Person selling 3 XF licences

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ibaker

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Stumbled on a person in a forum who is selling 3 XF licences:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1125808

Seems to be going to IPB

Is the honeymoon over?

For me, vb broke, and continually kept breaking, all the great vb mods that I depend on. The quality of mods with XF (many but NOT all) are not up to the quality of the vb v3.8 mods when looking for a Gallery, Portal, Video Library, Calendar (vBa CMPS Portal, Dynamics, vbTubePro etc).

I mentioned this nearly 12 months ago and was wondering (but not wanting to start a war) if you think things have changed in the last year or so? we see some great mods from the likes of Jake etc but we are seeing some awful and buggy BIG mods with nothing great in the wind like the Gallery, Portal, Video, Calendar that I can see, could be wrong though. What ever happened about that great Gallery from the great mod developer KK that was coming?

There isn't much, in my opinion that XF offers that can't be done in vb although XF has better SEO (could that be replicated in vb?) and vb is very bloated...heck, vb can't even promote their CMS product properly on their own site when viewing it in 1024 x 768 resolution (left column...YUCK).

So in not creating a nasty debate but rather a general conversation of thoughts...what is a snapshot of the forum industry like at the moment...simply as "feedback"?
 
I don't know anything about what's on the modder's minds. xenforo is the best forum software I've used by far and my users are really liking it. People are just finicky. They want a cms, gallery, videos....... but if they got all that they'd complain there were a 1000's of bugs not being fixed. It is what it is.
 
I realized once I left vBulletin that the majority of the mods I had installed I didn't actually need to help MY community. I emphasize MY due to the fact that each forum needs are different, and you should choose your software based off what each has to offer at that time.

I use the video library and portal myself, and have yet to run into any problems what so ever... Also if you think about it, this is the time for a wave of renewals, some folks bought quite a few licenses at the launch and may have had a change of heart, or financials have changed, you never know.

To each his/hers own, I don't really see the big deal. I can link you to multiple vBulletin licenses that are being sold currently, but... in the end, it's pointless.
 
I agree with the addon thing. Before the RM you had lots of unsupported addons being posted that didn't see much in the way of continued development. I think the RM is changing that. The incentive of star ratings and money encourages quality, supported addons. I think it mostly comes down to money. Most of the popular addons for vB are paid products (or at the very least profit from donations or optional accessories). Couple that with vB's large user base and you have a viable business model as an addon developer. XF is growing but its user base is nowhere near that of vB so there is less opportunity to make money.

Is the honeymoon over?

I don't like this analogy. It takes time to grow a new platform, and XF looks to be growing at a good pace.

The quality of mods with XF (many but NOT all) are not up to the quality of the vb v3.8 mods when looking for a Gallery, Portal, Video Library, Calendar (vBa CMPS Portal, Dynamics, vbTubePro etc).

vB3 was definitely a solid platform, but it didn't start that way. It took time.
 
I realized once I left vBulletin that the majority of the mods I had installed I didn't actually need to help MY community.

True that. :D

Though vB is from a different era. Kier touched on this in his interview:

http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78018

vBulletin was born of an age when having more options and more data displayed was a desirable thing. People wanted to be able to control minute details of the way they interacted with a forum - or so we thought.

Like you, I used to focus on having lots of features. But now I tend towards more minimal feature sets.
 
True that. :D

Though vB is from a different era. Kier touched on this in his interview:

http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78018



Like you, I used to focus on having lots of features. But now I tend towards more minimal feature sets.

Same here. Most features I thought was needed I didn't actually need. Not to mention, alot of mods & add-ons posted at <company name here> & <company name here> I have found can be accomplished using css and on occasion minor template html edits which would explain why there are more add-ons on those sites than here.

Example: On vb the first add-on I would always install was by the author dapro the category seperator which I can do with xenforo in 10 seconds by throwing a few lines of css in extra.
 
I also agree with the OP in terms of mods and plugins, it would have been good to see more activity there in the last year or so.

However in my own experience with vB -> XF it is amazing how many features you can lose, and still have a happy community because XF works so well. For example, no-one in my community has even noticed there is no Calendar now, no-one has mentioned the lack of a gallery either. The ease of posting and the prominence given to likes and alerts encourages members to post like nothing else! Obviously if some missing features are core to your community it is a different story. For me the conversion from vB has been a lesson in letting go of all the features I thought were critical. I'm even learning to live without post edit history.

With regards to IPB I have to take my hat off to the way they run things. Although on reflection and after testing both platforms I preferred XF, the IPB team now set the standards when it comes to communication and keeping people interested in development and new features by way of very frequent announcements.
 
Is the honeymoon over?
I have never saw a honeymoon that lasted forever :)

I don't like this analogy. It takes time to grow a new platform, and XF looks to be growing at a good pace.

See I like the analogy but I just don't think it applies here necessarily but if I had to make an argument for the analogy I would have to say that a honeymoon doesn't last forever, when it's over...normal people have to go back to work and the rest of normal life. Either way, I think it more that to each their own, for me XF starting from the ground up gave me a great chance to see real development in action by people who took their job seriously. With that came plenty of addon and modification developers which allowed me to see their development update over time which furthered my insight, and then there is people like you who have helped me in ways that I can not even return the favor in any possible way I can think of besides offering a donation for you freely offering your time for helping me acquire knowledge that I was seeking.

I would have to assume you are here doing what your doing because you like helping and you and others like you do a lot of it and I am sure it has much to do with the fact that as people with a skill level great enough to be able to help others learn and understand are also capable at looking at the core xf code and seeing that it is quality (I only know it is because I have no problems whatsoever with running and modding xf) and recognizing that the team here is doing a great job coding this software.



Anyways, I look at it as XF is a house built on a solid foundation and it seems to be that it is not going to change for any reason. In terms of raised structures, a solid foundation is key to the longevity of something reaching for new heights.


In the end one person not wanting to use xenforo is no different than pointing out one person that does not like broccoli, everyone has their own taste.
 
People always buy and sell forum licenses, and you see it happening especially around yearly renewal time. Some might decide they like changes made with other forum software that past year gone by and give it a try instead. Swings both ways, always has really. The guy selling the 3 XF licenses, well it looks like he sold them all on. So they are still being used by other people, it's not as if he still owns them and has choose not to renew any.
 
Some people buy licenses to sell products and services. Others buy licenses to setup their 'next great idea' of a forum.

Then, when either the products or services or their ideas don't come to fruition (for whatever reason), then they will attempt to sell the licenses to re cooperate some of their funds.

We shouldn't read into this as much as we are, I think. :)
 
I also agree with the OP in terms of mods and plugins, it would have been good to see more activity there in the last year or so.

However in my own experience with vB -> XF it is amazing how many features you can lose, and still have a happy community because XF works so well. For example, no-one in my community has even noticed there is no Calendar now, no-one has mentioned the lack of a gallery either. The ease of posting and the prominence given to likes and alerts encourages members to post like nothing else! Obviously if some missing features are core to your community it is a different story. For me the conversion from vB has been a lesson in letting go of all the features I thought were critical. I'm even learning to live without post edit history.

With regards to IPB I have to take my hat off to the way they run things. Although on reflection and after testing both platforms I preferred XF, the IPB team now set the standards when it comes to communication and keeping people interested in development and new features by way of very frequent announcements.
They recently added a few fees which they didn't alert customers too (Transfer fee, and a fee to change the URL of your license), so they're not that great at communication.
 
They recently added a few fees which they didn't alert customers too (Transfer fee, and a fee to change the URL of your license), so they're not that great at communication.
I just looked and didn't see anyone going on about new fees. I did notice that I could not change the URL of my license unless I renewed. I can understand that so no big deal.
 
About the mods......

I wish modders would start charging what their mods are worth. I don't understand the whole work for free notion. Put out a good mod, support it, and charge a good price for it.

Free provides add-on authors an escape hatch from incessant feature requests and support.
 
I wish modders would start charging what their mods are worth. I don't understand the whole work for free notion. Put out a good mod, support it, and charge a good price for it.

I personally make my mods freely available to ensure the greatest accessibility. I also know that some people can barely afford the forum software itself, let alone a paid addon, so I make it free for them. People who can afford to often contact me to make donations which is appreciated. But right now I can afford to work for free so I do that. If that changes then I will start charging.

Also, sometimes coders don't want to support an addon. Maybe the RM should have a flag to indicate if an addon is supported.
 
When the first iPad came out, people *****ed about a lot of stuff with it. It looked stupid, it was nothing more than a big iPod, it didn't support flash, etc. etc. Yet once the technology had time to mature, people started looking at it in a new light.

You have to remember that XenForo is only a year old. As with all new technologies - and XenForo IS a new technology, vBulletin! - there are growing pains. Be patient and trust the devs. So far they've done everything right and done so in a climate of high competition and a withering financial attack from a monolithic rival.

Is it for everyone? Nah. But no solution will be 100% what everyone needs. But it gets the job done and works better, faster, and smoother than any other software out there I've used. Maybe the honeymoon is over, but true love comes with time.
 
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