Should XF take a more active role in add-on 'retirement'?

[Mike Edge]

Well, the main thing is with paid mods, someone always wants something more then what they purchased, I am guilty of this myself too with a few mods I purchased and asked for modifing to fit my needs of said mod. When the developer won't do it or worse, gives a ETA and months later still has not followed through, that release thread get's derailed for 5 pages of customers and developer *****ing back and forth.. This sort of thing should be handled on there site, not here Sadly also a lot of paid mods are now no longer actively developed either due to different reasons including not getting rich off it a year ago while all the court stuff was going on

 

[DRE]

Apart from one bad example I would like to know more why you think so Mike. I think I remember a vigorous dbeate when the RM was first set up whether to include paid addons or not. I was on the include side as I wanted the RM to represent the strength and range of the XF addon library. Sending people off to other sites is not my preference. Keepo us here, keep this community strong, not splintered.
One of the things |I like very much is how many people here know the addons, both moderators and active members. That means recommendations on which to use, and help with decisions on them, and issues of compatibility and integration get sorted out fast and efficiently. That would be much slower and clumsier if addons were spread about a lot more. We'd keep coming up against - dunno have to ask on the developer's site - ask there - return here - ping pong.
Also developers get ideas from each other. I want something like an XF College to develop!

I could see a case for requiring a paid addon here to release a Lite free version, as well.

We can't buy stuff directly within the resource manager. There's no quality control in the resource manager. Its not the Apple Apps store or Google play. It's just something any licensed member can upload stuff on. That's why people post their resources on other sites or their own sites because they think they have a better system in comparison to a resource manager that doesn't actually have a system, just categories to upload stuff too and a way to rate and review.

 

[Morgain]

Well, the main thing is with paid mods, someone always wants something more then what they purchased, I am guilty of this myself too with a few mods I purchased and asked for modifing to fit my needs of said mod. When the developer won't do it or worse, gives a ETA and months later still has not followed through, that release thread get's derailed for 5 pages of customers and developer *****ing back and forth.. This sort of thing should be handled on there site, not here
Sadly also a lot of paid mods are now no longer actively developed either due to different reasons including not getting rich off it a year ago while all the court stuff was going on

Now that's a good argument Mike.
I have suggested elsewhere though that the RM needs to provide more than one thread of discussion for an addon. A supported download needs installation, compatibilty, design, and customisation threads. A developer could visibly disable all except installation if they wished - that would declare they decline to support that area of interest. Or they could add another specialist thread.
This way those lengthy exchanges about themes, or customisation would be cleared out of the way of the basic functions support. But if the developer were willing custom or theme design discussion could take place.
As a user I could go to the thread I needed and not wade through loads of pages of stuff irrelevant to me. That would encourage me to look things up instead of just banging off a question which has probably already been answered several times already! So saving dev time and patience. As one dev said they could then answer repeats with "Read THIS thread."

As for the long delay I think many developers are waiting on 1.2 before investing time, not wanting to have to redo stuff.

 

[Mike Edge]

As for the long delay I think many developers are waiting on 1.2 before investing time, not wanting to have to redo stuff.

It goes back a lot further then that though, like today on the blogs thread, someone stated they been waiting a year now for promised importer. How exaggerated that is or not, who knows, but still the point of waiting a long enough time to say a year.

 

[samo]

Well, the main thing is with paid mods, someone always wants something more then what they purchased, I am guilty of this myself too with a few mods I purchased and asked for modifing to fit my needs of said mod. When the developer won't do it or worse, gives a ETA and months later still has not followed through, that release thread get's derailed for 5 pages of customers and developer *****ing back and forth.. This sort of thing should be handled on there site, not here Sadly also a lot of paid mods are now no longer actively developed either due to different reasons including not getting rich off it a year ago while all the court stuff was going on

Definitely agree, which is why I think this was a great thread to start and a natural push in the right direction and something that definitely needs to be addressed in the early stages, with the lawsuit now behind and Xenforo now growing, we need a way to quickly classify the rating of an addon (done), the rating of it's continuous development/support, and also the rating of the developer primarily with paid addons , I love the dev's and there work and at the same time as far as support is concerned some stand above the rest aka Chris Deeming, Luke, Bob etc I have faith in not just the initial purchase but also for there support and standing behind there development, within reason.

Alot of people in the presales section have to utilize an addon be it an importer or integration like a xenporta blog etc. which is also being recommended sometimes by staff to utilize so they can convert over, so it makes perfect sense to have these additional rating features so not just the people coming over can have a great experience and trust but also foster the current community to police our addon's so to speak via addon rating, active support rating, dev rating.

With that said going back with Mike there's a fine line between suggestion and expecting more. So maybe on top of the dev rating have a consumer rating as well which I believe was mentioned here earlier.

 

[DRE]

lol @ dev rating. That would be open for abuse. The ratings system is perfect as it is now.

 

[Mike Edge]

Agree. During the lawsuit, I think a lot of things were allowed simply for the throw us a bone. Anything was good to show not everyone had turned their back on this community and some were still trying to keep the spark alive. But now that the community is back in full force and continues to push into 2013 and beyond as the best professional forum solution anywhere it is also time to start shaping the site back into quality over quantity and pushing full force a head on a professionally maintained level.

 

[DRE]

It's great that Mike never installed anonymous ratings. Anonymous one star reviews wouldn't get anything done. Would probably just sow discord. When the one star rater is known, his/her problem gets addressed and sometimes that 1 star is deleted by the user and reposted with a higher score.

 

[Sheldon]

Just so it is known, the choosing to release my add-ons here as paid has considerably slowed the piracy down on what I have spent my time on. Not that it matters if I charge anything or not, but here, anyone can download, as we have all seen in the numerous piracy sites out there. At least as xFS, I am able to see who is downloading, I know who has access, and I am able to research the users before they are given access to downloading anything.

However, if you'd like, I can slap a legit $38.99 tag on them all, and anyone who wants them can simply PM me. Doesn't matter to me.

 

[DRE]

Just so it is known, the choosing to release my add-ons here as paid has considerably slowed the piracy down on what I have spent my time on. Not that it matters if I charge anything or not, but here, anyone can download, as we have all seen in the numerous piracy sites out there. At least as xFS, I am able to see who is downloading, I know who has access, and I am able to research the users before they are given access to downloading anything.

However, if you'd like, I can slap a legit $38.99 tag on them all, and anyone who wants them can simply PM me. Doesn't matter to me.

If you add a 'Who Downloaded' to your resource section on XFShowcase.com I'll post all my resources there. That's really the only thing keeping me so far.

 

[Biker]

Well, the main thing is with paid mods, someone always wants something more then what they purchased, I am guilty of this myself too with a few mods I purchased and asked for modifing to fit my needs of said mod. When the developer won't do it or worse, gives a ETA and months later still has not followed through, that release thread get's derailed for 5 pages of customers and developer *****ing back and forth.. This sort of thing should be handled on there site, not here Sadly also a lot of paid mods are now no longer actively developed either due to different reasons including not getting rich off it a year ago while all the court stuff was going on

I think, perhaps, that it's not so much that they need to keep the discussions on their own site, but rather the RM needs to be modified that allows separate, unique threads. In other words, each addon discussion area is treated as a separate node that allows the creation of multiple threads.

I like the idea of a central "repo" so to speak where I can look for an addon that meets my specific needs. However, in it's current state, it does make searching for specific information a royal pain in the behind.

 

[Morgain]

I think, perhaps, that it's not so much that they need to keep the discussions on their own site, but rather the RM needs to be modified that allows separate, unique threads. In other words, each addon discussion area is treated as a separate node that allows the creation of multiple threads.

I have already suggested this so dves can run their own FAQ threads separately on installation, compatibility, design and custom work.
The dev can disable some of these, other than installation - disabling should be obvious to signal nop support for that area.

II like the idea of a central "repo" so to speak where I can look for an addon that meets my specific needs. However, in it's current state, it does make searching for specific information a royal pain in the behind.

Very much agree.

 

[SchmitzIT]

So let's take this one for example. Very last page in Add-ON thread, no new posts, no replies, no updates:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/schmitzit-user-searches.22/

Nothing for over a year. Now using the criteria listed, this should be marked as "No longer developed".

Although the resource author is here, is active, etc... but yet, list it as dead

I'd be fine with that, tbh.

To an extent, I actually agree with the OP. I'm also annoyed about the lack of updates on the Blog, especially since I ended up buying it for a customer as well. Now I'll have to face my customer and let him know the thing was abandoned.

Having some sort of retirement system in place, where the add-on owner will automatically be notified that their add-on is about to be retired, would actually motivate devs to update their stuff. Maybe the retiring could mean some other action would be taken, like removal of the PAID label and redirect, and/or donation/paypal links.

If there's nothing to update, then so be it, but maybe getting some kind of archiving system in place would lead to devs coming up with new features to add?

 

[Russ]

I think a configurable notice would be easy to implement... something simple gives users a heads up.
have to love my spelling on it:

 

[Sheldon]

I'd be fine with that, tbh.

To an extent, I actually agree with the OP. I'm also annoyed about the lack of updates on the Blog, especially since I ended up buying it for a customer as well. Now I'll have to face my customer and let him know the thing was abandoned.

Having some sort of retirement system in place, where the add-on owner will automatically be notified that their add-on is about to be retired, would actually motivate devs to update their stuff. Maybe the retiring could mean some other action would be taken, like removal of the PAID label and redirect, and/or donation/paypal links.

If there's nothing to update, then so be it, but maybe getting some kind of archiving system in place would lead to devs coming up with new features to add?

So... archive all the GFX and Guides as well? Still a resource. Still nothing in them changed....

 

[SchmitzIT]

So... archive all the GFX and Guides as well? Still a resource. Still nothing in them changed....

For icons or other images, the archiving could be skipped, I guess. Guides will most likely be outdated. I do think one of the main reasons we haven't seen updates for a lot of add-ons is the fact that 1.1.2 was the latest "major" release, with 1.1.3 changing only minor bits and pieces.

1.2 will most likely invalidate quite a few guides and/or add-ons.

 

[Mouth]

And for those thinking that most potential purchasers of XF are not interested in, going to use, or perusing add-ons when basing their opinion and purchasing/migration decision of XF, then I suggest they read the pre-sales forum. Approx. 75% of all topics (excl. stickies) within the the first 3 pages are all about add-ons - can I do xx (yes, with add-on yy), can I replicate zz from vB/myBB (yes, with add-on yy), what is xx forum using (heavily customised with xx add-ons), want to see all resources (perusing and looking for add-ons), etc. etc.

 

[Biker]

Been doing some thinking on this and I think a new site should be created (can still be run by XF), but strictly dedicated to the RM and addons. That removes the addons from the official XF site and still keeps a central repo for the majority of addons available. Similar to how vb.org and vb.com operate.

This pretty much "cures" the issue of XF being responsible for managing the addon listings as it's no longer part of the official site.

 

[Sheldon]

Been doing some thinking on this and I think a new site should be created (can still be run by XF), but strictly dedicated to the RM and addons. That removes the addons from the official XF site and still keeps a central repo for the majority of addons available. Similar to how vb.org and vb.com operate.

This pretty much "cures" the issue of XF being responsible for managing the addon listings as it's no longer part of the official site.

You say it is still run by XF, doesn't that mean they are still responsible?

 

[Biker]

Look at vb.org. It's considered a separate entity from vb.com, but it's still under the vBulletin (IB) umbrella.

Questions regarding addons that are asked on vbulletin.com are always referred to vbulletin.org. Been that way for years and years now.