Forum Software Snobs

[Jason]

Some people might get stuck on certain software. It would be like "Oh YOU use FREE software?" There might even be, though, snobs that prefer free software. It would be like those people who mock anyone who doesn't eat organic or something. "Oh, I eat bees honey and use only SMF. Isn't that groovy?".

 

[Ravenfreak]

When it comes to any hobby, there's always going to be snobs who look down at other people who are also into the hobby. Owning a forum isn't different, best to ignore those who try to bring you down for the software you choose to power your website.

 

[Cedric]

I tend to try and not bring anyone down, but I will tell when some softwares are best left to ignore and not use. There are some people who I rather call fanboys who swear only by one software which you could call the same. But even then I’ve not seen many that look down upon other people.

 

[Jason]

I tend to try and not bring anyone down, but I will tell when some softwares are best left to ignore and not use. There are some people who I rather call fanboys who swear only by one software which you could call the same. But even then I’ve not seen many that look down upon other people.

I'm just joking. I doubt if many are like that

 

[Tracy]

I'm just joking. I doubt if many are like that

Oh, I've seen it in the past, especially on a couple of website admin sites.
I've always been one that believed in running what fits the needs of a site.
I'm a member on a fairly new one that a supposed staff member of XF signed up and was commenting negatively on the software in use there (as well as about members)... I guess because the site supports the software he represents and they aren't using it (and for good reason it appears). There is some question as to whether the individual is who they proclaim to be, and if they are, their actions do seem rather childish. If it isn't, it is probably one of those "non-fanboys" from over on their site.
I would link to the thread but it might offend some of those supposed "non-fanboys" that tend to hang out on these type of sites.

 

[joelr]

Some people might get stuck on certain software. It would be like "Oh YOU use FREE software?" There might even be, though, snobs that prefer free software. It would be like those people who mock anyone who doesn't eat organic or something. "Oh, I eat bees honey and use only SMF. Isn't that groovy?".

This is a great thread, and I appreciate you opening this discussion.

You can use whatever software fits your budget, time, and interests. If you're not ready for a paid software, that's totally okay - for my personal story, I used SMF for five years before I was ready to evaluate paid software. It makes sense to start free, test out your forum and niche, before migrating to paid.

There are some challenges to using free forum software. You should ask yourself:
1. What can you do on that free forum that you can't do on Facebook, Discord, Reddit, etc. Those are also free options to build online groups, and offer you the power of millions (tens of millions!) of available users and the power of algorithms.
2. Does the free forum software do everything you need it to do? Most free forum software, whether hosted Jcink or self-hosted phpBB, aren't actively developed any more. It doesn't mean that they're bad in anyway, they fundamentally still offer forums, but will they have dark mode? Will they have a modern editor? Will they offer PWA?

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I was sort of a snob at one time myself.

I got to where I only would do XenForo. I just wasn't a jerk about it.

While back then I wouldn't open a forum without it being XF, I would still join forums that used other paid and free platforms.

Nowadays, I'm open to using any of them as a forum owner and joining any of course as I always have been.

I have several XFs, a VB, a MyBB, an SMF, and a phpBB powere forum. I think it's important for admin forum niche folks to use multiple platforms. You're giving forum admin advice. You should know your stuff. That is my strategy with all of this.

Once a "kind of a snob," now an okay not a snob dude LOL

 

[Jason]

Some forum software is tough to work with. Im trying mybb now, but myalerts is a pain, so I am reinstalling the forum tonight from scratch and doing myalerts later.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Some forum software is tough to work with. Im trying mybb now, but myalerts is a pain, so I am reinstalling the forum tonight from scratch and doing myalerts later.

MyBB is the software that seems to be going down the rabbit hole the most. It's default theme isn't even responsive. The support board is dead.

It used to be so different back in the day, a lot more active.

I do hope that it gets better for them. MyBB has such great potential.

 

[Tracy]

I saw where on another site someone mentioned to @Arantor about maybe forking SMF and turning it into what it could be?
I know he was (and may still be) infinitely familiar with that code base, and I know at one time he had discussed starting working on something new. But to me (and based upon what has been said as past history) it would be a lot more fulfilling to take something and make it well more than what it was and prove that ones belief in the direction it needed to go was correct.
It would be the ultimate icing on the cake.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I saw where on another site someone mentioned to @Arantor about maybe forking SMF and turning it into what it could be?
I know he was (and may still be) infinitely familiar with that code base, and I know at one time he had discussed starting working on something new. But to me (and based upon what has been said as past history) it would be a lot more fulfilling to take something and make it well more than what it was and prove that ones belief in the direction it needed to go was correct.
It would be the ultimate icing on the cake.

Arantor is definitely familiar with SMF.

He's even on the credits for sharing some of the development.

For the longest time, I suspected him to be "[Unknown]" which was more or less the creator of SMF but he has always denied it haha

I know back in the day, ElkArte and Wedge were the two big ones in terms of SMF forks. I think Arantor owned one and helped on the other.

It's been a while and my memory isn't like it used to be LOL