unixhero • newb

I am posting this on Vanillaforums.org and this is regarding the Open Source download version, not the company-run pimped up commercial version of the forum which is running here.

But the Youtube vid was indeed funny :-)

So from people like you, @phreak, we get whining, complaints, demands for very specific features, but no code or money. From our customers we get data, real-use-case requests, and MONEY. So we can buy food, and keep coding the core product. Which you get FOR FREE!

Please note, this is not accusatory, this is not whining. It is healthy dialogue between stakeholders. It is smart to avoid ad hominems.

@Tim // begin free advice

You are in a luxury position. Your company has a product (badges) which many potential customers want. All you have to do is to capitalize on it.

Let's get in a helicopter and look at the ground situation from the air. Here you have a company, paying customers in one segment and potential customers in an entirely other segment. Please allow me to elaborate.

There are plenty of indications that many "self hosters" are willing and interested in paying for the Badges feature. These users (including myself) are users who are not interested in the current product, professional hosting and customization. Therefore it constitutes a different segment. You have the opportunity to capitalize on a good that you have already produced, from a user segment which is outside the scope of your current offerings (hosted product).

Of course a company needs money to keep afloat, then why not sit down, and look at other venues of making money. Namely the self-hosting "crowd". It is complementary to the product/service you are already offering, and it MAKES SENSE for your company to do so.

The core product you are offering, as far as I can tell, is a professional looking configuration, nicely and tightly themed, professionally hosted and professionally supported by you. This should take care of the concerns regarding piracy. The customers would use your hosting service nevertheless if they could find the elusive Badges (addon) on ThePirateBay. Therefore I hold that offering Badges for sale it would not cannibalize on your existing product, hosted service. Again, what I'm saying is that you would not loose the target customers for your hosting product, you would only open up the possibility of targeting this new segment market of the market, the open source users. The users of paid hosting would not refrain from using that service, only because it could buy Badges on the side and host it themselves. The reason anyone chooses a hosted solution is because they wish to outsource the entire hosting/support of the software solution.

On the support-nightmare: I really don't understand why you're so afraid of the support-nightmare - provide two options: just sell it as a limited support product and sell a premium-support backed product which would cost more.

I don't see a SUPPORT US / DONATE US page. The only way I can support you at the current moment, is to pay for your hosting service. This is a product I do not need, and do not want. But if there would have been a way to support you in other fashions I probably would have. Therefore I hope that you will provide more ways to support the company, other than buying the hosted service.

// end free advice

All the best -- unixhero

background:

MBA (2011)

BSc International Business (2008)

Hi

I just wanted to say thanks. I have now completed moving my community from SimpleMachinesForum to VanillaForums. My users are extremely happy about the new Vanillaforums engine I have set up for them, and the community interacts much better than before. Also the data conversion with attachments went perfect, thanks to @x00 's "porterplus" http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/167975/#Comment_167975 and enabling the fileupload plugin before conversion...

I did a thorough analysis of all the other contenders, using data from http://www.forum-software.org/, with MyBB being the other real competitor to VanillaForums in terms of awesomeness (actually testing 5-6 engines). I am happy to say that VanillaForums won and it's brought the fun back in my community =) As an admin I love the fact that I don't have to sit around and "wait for features" because I feel that I have absolutely everything I need in an optimal way with VanillaForums.

Thanks

x00 said: This not really anything to do phpBB import

The format that they want to change this the default behaviour, and I’d say it is superior.

Who the hell cares if it was posted in 07:23:32 back in August 8 2004?

Of course there are exceptions, but it is down to personal preference really.

Yes I realize this in hinsight.

To answer your question:

Who the hell cares if it was posted in 07:23:32 back in August 8 2004?

Absolutely all of my users. Precision is key! It starts to matter when you use the forum as a historical record. Or when your users becomes so involved that the forum becomes a historical record.

Lol thanks =) Well sorry about snarkyness, didn't mean for it to come across that way.

Uhm. I have been running forums since 2004, and trying to switch to Vanilla now. Since I am running everything as default with the latest version. I can only conclude that either the WYSIWYG editor i messing it up, or that it perhaps isn't working in the current version.