XenForo Installation Service - Do people actually buy it?

[Mr Lucky]

That just seems so silly to me. IMO (and I may be wrong in saying this, and will probably offend someone) if you can't figure out how to install/upgrade your forum, you really have no business running one, it's not like it even takes any intelligence, if you can't figure it out that all you have to do is type in a couple fields on the installer, the look up a youtube video on how to do it; it'll probably even show you how to create a database (which is fairly self-explanatory, espeically if you're using a control panel).. And for the people that have hosting that isn't compatible with XenForo it's their own problem, you guys provide a test script that it even says to run before you purchase your license. There is no excuse for people to do that, other than pure laziness.

I think many people who want to have a forum do not possess any computer skills whatsoever, or even have a phobia. Their motivation is purely about being sociable and communicating. So for people with a high level of IT knowledge to say such people lack intelligence or are lazy purely because they do not possess the same knowledge as somebody more skilled in IT is not very fair.

 

[Jake B.]

So for people with a high level of IT knowledge to say such people lack intelligence or are lazy purely because they do not possess the same knowledge as somebody more skilled in IT is not very fair.

I never said they lack intelligence, I said installing/upgrading a forum software requires no intelligence. I'm sure I can find some step by step instructions that someone could follow (that probably has pictures, or better yet, a video) that details exactly how to create the database, upload the files (which is just a matter of uploading the XenForo zip file and unzipping it using the cPanel - which I assume they would be using if they don't know how to install a forum software), type a URL into their browser and input the information they created earlier into a couple boxes and letting the installer do all the work.

 

[FredC]

That just seems so silly to me. IMO (and I may be wrong in saying this, and will probably offend someone) if you can't figure out how to install/upgrade your forum, you really have no business running one, it's not like it even takes any intelligence, if you can't figure it out that all you have to do is type in a couple fields on the installer, the look up a youtube video on how to do it; it'll probably even show you how to create a database (which is fairly self-explanatory, espeically if you're using a control panel).. And for the people that have hosting that isn't compatible with XenForo it's their own problem, you guys provide a test script that it even says to run before you purchase your license. There is no excuse for people to do that, other than pure laziness.

Not trying to start anything just an honest legit question.. Did you know how to install a plugin when you got your very first ever forum set up? I certainly didnt have a clue.. Fortunately my host at the time (shared) had no problems doing it for me.. At some point it all started clicking.. But its hard to imagine installation of plugins (although easy) is something you just know how to do by instinct..
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edit: guess i should have finished reading all the replies i see this has been somewhat covered.

 

[Jake B.]

Did you know how to install a plugin when you got your very first ever forum set up?

Never said I did. However, I didn't try to get someone else to do it. I figured out how to do it myself.

 

[MQK8]

if you can't figure out how to install/upgrade your forum, you really have no business running one

I would have to disagree with this line of thinking, I see many people who are very tech savy who can install script, servers, etc but are clueless on how to build a forum much less a successful or thriving forum that actually has traffic and users. So would you say these type of people have no business running a forum as well?

 

[whynot]

I would have to disagree with this line of thinking, I see many people who are very tech savy who can install script, servers, etc but are clueless on how to build a forum much less a successful or thriving forum that actually has traffic and users. So would you say these type of people have no business running a forum as well?

Yes.

 

[MQK8]

Yes.

Very interesting.

 

[whynot]

Very interesting.

As an engineer I can build a really good car but because I'm not a good designer and salesman, I cannot sell it.

 

[craigiri]

That is just short sighted. For several people, time is more valuable than money.

I've had computers since 1982 and developed very large web properties (100% myself) from 1995 to 2010+

Now, I generally pay people to do my little upgrades (sold my big property)....because it's simply easier and cheaper. In most all endeavors - unless you do something repeatedly and regularly - you won't do it as well as someone who does. It's called specialization.

I can do it all (or most of it)...with all the various headaches and problems that come up. But, as we always said when our customers wanted to install our products (fireplaces, stoves) themselves "Sure, you can do it - only the first one is hard to do, but you only get to do the first one!"

 

[cdub]

Something I never noticed until today for some reason is that XenForo offers an installation service for $50, is this something that people actually pay for? I'm slightly intrigued by the fact that someone would pay $50 for something that you can do in 5 minutes yourself for free

I've paid for it. I'm not a sys admin... I just run a forum. I have enough on my plate to worry about and if something goes wrong I want someone who is experienced to solve the problem.

It may take you 5 minutes but it would be a headache for me.

I'm comfortable installing add ons and whatnot but for the underlying layer and system stuff I want someone who knows what they are doing doing it.

 

[MQK8]

I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg doesn't fully understand every little thing on FaceBook either and sometimes needs his high powered developers to show him how to do things !

 

[Mike Edge]

I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg doesn't fully understand every little thing on FaceBook either and sometimes needs his high powered developers to show him how to do things !

Disagree there considering he wrote Facebook He's a very well versed programmer with a degree in it from Stanford.

 

[EQnoble]

I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg doesn't fully understand every little thing on FaceBook either and sometimes needs his high powered developers to show him how to do things !

Disagree there considering he wrote Facebook He's a very well versed programmer with a degree in it from Stanford.

Not that this is about Mark Zuckerberg or anything but I am willing to bet that he does less actual programming than any developer on staff at FB because generally billion dollar CEO's have other things to handle .

 

[MQK8]

Actually I thought it was Harvard but either way the top schools in the world. I don't see how he continues to make FB fresh. I could be wrong.

 

[Mike Edge]

Not that this is about Mark Zuckerberg or anything but I am willing to bet that he does less actual programming than any developer on staff at FB because generally billion dollar CEO's have other things to handle .

Oh I agree totally, my point was more he wouldn't need to bee shown how to code things within FB if he had to

 

[Mike Edge]

Actually I thought it was Harvard but either way the top schools in the world. I don't see how he continues to make FB fresh. I could be wrong.

Yeah your right.. He did go to Harvard, FB mostly hires Stanford grads.

 

[EQnoble]

Oh I agree totally, my point was more he wouldn't need to bee shown how to code things within FB if he had to

To be honest at this point I would be completely surprised if he didn't pay a few folks solely to keep him in the loop with everything happening on the floor. Like if you think about how much interaction is expected of him (business interactions, quasi-political phone calls etc ) , it doesn't seem that he would have the time to just open up a terminal and go ham on the backend of facebook when after his normal business actions he still has a family to go home to.

 

[BirdOPrey5]

FB was smaller and simpler when he built it. Once it got popular you hire people who specialize in making it efficient, and people to code the new things like the timeline and the videos that auto play as you scroll down the page and such. I'm confident zuckerberg doesn't code anything these days, in fact I'd be disappointed to find out he does.

 

[MQK8]

Zuckerberg has always intrigued me, I've heard some people say he was simply in the right place at the right time with the right idea and nothing special while there's others who say he's a brilliant individual. Either way looks like FB is here to stay like it or not.