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xF is the future of forums 

xF is the future of forum-based online communities.xF is the future of forums![]()
xF is the future of the internet.I was on a few vB3 forums today.
I still like vB3.
xF is the future of forum-based online communities.
xF is the future of the internet.
That is exactly why we renewed the license. Since we had some money in the donation funds, we sprang for the "suite," thinking we'd put it to use down the road a bit. The moderators hated vB4 enough in our private testing forum (which also doubles as our private staff forum) that I never got up the nerve to convert the main forum over. Having to dump and redo all of the template modifications, and find equivalent plugins to replace those that we lose, was more than enough to tip it in favor of staying with our 3.x version. (In fact, didn't support for iTrader get pulled from vb.org, and was a Sphinx plugin ever developed? Those were our two deal killers preventing us from switching, ulimately.)It does seem like an odd decision to me also to make vB3 EOL right now. Many people still view vB3 as the premium product for using they offer, so it doesn't make sense to me and is a bit like cutting your own wrist. People have been renewing their vBulletin licenses to get the latest vB3 version to use (not vB4).
I read a vote poll there the other day asking how many people have converted from vB3 to vB4. It made me laugh because of the few replies made. Two had downgraded back to vB3 and another just stuck with vB3 still.
And maybe even a pre-sale, site [sic] unseen. Doubtful I'll be going down that dark road again.I think it's a marketing issue myself. Push 4.0/4.1 hard, and bring out 5.0 as soon as possible, since certainly every customer will want the latest and greatest version! More income, and quicker.
That is exactly why we renewed the license. Since we had some money in the donation funds, we sprang for the "suite," thinking we'd put it to use down the road a bit. The moderators hated vB4 enough in our private testing forum (which also doubles as our private staff forum) that I never got up the nerve to convert the main forum over. Having to dump and redo all of the template modifications, and find equivalent plugins to replace those that we lose, was more than enough to tip it in favor of staying with our 3.x version. (In fact, didn't support for iTrader get pulled from vb.org, and was a Sphinx plugin ever developed? Those were our two deal killers preventing us from switching, ulimately.)
Doesn't the vB software "phone home" each time you log in to the admin control panel? Or can't they tell from the request for the news delivered to the admin control panel? If so, then they should know exactly how many of their sites are using each version of the software. Me, personally? I see more and more vB4 sites out there as time goes on, but I still see more 3.x versions still in use. Especially big boards. Most have been so heavily modified that they can't afford to switch.
I think it's a marketing issue myself. Push 4.0/4.1 hard, and bring out 5.0 as soon as possible, since certainly every customer will want the latest and greatest version! More income, and quicker! Think about it--how long did the 3.x product series last? When was 3.0 released? That was an impressive run. But too slow of a development cycle if your licensing model means that you pay for a one-time license. So, you need a new product every year or two to generate more income, as income from the current version wanes.
I'm only slightly bitter. vB3.x served us well. The licensing model was fair. The new licensing model seemed attractive at first, when you had promise of the newest/greatest version ever coming out, and never had to pay that pesky yearly renewal fee. But once the staff saw that they really didn't care for vB4 (still don't), and the fact that the vaguely-promised native support for Sphinx never materialized, I felt ripped off. XF, IPB, etc. are more likely to be future upgrade targets for the big board; vB won't even be on the short list.
And maybe even a pre-sale, site [sic] unseen. Doubtful I'll be going down that dark road again.
And v3 may be at its EOL, but my forum can remain on it longer.
That is once all the features are in place for me to move into the future.
Plenty of forums will remain on v3. There are still v2 forums out there.
I am trying to buy a IPB2 license today and IPB won't let me. Invision does not offer archived products like vBulletin. It is a shame really.Plenty of forums will remain on v3. There are still v2 forums out there.
Good point. I never thought of that. By the looks of what admins have posted about their lifetime licenses and not needing to upgrade, you might be on to something their mrGTB.Maybe most people who still use vB3, have made so many modifications to their old communities since that they are refusing to upgrade their forums to vB 3.8.7. Who knows? Maybe this is something IB have spotted and feel it's no longer worth their while bringing out newer vB3 versions, simply because people using it are not paying and upgrading to it.
ditto, i cant move on from vb to xenforo until someone make a xenforo mod for downloadsII and an importer for vb mod to xenforo.been waiting and hoping for the past 5 months still no release of this mods. There has been few coders who said they would release it but none of them has release so far or even remotely showed real geniune promise..
so its looking dark here, and seriously considering not going with xenforo if theres not a mod for downloadsii sigh
just need to continue to have faith i guess
I was thinking of switching to VB from mybb, VB 3 series but now its end of life its not really a smart choice. Much like digging yourself in a whole.
I was also thinking of moving to Woltlab Burning Boards but that seemed to offer not all types of plugins I was expected to use for that software board.
So we are just staying with mybb it seems. Don't fix what ain't broke is the motto behind that.
Well you're not really digging yourself in a hole, there are always importers available to change to other solutions when they should completely stop security updates. ATM vB 3.8.x is still a very complete forum script with many features and modifications available, so it can still function as a step-stone to more up-to-date solutions in the future. BTW just wondering; is the reason you're not considering XenForo because it's missing something for you?I was thinking of switching to VB from mybb, VB 3 series but now its end of life its not really a smart choice. Much like digging yourself in a whole.
I was also thinking of moving to Woltlab Burning Boards but that seemed to offer not all types of plugins I was expected to use for that software board.
So we are just staying with mybb it seems. Don't fix what ain't broke is the motto behind that.
Well you're not really digging yourself in a hole, there are always importers available to change to other solutions when they should completely stop security updates. ATM vB 3.8.x is still a very complete forum script with many features and modifications available, so it can still function as a step-stone to more up-to-date solutions in the future. BTW just wondering; is the reason you're not considering XenForo because it's missing something for you?
For a free admin demo see this link: http://xenforo.com/demoYes I know VB 3 series are now still good but the owners of VB want to digg it in a whole. The process has already begun. First by stopping to support it, hoping people move to VB4 eventually or sadly move to a other forum software.
Simple said VB 3 is on a long run not a future for your forum if you use it to power your forum. Because the owners behind it want you to "move".
To your last Question: Xenforo is great but I don't know how the admin side looks, I did had a chance to view it on a other site as someone offered his license as showcase for everyone to test out XF.
But didn't pay much attention then. Would really love to see the newest edition of XF from the admin view without paying.
And what puts me back are:
1. Restrictions like you can't change the default seize of your avatar
2. The price. Which isn't to much for someone who has the will to get the best for his site. But how do you pay for something you don't know all the features of?
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