Whats your XenForo Story?

[Summit]

Just was kind of wondering how long you guys have been with Xenforo and your story about using them? My story, 1 year and 1 year strong. Funny thing, wanted to go with vBulletin, and asked on the website if it was worth the money. Best part, recommended me XenForo, I then put up a poll of which software I should get (on the official XenForo website, bulletin website, and Digital Point) all getting XenForo votes (which made me laugh about vbulletin).

I have to say, only being here a year, this is the best community. You all work together, share ideas, help each other, its like an online family

Whats your story?

 

[Amaury]

@Sean B., @Nights, @mike406

It was exactly one year ago today that KH-Flare moved from vBulletin to XenForo, but not because we were personally having any issues, but just to try something different.

We got off to a bit of a bumpy start due to some licensing issues, as I'm sure @Brogan remembers, but we resolved those and eventually started asking for support and getting a lot of help.

My personal experiences with XenForo, however, actually started a while before KH-Flare moved, when I helped out as a stylist on a DOTA forum that moved from vBulletin to XenForo.

XenForo has been a fun experience, and I'm sure it will continue to be!

@Kier, @Mike, and now @Chris, thank you all for your excellent work and what has become of XenForo today! I'm proud to be a part of the community!

 

[RickM]

I'd followed the IB buying out VB story here, and joined the forums shortly after they opened (Member #134!). Not long after this myself and a friend bought WebDesignForums.net, which at the time was a dying community stuck on vB 3.6 with a terribly dated design (seriously, this thing looked like it was from the 90s) and a bunch of broken plugins.

When we took it on it had about 24k members and a lot of inactivity.

I did a temporary redesign, we upgraded it to 3.8 and then I started recoding all their custom addons into XenForo. The most complex one was a website review system that allowed people to submit a URL along with a post, and in the background we'd hand off to a vps account that would take a screenshot of the site and pull it back into XF. It'd then post the message using a custom template that allowed a star based voting system on each website.

We increased traffic to the site and it started to come back to life. We'd increased user activity massively. We took it from 24k members up to about 39k members.

Annoyingly, we sold it about a year later, and the new owners in their infinite wisdom decided they preferred VB, moved it over to vB4 and butchered the design I did for it. Now it looks pretty dead and is ugly as hell.

Fast forward a few years and we're now using XF for our company forums at http://whsuite.com/forums

 

[Moshe1010]

My avatar is basically self explanatory about my journey

 

[Valhalla]

I posted my experiences on moving to XenForo a few months ago, here:
https://xenforo.com/community/threads/moving-to-xenforo.85976/

 

[1im]

A friend installed an illegal copy on a old domain of mine (awhile ago). I didn't feel right about using it, so I kept using other forum software such as phpBB, SMF, and I didn't like how it functioned, (the features). So I remember xenForo and well, came and bought a license. I enjoy not only how it works, but it makes me feel MUCH BETTER that I DON'T have to LOOK AT ****TY CODE as much =]

Warez paid off for xenForo in this case. I would of never had that illegal copy along time ago, I wouldnt of seen its code or true power, so I still wouldn't be using xenForo if it wasn't for that. =]

 

[New Joe]

Used vB for years and years
Got fed up with how rubbish it all got in version 4
Watched and read about Xenforo for a few years, decided it was worth a try
Never looked back.
Took a little getting use to but now all is grand
It just works, and works well, love it....

 

[Amaury]

Used vB for years and years
Got fed up with how rubbish it all got in version 4

vBulletin 4 is actually okay.

 

[TPerry]

vBulletin 4 is actually okay.

If you compare it to 5.

Nothing against vB, but it is painful to go visit one of those sites for me now.

Me, I migrated from myBB over a few years ago. Before that I was basically static HTML pages or WP. Prior to that, it was an OS/2 BBS.

 

[TheBigK]

We moved from phpBB -> vB 3x -> vB 4x -> and finally to XenForo in 2011 December. I'm a big fan of Kier and Mike; and kept an eye on what they were doing next. I don't remember but I read somewhere that they are working on a new forum software and then I discovered XF. I've been following XF's journey ever since (throughout the lawsuit). Now patiently waiting for XF 2.0.

I've began learning XF development recently and have made a progress to a level that it'd be foolish to go back now.

 

[Amaury]

Nothing against vB, but it is painful to go visit one of those sites for me now.

For me personally, I don't really notice anything different, aside from just a bit of speed. vBulletin forums I still visit are SEGA Forum and Final Fantasy Shrine Forums.

 

[Digital Doctor]

I got XF in 2010 after I went to buy another vBulletin license and there was the thread about Xenforo.
I heard Mike and Kier had started their own company, so I wanted to support the little guy.
I mostly bought it as a protest vote against vBulletin.