Is xenForo Dying?

Ah! Well they've not deleted his account as such then, just renamed it and kept all his posts and threads listed still. Bit of a difference that, as deleting would imply all his threads and posts are now gone. Never expected they'd do that one, don't blame them either seeing as he was in the Top 10 posters listed. It would cause too much chaos with other threads listed on forums he's posted in.

So you think he's having a bit of a DIG at the developers then after leaving saying that. Have to say, I'd have never have read that into it and thought if anything he might be talking about himself, although the "visiting customers" bit seemed wrong for it to be about himself.

Looks like Mikey has left XenForo as well now, I follow him and was reading a tweet earlier made to him, doesn't seem to work viewing the tweet so here's a screen-shot of it instead.

View attachment 2177

I think the lack of posting any new proper updates mentioning something concrete as coming, rather than just saying "development is ongoing" for so long now. It's getting to people and rather than voicing it out loud, instead some are leaving quietly.

 

His account is deleted...his avatar is no longer clickable.

You don't have to delete the posts when deleting an account, you can simply leave them set to guest but the username still shows. Even vBulletin is able to do that, XF just does it a bit more elegantly so the posts scarcely look any different.

 

Right, wasn't aware of that or just forget it works that way also. Well he's gone for good then from XF. Can't see Kier being best pleased if he suddenly showed his face again using another new account named Floris. He'd go off on one if he did that, after just deleting his account making all his post now show a guest name. Would be taking the Mickey a bit too far that one!

Just hope he was 100% sure about leaving XenForo, you know what he can be like. But he's sealed things this time pulling a "delete my account" stunt.

 

Just had a tweet from Mikey. Know why he left XenForo now, he's crossed over to the dark-side with Ryan Ashbrook!

Link: http://community.inv...361877-mikey-b/

 

Notice his member title

Member Title: Rinse & Repeat

 

Ha, ha!

It should read: Darth Maul.

 

But seriously, joking aside. I think Mikey used to work for vBulletin originally with Floris. So not that surprised to see it happen sooner or later, plus he knows his stuff about coding.

 

Well wasn't sure, but thought he did work at vBulletin. Obviously not then!

 

That's the thing with Floris's writing (going back to Mark B's post) he does talk in riddles when he wants. However please note that he is quoting someone else's blog (if you follow the link at the bottom of his post).

Also I think for any newbies coming into this thread we should make it clear that Mikey is not the same person as Mike (an XF developer who is currently MIA).

 

Indeed but why is he quoting it?

Seems a bit of a coincidence. And "depression" would certainly explain a lot, if it turned out to be true.

 

If anyone at XF was to get depressed I'm sure it is most likely Mike. The weather in Glasgow is terrible and they hardly see the sun

Incidentally Mark I had the vB 4.2 email today and it is certainly worded in a way that suggests a more upbeat development cycle - maybe I might have to eat my hat after all (though I am unlikely ever to return to vB).

 

vB 4.2 has just gone gold.

https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/401607-vBulletin-4-2-FULL-has-been-released-%28vBulletin-com-upgraded%29?p=2296145#post2296145

 

I would have said the other one myself Floris might be referring to, seeing as he went missing first leaving Mike keeping things goings in his absence for a while. But who knows? I think Mike is long gone though, and nothing to do with keeping a low profile. Could be wrong, time will tell. But until he shows his face online there proving otherwise that's my view now.

 

Yes I just got the email and it's much more upbeat and doesn't even try to "hard sell" anything other than the upgrade itself.

There is a genuine sense of pride in the work done actually, something that was not there in the early days of 4.0. I think the right team is finally in place there after several "false starts".

 

I just wanted to comment here. Yes, Mikey indeed works for IPS now, and he is doing an amazing job from what I have seen.

 

Well that Tumblr blog he quotes all the paragraph titles from in that article, leaving out the content is talking about new companies started. So it's pretty obvious who he's referring towards, XenForo. As for the "depression" remark he makes, he could well be right but think he's guessing at what he knows though. I don't believe Floris talks to Kier, not like he's always trying to give the impression he does to people. As for Mike, he tends to be more talkative anyway in twitter with others. He'll talk to a few people and not just Floris, so wouldn't read much into that one.

But anyway, considering what's gone on with the court case and it looking like IB will simply grind them into the ground financially come the end more than anything else. It's no wonder they might suffer from depression, I think anyone would in their shoes right now. They need a win in court and for it to happen sooner rather than later. But even Shamil said yesterday in that court trial thread on XenForo, it's going to drag on for a long time yet. I'd say it looks like XenForo have run out of time, they was hoping this would have been done and dusted with by now and be sitting pretty. But that's not happened and IB have pretty much drained all their resources with no finishing line in sight still.

Sales are also probably not coming in fast enough to help support it all either I would guess, unlike that first year when so many people jumped in paying full price and cheap renewals didn't factor into things. Always said the "second year" would be the the real teller for them, because everyone who bought in that first year was only paying cheap renewals prices in second year unless buying extra licenses. So a great deal did depend on them keeping that flow of new purchases coming through from other people (and not vBulletin exiles). Much harder to get unlike year 1.

 

This user is moving from XF back to vB and the comments are interesting.

http://xenforo.com/c...-was-fun.31949/

He touches on the lack of mods for XF and this is an interesting point. There doesn't seem to be much happening on that front in the XF community anymore. I wonder if anyone thinking of devoting time and effort to XF is put off by the lack of apparent activity from the developers and the fact both Kier went MIA and now Mike is too. He also states there is now an Impex importer to get XF over to VB4, so with that in mind, I'd hope the XF developers do something tangible and useful soon, or they're going to start bleeding customers.

Also interesting to read that he considers vB + vBSEO is better at SEO than XF is.

While all this is happening, IPB have released new blogs talking about the future, about IPB 3.4 and their plans even beyond that. Xenforo in comparison to IPB and vB is beginning to look neglected by the developers. Well I say "beginning to" I mean "more than" before when Kier had not been around for months and Mike not posting since March.

I can only comment on my own situation and give a personal opinion but it is fact that had I not migrated my forum over to XF when I did, I certainly would not have done it now. I would have gone to IPB and really soldiered on through the pain of the migration process (which did not work for me, even with staff assistance, the main reason I thought sod it, I'll go to XF where the import was quick and easy).

 

Just read the thread and replies made in it. You can see many are avoiding renewing now until they see progress made with XF 1.2 released, about 2 or 3 say it in their replies. Think most 1st year buyers are probably doing the same right now, sitting on things waiting. My license has quite a way to go yet until due again for renewal in October, 2012, well past the planned 1.2 (Q2) release dates anyway. So on that front I'm OK.

Just wait and see what happens soon, there's only 4-5 weeks left now until end of Q2.