Investing in software or community?

[SDL]

I’ve been planning my forum for awhile and I always had my heart set on XenForo. The reason behind it is quite simple… most forums use it nowadays so it’ll be more familiar for my members.

However I’ve been reading some threads on here and I got thinking, that $160 could be invested in the community instead. Whether it be new features to make it more unique or simply offering rewards for posting etc.

Obviously I’ll invest in the community regardless but I figured I’d open a discussion to hear your thoughts…

Would you rather invest $160 in forum software (XenForo license) or invest it improving your community?

 

[Cedric]

Honestly, with today’s state and events, 160USD for software, and an additional 160USD for content creation. It’s really hard if you don’t have any followers beforehand. If you’re going in all alone, it’s better to have a decent software and some content flowing.

 

[SDL]

Honestly, with today’s state and events, 160USD for software, and an additional 160USD for content creation. It’s really hard if you don’t have any followers beforehand. If you’re going in all alone, it’s better to have a decent software and some content flowing.

To be fair I should’ve probably worded it better as that’s what would probably happen anyway. I guess it could read $320 invested in the community or $160 in the community and $160 in software.

Yeah, decent software is definitely important, more to save headache further down the line. Although there are some solid free options too.

 

[Cedric]

To be fair I should’ve probably worded it better as that’s what would probably happen anyway. I guess it could read $320 invested in the community or $160 in the community and $160 in software.

Yeah, decent software is definitely important, more to save headache further down the line. Although there are some solid free options too.

Definitely. I have no problems with free open sourced software like SMF or phpBB, but the truth is, you'll find yourself taken more seriously when using XenForo.

 

[Cory]

For my purposes and needs, I'd rather invest in the community. Most free forum software has everything I need to make a forum I envision, and if it doesn't have a feature available that I need, hopefully, I can create it with JavaScript since I am fluent enough to create my own scripts. I just like owning a resource board no matter what software it's on since coding and forum support are my main pastime. I do it as a hobby and just as something to keep me busy. I don't take what forum software I use too seriously.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I think I'd rather invest in the software first and then the community later. Meaning purchasing a license for paid software, then getting themes and of course a domain name and hosting. Free forum software is fine though for those on a budget, not every community needs to use paid software. For example, the Lost Media Wiki uses Proboards for their forum.

 

[TwitchisMental]

It really comes down to your needs. If you feel that you need to use Xenforo to do what you want to do, get it ASAP. Less stress that way rather than trying to convert over if you choose free first then went to XF.

If you feel like you can use a free and open source alternative such as SMF or phpBB to get things done, then yes you could use that $160 for other things like a custom theme or a custom mod.

 

[Tracy]

The free/open source scripts are generally good. I was running SMF on one of my sites (started out years ago on IPS but I took it down). And honestly... I just couldn't get myself to get to engaged in SMF on participating in it. It was "clunkier" than the other sites I normally participate in, and also compared to my astro site. So, I ended up renewing a lapsed XF license and am playing with it on there.
Will that site take off? Probably not, as it deals with an "unhealthy" niche that is also not real popular (pipes & tobacco).
But, it gives me somewhere to play. For the first time, I'm actually tweaking a "base" style for that script to see how it works out. Probably will still look at a more "customized" one later, but as I said, it's somewhere for me to play right now.