My Feelings on xenForo

First off, I would have linked my Twitter account to the MRGTB one here. But Nick banned it ages ago. I would prefer to have my Twitter linked with that account, or just use my MRGTB member account without twitter.

Anyway, about XenForo. As you know I used it and now don't. There are many reasons why, mostly I removed it at first due to one or two problematic server issues using it. Later however when installing vBulletin 3 as an alternative option instead, I have to say I have not looked back, nor do I regret using XenForo anymore. Like you say, some things are good, some are not. It also lacks too much yet for me.

I don't want to come across as being some-kind of silly XenForo hater, because I'm not! Each to their own I guess, for me now I enjoy using the old vBulletin 3 once again. It offers what I want runs perfectly fine.

 

I bought a XenForo license and I don't like it at all. I've been a long time vB user and went into XF with a bad taste in my mouth from IB. However, I don't like anything about XF really.

I think all of these folks are moving away from what I love about forums -- actual discussion. Needless features, other "add-ons" and all that jazz. They should focusing on core competencies and making forums better... not trying to make them function like or take the place of Facebook or Wordpress.

Bought it in October and now I'm just counting down the 120 day timer until I can sell off my license.

 

Same here, I suspect I'll end-up selling my XF license later. Unless something pop-ups to either make me feel otherwise, or forces me to change my mind? But I can't see it though!

 

I would never use vBulletin 4, I should make that very clear. I feel no differently about IB than the rest of you and don't even follow the vBulletin developement path anymore, nor do I visit the vBulletin forums.

 

It was pretty obvious to me a long time ago that most of the new devs there are very young, still kids really and it's shows a lot of the time in what they write not just on vBulletin, but on other forums like TAZ I've read. Look at some of the daft staff avatars they use on vBulletin now, there's no real sense of "Proffesionalism" anymore. Maybe they are trying to liven things up a little, add a sense of fun there doing it, I'm not sure? But it's doing the complete opposite for me!

I don't visit the vBulletin forums because I'm still banned, after I asked Steve Machol do it on purpose (ages ago). I've never asked to get the ban lifted since, I never will do now either. I have no interest in the vBulletin forums what-so-ever anymore, it's not the same place I enjoyed using back then!

 

xenForo still leaks some important features in my opinions (hope they will release the official blogs, gallery etc. plugins soon), but in rest it's a nice bb. I like the style, Kier did a nice job in my opinion, it's plain and simple, with some animations here and there, I really don't like cluttered skins.

 

Gosh,I never expected to find a thread.That is not gushing over Xenforo.

Somehow I find that refreshing.

 

how do folks think it will do for a site that doesn't have a bunch of extras --- a site with no blog or gallery features, no facebook integration, no integrated chat

 

To be expected really. At first people got blown away by the new look and how XenForo worked in general as a forum software because it's very different compared to IPB and vBulletin. That novelty factor was always going to wear off at some point, you can see that happening and there's not as much activity now from certain people on XenForo who we're very vocal and supportive at first.

You don't see Shelley saying much on XenForo anymore, she was very vocal when XenForo forums first went up. The same could be said for Floris.

 

My climate forum is lacking those features.It is fine with me.

But a planned new but different climate forum.Might benefit from blog,gallery and Facebook connection.

Been looking at Burning Board a little.

 

I agree with you on this.I thought they were overreacting in the beginning.

At the time it was in BETA.There were people going wild over it.

I could not understand it.

 

Well I agree people were getting too over the top in XF at one point, it was like a cult at times.

But - it is very, very good. I haven't gone off it at all. I don't like every last bit of it but it is an exceptionally good piece of software.

 

It's good, but until you use it on a live site for a certain amount of time. Only then do you start seeing there are many weaknesses in it. I could go on and on about things it lacks, but I'd be hear all day quite frankly. You cannot mark an individual forum as read, the members list page is very weak when coming to things like trying to arrange members in order using different methods. There's no real PM System in it as such, no calendar you can use. The list goes on really! One good thing about XenForo I liked though, the ability to include full-size images in posts uploaded, rather than showing thumbnail images all the time. That was my favourite feature in XenForo.

I still wouldn't rule out using XenForo again, in fact I'm planning to run it alongside my vBulletin forum on the next release, but as "Private Forum" though unlike the vBulletin 3 one.

 

Mrgtb—

Hi.

If I correctly understand what you mean by a feature that can mark an individual forum as read, it exists, but to find it you have to be in the forum you want marked read and then click the Mark Forums Read link. In addition, there is the problem AWS mentioned of having to confirm after clicking Mark Forums Read, and that includes marking for an individual forum. To increase usability, confirmation should be removed, and within each forum Mark Forums Read should instead be called, say, Mark Topics Read.

 

I never spotted that before then, but even so it's not very user friendly then in that case. Seeing as I missed it for weeks using XenForo. With vBulletin 3 I can simply click a forum status icon (even sub-forum ones) to quickly mark any forum as read. No messing around, it's right there on the forum homepage.

Only thing I ever spotted in XenForo was to mark all forums read fast, but not each forum you can pick to do it on individually.

 

I converted a site from IPB to XenForo, back on Thanksgiving Day. And it's been one of the most positive moves I've ever made. No, XenForo doesn't have a lot of the features the more mature platforms offer. But I've found the core works a lot better than the other platforms. All of my numbers are much better than they ever were with vB/vBSEO or with IPB - from new registrations to post counts to revenue. And I'm able to use Page nodes to accomplish most of what I was doing with IP.Content, without spending the money to do it.

I don't know if the spectre of the lawsuit is keeping people from becoming more active in developing add-ons, or what it is. If that is the case, I hope it is resolved before much longer. I would be all over a gallery add-on, but it seems KK's Galleria is once again dead in the water. And no one else seems to be working with anything. To date, that is my only real frustration with XenForo.