And WHO cares???Not john doe and i also not ATM...
It can be the worlds best system, but if people
- don't know how to use it because of lacking documentation and need to experiment around for months to see that it can't work and they have to wait for 1.1 which can be months away, OR
- don't want to code add-ons which COULD!!!(only kier,mike and some insiders knows...) be in the core soon (where's the thread prefixe add-on for example? i'm sure if coders would know what it will get it into the core in at least 1 year, somebody would code it, but not, if it's 1-2months away! But as said already, only the insiders know it)
and they don't use it, it's useless.
That's why IMHO IPB3 is
ATM the best platform for add-on developers => they have there tutorials, they have already there great mature core, with many usable components...
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, they have there blog where they share the new features, and not implement them "hidden" like the rss feed here (and which is the reason, why i stopped coding big customer add-ons)
My 0.02$
This is a really strange post coming from you, ragtek. I usually sort the add-ons by date descending and lately I have seen a ton of addons from you. My impression was that you were a really hardcore user and a really strong XenForo advocate.
At least the first one, I think I got right. You are pushing XenForo to it's limits and that's the point at which you will have a lot of trouble. The kind of questions you have can only be answered by developers that have faced the same issues, and by the XenForo developers themselves. While I think that Kier/Mike have done a great job with this (I have actually seen them answer coding questions in the forums), they do have their limits themselves, after all, they need to run all the show (sales, support, development, legal, etc).
I think what is seriously needed is some expectations management:
- This is the same management style we had in the old vBulletin, where we begged for a roadmap, and never got one. Years later, IB gave a "roadmap", they have implemented almost nothing from it and it is mostly unaccomplished.
- This is the same style we had in the old vBulletin, where we got almost no documentation, until Floris stepped up and created a huge amazing user and admin manual.
- This is the same style where the developers are left to wonder and realize things alone, without almost any help or any interest from the core team. Where addons are relegated to an .org domain, completely unsupported and developers are asked to go off-site
This is not bad in itself, it could be better. But it is what it is. The faster one learns to accept what the developers are willing to provide and what they are not, the happier one could be and the faster one can move on.
While the development style makes me a little nervous too, I have learnt to live with it. I do not demand a roadmap anymore, I reserve the pleasure to be surprised whenever a new upgrade comes and I conceded the developers the freedom to express their creativity in whichever way they seem appropriate.
If the developers don't feel like having a blog, constant updates, a newsletter, a roadmap and a somehow public development strategy, that is ok. It is not a bad, it is just different. Plenty of companies do closed door development. They do well. It's only the fact that XenForo is community software that it could give the impression that we need to be informed.
I am now taking the product for what it is, a great platform that suits my current needs. Fact is, XenForo is amazing. I am also confident that this is a better platform for the future. But I am no longer taking promises about future features and relying on them.