takes a while to do at the very least release it on here as a surprise.

 

[RobinHood]

If forums die there will be no more training data for AI companies! It's in their best interest to keep the content flowing....uh oh....

The spice forum posting must flow...

 

[Russ]

I miss being excited about the Have You Seen's and guessing which Tuesday the releases will come.

 

[drastic]

If you have Xenforo's landing page bookmarked (what?) you'll see it describes itself as a 'Compelling Community Platform'.

It used to be that forum software was written by community minded programmers for people that wanted to build communities for community minded people. That sense of community has substantially diminished. It happened with communities built on vBulletin, it happened more recently with Invision Community and it's happening here.

Sadly forum software has struggled to engage with a modern audience resulting in a few crusty old codgers reminiscing about the good old days. That's not to say forums are dead but their application is now less about community and more about providing a service.

forums struggle because forum ownership refuses to adapt to new social media standards that most users have gotten used to.

every forum script that does not have a social feed is just pushing users away.

our forums would thrive if we gave readers an experience similar to social media and I know XF can handle it - but I want it to come from them and not some shoddy AI addon that probably has a ton of bugs or can't handle high traffic.