I can agree to your statements here from a purely total business perspective, and yes they are big enough that no single site is of relevance to their operations. However word is getting out via the social networks that IB "suck" over their actions. As stated somewhere else on these forums, sorry can't remember which link, Xen is getting a huge boast and I would imagine IPS will see a surge, just as they got when vB4 alienated a whole bunch of people. End of day one of the worse mistakes in business you can make is getting a competitors name into the public domain, IB have managed to do that.
Oh I totally agree.
Its cockup after cockup for IB im afraid.
But in their eyes one closed thread mentioning how "unethical" the people behind XF are was well worth being able to shut down all the threads/posts praising XF.
Its about control. They want to control the narrative, not the other way around.
Ultimately they only argument i see that they might be able to convincingly make to the court of public opinion (im not a lawyer, so i wont play one on the internet... ok maybe a little), is that the what XenForo became was first started/planned/worked on while Kier/Mike had employment within IB.
So therefore XenForo is fruit from the IB tree, and thus belongs to IB.
That is probably what they are going to try to prove.
One thing that might be an issue is the old leaked screenshots for vB4.
It was clear that Kier was working on something awesome for vB4, something that would truly move forums into the next gen of internet software.
But then it seems that Kiers project got shut down.
And instead of working on that, Kier/vB Team was put to work on basically just reworking vB3 into some half assed compromise between the old and the new.
IB moved forward with the new concept for vB4... and the rest is history. It was a colossal failure for customers, but possibly a big hit financially for the company.
Of course i dont know any of this, its just my assumptions... and we all know where those get you.
Kier has vehemently said that nothing in XenForo was produced while under the employment of IB. I take him at his word, but i also understand that people can have their own definition of nothing and of produced. Bill Clinton had to define to the world what the word IS is.
I make it a habit of not making people out to be more than they are, which is human.
And besides, IF parts of XenForo had been developed/planned/or worked on in any sort of way while these guys were still employed by IB and IB told them to shelve the work... then **** itm use the work as you see fit.
Its your own work right, you didnt steal anyone elses work, so screw whatever perceived ethical lines are being crossed.
Not all things that are illegal are actually "wrong" or unethical.
I support the XF Team and XenForo 100% no matter if any part of IB's claims are true or false.
Not because i think the guys are above reproach, that they are special human beings, that they wouldnt cheat us, that i have "faith" in them, that they are good upstanding gentlemen, that they excel at badminton, or any other touchy feely BS like that.
They put out a good product, have a track record of putting out good product, they dont ignore their users, and they have tangible proof of their skills as displayed by the piece of software in which you are my post right now.
So yeah... the King is dead, long live the King.