If XenForo's finished, what's next?

[ES Dev Team]

If Forsaken and I get in a spat again, can this thread be closed too ?

Let me address a few concerns floating around.

I apologise for the recent silence. Work on XenForo 2.4 is ongoing. A new HYS is coming soon, and we are targeting a release for some point in 2026. As for 2.3.8, we’re aiming to release that before Christmas, or shortly after the New Year.

To be blunt, this year has been incredibly difficult for the team personally. We've faced a wave of health issues, bereavements, and family emergencies. When a small team gets hit with this much "real life" all at once, productivity takes a hit. It’s noticeable, and we know we didn't get it right this time.

That said, this was a perfect storm of bad luck, and we don't expect these disruptions to continue. Everyone is still fully employed and working on XenForo.

On the financial side, the company is doing fine. Actually, we are in a stronger position than we were previously, largely thanks to the continued growth of Cloud.

I hear your feedback on communication. It’s difficult to post updates when there is nothing new to say, and I know that what you really want is consistent releases, not just words. But we are human, and life happens.

I also want to ask for some perspective. Reading these threads, it’s easy to think the company is finished. While we value the feedback here, the active participants in this thread represent less than 1% of our customer base. We aren't seeing mass cancellations; people are still buying and renewing.

My point isn't to dismiss your complaints. After all, we have failed to meet expectations, and you are right to call us out on that. I’m just urging you to avoid the sensationalism.

We are still working on 2.4, we have plans for the future, and we aren't going anywhere.

Thank you and sorry to hear of the trouble!

 

[Digital Doctor]

I'm hoping Brogan is OK.
I remember he was "getting up there".

 

[Lee]

Unfortunately not! But we'll get there in time.

Hope your family is okay Chris. Take care of them above everything else

 

[Tamer]

Some of us felt from the start that the situation was being read far more dramatically than the facts justified. Life is like that, especially for a small team. Thanks for keeping things moving despite all the noise. @Chris D

 

[Chris D]

I can promise you if you let people know that you guys are going through a hard time, the community will be behind you all the way. To clarify, of course I don't mean fine details as this is private info, but a general idea so the community can have a better understanding of what you're going through and you'll find that the rampant speculation will die down considerably.

To be fair, last year or so I delayed a 2.3 release a few days because my daughter was sick in hospital and I got called out for not delegating that to someone else, so it can be somewhat anxiety inducing being far behind, trying to be transparent, and then being criticised for decisions such as prioritising family care over a software update but I appreciate everyone’s understanding in this case.

 

[FTL]

Wot, you prioritised your family's wellbeing over a software update?! Quick, get out the pitchforks!

I hope your daughter is ok now.

 

[Jake70]

Most of us did not doubt that you guys were still moving along. Family and well-being are the #1 priority.
Wishing you and the team all the best! @Chris D

 

[Swiftman]

Just wanted to echo everyone else to hopefully put some more good vibes out into the world: Thanks for the update @Chris D! Wish you, the team, and all of your families nothing but the best!

 

[Deazer]

1. Discourse

Looks quite interesting, including opensource

 

[ekool]

Let me address a few concerns floating around.

I apologise for the recent silence. Work on XenForo 2.4 is ongoing. A new HYS is coming soon, and we are targeting a release for some point in 2026. As for 2.3.8, we’re aiming to release that before Christmas, or shortly after the New Year.

To be blunt, this year has been incredibly difficult for the team personally. We've faced a wave of health issues, bereavements, and family emergencies. When a small team gets hit with this much "real life" all at once, productivity takes a hit. It’s noticeable, and we know we didn't get it right this time.

That said, this was a perfect storm of bad luck, and we don't expect these disruptions to continue. Everyone is still fully employed and working on XenForo.

On the financial side, the company is doing fine. Actually, we are in a stronger position than we were previously, largely thanks to the continued growth of Cloud.

I hear your feedback on communication. It’s difficult to post updates when there is nothing new to say, and I know that what you really want is consistent releases, not just words. But we are human, and life happens.

I also want to ask for some perspective. Reading these threads, it’s easy to think the company is finished. While we value the feedback here, the active participants in this thread represent less than 1% of our customer base. We aren't seeing mass cancellations; people are still buying and renewing.

My point isn't to dismiss your complaints. After all, we have failed to meet expectations, and you are right to call us out on that. I’m just urging you to avoid the sensationalism.

We are still working on 2.4, we have plans for the future, and we aren't going anywhere.

Attitudes like this don't help the cause at all.... just utter contempt for customers. Almost gleeful.... https://xenforo.com/community/threads/image-attachments-rotated-since-the-update.232190/post-1760241

 

[Rene_V]

To be fair, last year or so I delayed a 2.3 release a few days because my daughter was sick in hospital and I got called out for not delegating that to someone else, so it can be somewhat anxiety inducing being far behind, trying to be transparent, and then being criticised for decisions such as prioritising family care over a software update but I appreciate everyone’s understanding in this case.

In my opinion only those who aren't in their right mind would stoop so low as to criticise a man over a software update when his daughter is sick in hospital and making his family a priority. Shame on them. I want to join @Swiftman in wishing all the best to you and your colleagues and your families.

 

[bzcomputers]

In my opinion only those who aren't in their right mind would stoop so low as to criticise a man over a software update when his daughter is sick in hospital and making his family a priority. Shame on them. I want to join @Swiftman in wishing all the best to you and your colleagues and your families.

I don't think anyone did this.

As far as I know YESTERDAY was the first time any reference to there being XenForo team 'personal' issues causing some of the delays was ever uttered on this forum. I could be wrong, I don't read every post but news of that sort seems to stay in trending content for awhile.

That being said mention of these 'personal' issues and 'progress is still being made toward 2.4 but the time line is pushed out' would have curtailed much of the speculation and concern of the future of XenForo months ago. Silence to customer concern is no way to run a business.

I have empathy for the Team members and the issues they are and have been dealing with. I wish them all the best. Their families well-being is always more important than a new release or a time line push. Most of us we're just looking for some communication and it wasn't there. The lack of communication likely caused additional undue stress for the XenForo Team and definitely unneeded concern for some of their customers.

 

[Taylor J]

I don't think anyone did this.

As far as I know YESTERDAY was the first time any reference to there being XenForo team 'personal' issues causing some of the delays was ever uttered on this forum. I could be wrong, I don't read every post but news of that sort seems to stay in trending content for awhile.

That being said mention of these 'personal' issues and 'progress is still being made toward 2.4 but the time line is pushed out' would have curtailed much of the speculation and concern of the future of XenForo months ago. Silence to customer concern is no way to run a business.

I have empathy for the Team members and the issues they are and have been dealing with. I wish them all the best. Their families well-being is always more important than a new release or a time line push. Most of us we're just looking for some communication and it wasn't there. The lack of communication likely caused additional undue stress for the XenForo Team and definitely unneeded concern for some of their customers.

Too lazy to find the post but no Chris did post about his daughter and it causing a delay in posting the release of 2.3. And yes there were people who wrongly called him out for not delegating the task. I remember reading those posts and thinking they know nothing of a release cycle and pushing that on someone who hasn't done it before could have either caused the same delay or issues in the release just due to not having done it before.

 

[ES Dev Team]

^-- i'm glad i missed those posts

 

[Swiftman]

Attitudes like this don't help the cause at all.... just utter contempt for customers. Almost gleeful.... https://xenforo.com/community/threads/image-attachments-rotated-since-the-update.232190/post-1760241

If you self-host any website, you should expect to have to manually apply some patches and fixes from time to time. Just sorta comes with the territory. If you don't want the responsibility of a web admin, maybe you should be on Cloud...?

Also, I, for one, think XenForo staff should be encouraged to behave like humans—which is exactly what I see at the link above. You don't get to demand they engage with the community and then hold a little dab of occasional snark over their heads months later.

 

[ekool]

If you self-host any website, you should expect to have to manually apply some patches and fixes from time to time. Just sorta comes with the territory. If you don't want the responsibility of a web admin, maybe you should be on Cloud...?

Also, I, for one, think XenForo staff should be encouraged to behave like humans—which is exactly what I see at the link above. You don't get to demand they engage with the community and then hold a little dab of occasional snark over their heads months later.

I've been running forums since 2001. I know all about patching software manually. However, a pretty major bug that has to be manually patched by EVERY SINGLE user of the software that isn't paying a monthly fee is bonkers. It's been MONTHS that this simple bug has been present, unpatched in the release. There is zero excuse for this. So, I don't agree with you in the slightest.

The attitude from that "support professional" is also eye opening. It shows a complete lack of concern or care for customers whom have legitimate complaints.

In short, I 100% disagree with you on both of your points. At one point I believe I owned over 120 Xenforo and vBulletin Licenses at the same time. I know this game better than you, guaranteed. I don't complain much. You can look at my history here, vbulletin.com, vbulletin.org. There is zero reason except laziness and contempt for what I've mentioned....

But don't take my word for it. Look at how many Xenforo modification developers have left in the past couple of years. That speaks volumes.

Edit: I'll add -- I currently own 40 licenses. Just in renewal fees every year that adds up to a minimum of $2800. Never mind the initial purchase price. I'd think this would afford me just the slightest amount of class in a response from the staff. Instead, it's just outright disdain.