XF 2.0 Upgrading for Branding Removal

[affLIFT]

Last night, I decided to purchase branding removal for my forum. I launched it about 7 months ago and it's been doing really well, so I figured it would be a nice way to help support XenForo and at the same time, would be 1 less outbound link on my forum.

I purchased the upgrade for $250 and assumed there would be some sort of automatic removal on my forum. When I realized it wasn't automatic, I contacted XenForo support for help using the ticket system.

I was informed I just needed to install the entire "upgrade" that has the branding removal. When I voiced my concern about uploading the files to upgrade, I was told:

There is no upgrade involved.

It is just replacing the files and won't cause any issues with the site, or require any manual work, updating templates, etc.

Well, when I uploaded the files by choosing replace in Coda, the IDE I use, the entire forum was replaced including my config file.

I was able to restore from a backup droplet on my DigitalOcean account, but I've lost a week's worth of attachments and a few file changes from add-ons.

I realize that the upload was probably my fault. I must have done something wrong. I assume updating my forum should not remove everything I've worked hard to build. I just wish the XenForo support team would have been more helpful. I asked specifically what files have the copyright change so I could just do it myself rather than uploading 4,000+ unnecessary files and was told "I can't give precise details of which files are involved with branding removal."

Seems like they should know which files have the branding.

This has been a terrible experience overall. I've spent about $500 with XenForo directly and a few thousand dollars in the community. Why couldn't the support just tell me the few files that needed updated? I love the forum software and you guys have a great community, but I'm sure I won't be the last person that considers moving somewhere else because of something like this.

Nothing can be done now, but if you're considering paying to remove XenForo's branding, make sure you hire someone who has done an upgrade before or find the specific files

 

[Ernest L. Defoe]

I would suggest next time using an FTP program such as FileZilla and choose the overwrite option and you shouldn’t have any issues. I would suspect that most people use an FTP program instead of an IDE program.

 

[affLIFT]

I would suggest next time using an FTP program such as FileZilla and choose the overwrite option and you shouldn’t have any issues. I would suspect that most people use an FTP program instead of an IDE program.

Yeah, appreciate the recommendation. I've always used Coda to handle file stuff so I went with it. I've used FileZilla in the past so I'll definitely check it out next time this comes up.

 

[Mr. Jinx]

Well, when I uploaded the files by choosing replace in Coda, the IDE I use, the entire forum was replaced including my config file.

If the config was replaced then you probably downloaded the full install instead of the upgrade package.

 

[JoyFreak]

Filezilla all the way!

 

[BassMan]

... or WinSCP. Forgot already why I switched from Filezilla to WinSCP, but I like it.

 

[affLIFT]

If the config was replaced then you probably downloaded the full install instead of the upgrade package.

No, it was just the upgrade package. I think it was how the files were replaced (my IDE replaced the folders as well).

 

[affLIFT]

I do understand why the XenForo team doesn't want to share specifically what files have the branding, but I paid to remove it. It seems like they should trust that they could tell me. I hope that's a policy they can change in the future.

 

[JoyFreak]

I do understand why the XenForo team doesn't want to share specifically what files have the branding, but I paid to remove it. It seems like they should trust that they could tell me. I hope that's a policy they can change in the future.

My only advise to you is to always back up your files before ANY replacements or updates. I am so very cautious as I have had similar situations happen to me in the past so I tend to always back up. Learn from it.

 

[JordanH]

From my understanding (Unless this changed in 2.0) you could just edit the footer template within XenForo ACP to remove the copyright if you had purchased it.

From 1.3, the copyright is controlled via a helper, not a phrase.

You simplest way is to edit the footer template and remove {xen:helper copyright}.

The next time you upgrade, revert that change and the copyright will be removed automatically from then on.

 

[Andrej]

Well, you would run into this anyway at some point, for instance the next time you decide to do an actual upgrade to a newer version. In that case your argument would be the same "why couldn't the support just tell me the few files that needed update?". So that is a moot point. On the positive side of things you now know that you would take a backup before doing any changes to files and merge folders rather than overwrite.

 

[Chris D]

From my understanding (Unless this changed in 2.0) you could just edit the footer template within XenForo ACP to remove the copyright if you had purchased it.

It hasn’t been in a template for some years.

 

[CtrlV]

adding this code to extra.less is workingbon 2.1

.p-footer-copyright {
display: none;
}

I wonder why need to reinstall

 

[Chris D]

The first thing you need to have is a “Branding removal” license. If you have that, then you can remove it however you like.

No one is talking about reinstalling though. Once you have a branding removal license any XF files you download will have the branding removed automatically. So rather than modifying the CSS many people would just find it easier to re-upload the files for the same version. - this wouldn’t change anything except removing the branding.