Would you ever pay renewal fees just to hang out on XF forums?

[joelr]

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/12-years-of-forums-what-have-you-learned.221804/post-1698647

Yeah, yeah I'm judging you @Arantor LOL

 

[Cedric]

XF doesn’t require an active license to hang out. Invision does. You can’t even post on their news about v5 if your license is not renewed. Which is a shame really. I’m not going to spend 300 USD to post my opinion, congrats or feedback.

But I get it, a non-active license holder has no business.

 

[Tracy]

Yes, XenForo does not require you to keep an up to date paid license to participate on their forum.
They DO require you to have a valid license to participate in some of the areas, but that license could be 3 years non-renewed and you still can participate.
Invision uses the forum as the carrot to keep your license up to date on being paid.

 

[Matt M]

XF doesn’t require an active license to hang out. Invision does. You can’t even post on their news about v5 if your license is not renewed. Which is a shame really. I’m not going to spend 300 USD to post my opinion, congrats or feedback.

We have tailored our company forum to be support and feedback focused for our customers. We don't have general "hang out" areas, etc so there's little reason to visit unless you have an active license or Invision Community Cloud package.

Of course, community is not a single website. I'm active here, on Twitter/X and non-customers can contact us through email or private messages on our forum.

 

[Matt M]

Invision uses the forum as the carrot to keep your license up to date on being paid.

I really don't think people are going to pay renewal fees solely to comment on our news blogs.

 

[Cedric]

We have tailored our company forum to be support and feedback focused for our customers. We don't have general "hang out" areas, etc so there's little reason to visit unless you have an active license or Invision Community Cloud package.

Of course, community is not a single website. I'm active here, on Twitter/X and non-customers can contact us through email or private messages on our forum.

So a non-active self-hosted license holder is no longer a customer?

Even though at one point spent over hundreds to obtain that license?

 

[Matt M]

So a non-active self-hosted license holder is no longer a customer?

Even though at one point spent over hundreds to obtain that license?

Well, they can't download new versions or get support, so I'm not sure what they would do on our support community?

 

[Cedric]

Well, they can't download new versions or get support, so I'm not sure what they would do on our support community?

Some don’t need an active license to still show support to the community.

There’s not always those who take support, but also those who want to give support.

What I’m trying to say, is that when I saw progress on v5, and wanted to voice my opinion and congratulations, I didn’t have the permission to do so. That hasn’t always been like that, and has only been like that for a few weeks/months now. I don’t fully understand the reasoning, but if you wish to keep those (or me) people away, then that’s noted.

 

[Matt M]

That hasn’t always been like that, and has only been like that for a few weeks/months now. I don’t fully understand the reasoning, but if you wish to keep those (or me) people away, then that’s noted.

Checking the logs, permissions were adjusted in August 2023.

It's not about keeping people away, it's about serving those with an active purchases. That was the refocus for our community. I know some are constantly looking for the most cynical take when any change occurs.

I accept your point and it's something to think about. In terms of v5, the preview site is open to all for feedback and thoughts. I would have added you to the private alpha club also so you can test drive a private v5 demo site.

 

[Cedric]

Checking the logs, permissions were adjusted in August 2023.

It's not about keeping people away, it's about serving those with an active purchases. That was the refocus for our community. I know a lot are constantly looking for the most cynical take when any change occurs.

I accept your point and it's something to think about. In terms of v5, the preview site is open to all for feedback and thoughts. I would have added you to the private alpha club also so you can test drive a private v5 demo site.

I'm not trying to be cynical. It's just that some actions often question the true essence behind it.

 

[Matt M]

I'm not trying to be cynical. It's just that some actions often question the true essence behind it.

The true essence is that we revamped our company forum to be focused around support when in the past it was less clear of its purpose. We moved self-hosted support out of tickets and onto the forum. That was the nucleus for the change.

What we need to do better at is creating a community beyond our support forum.

 

[Cedric]

The true essence is that we revamped our company forum to be focused around support when in the past it was less clear of its purpose. We moved self-hosted support out of tickets and onto the forum. That was the nucleus for the change.

What we need to do better at is creating a community beyond our support forum.

Great, glad that you realize that. However, if I may add, by "censoring" non active license holders, that also obstructs creating that community - in my humble opinion.

 

[Matt M]

Great, glad that you realize that. However, if I may add, by "censoring" non active license holders, that also obstructs creating that community - in my humble opinion.

I'm not sure I'd agree that 'censoring' is correct. That assumes the psychology of the change is to restrict part of our audience, when the change was to create more value for part of our audience.

 

[Cedric]

I'm not sure I'd agree that 'censoring' is correct. That assumes the psychology of the change is to restrict part of our audience, when the change was to create more value for part of our audience.

Sorry, for the lack of a better word.

- Not having permission to post.

 

[Tracy]

I really don't think people are going to pay renewal fees solely to comment on our news blogs.

No, but to participate in the forum they will, especially now that the main line of support is done there.
Your company charges for participation there in that you require that a license be currently paid up. XenForo just requires that the license be in good standing.
That is the carrot & stick Invision uses. XenForo chooses a different path. Yet they continue to also provide support via tickets and on the forum (an no, I'm not a XF fanboi by any means).

 

[joelr]

Some observations:
- So much of the comparison is IPS vs XF, when in reality, the comparison should be IPS vs customer support forums or XF vs customer support forums in general. This is a reflection of how small the worldview is for forum owners. We have IPS. We have XF. These are apparently the only two companies in the entire world who have support communities 😂. We are so limited in our benchmarks for comparison, and that's something that I challenge everyone to grow beyond.
- Exclusivity for a forum is an interesting question by itself. As a member of a community, is it better for the forum to be exclusive or to be open?

Exclusivity usually means you provide a greater sense of community. You provide more personalization or individual attention. You get access to exclusive resources or support. The real question is, for the members who received exclusive access, are they better or worse off if the rest of the community is open or closed?

The answer doesn't have to be all or nothing. Forums literally have this concept called groups permissions, which allows for different groups to have different permissions. You can offer exclusivity in one section while being open in other parts of the community, to benefit from the strengths of both exclusivity and openness.[COLOR=rgba(var(--xgtBirincil-m))] [/COLOR]

 

[Tracy]

We have XF. These are apparently the only two companies in the entire world who have support communities 😂

Well, you also have Woltlab, which when I was using it also did not require you to have a currently paid up license to participate in it.
And from the title of this very topic, it appears that the question was would you pay a XenForo renewal fee to hang out on their support area, not asking if you were willing to pay a "renewal" to hang out on the support forum of a product.
So, in answer to the specific question that appeared to be asked... you don't HAVE to pay a renewal fee to hang out on the XenForo forum to participate. You DO have to pay a renewal fee to do so on the Invision forum.
(note) I, as a valid old license holder can also still create threads in the customer area over on Woltlab Suite forum from a test during the creating of this post.

So, of the 3 major forum scripts (I never have had a license for vB), 2 of them allow valid license holders to post in their support forum. One of them does not, requiring you to have a current PAID license. And I'm pretty sure (although as not having a license for it) that vBulletin is similar.

The answer doesn't have to be all or nothing. Forums literally have this concept called groups permissions, which allows for different groups to have different permissions. You can offer exclusivity in one section while being open in other parts of the community, to benefit from the strengths of both exclusivity and openness

You may want to change the title up. When you speak of renewal fees, most of us are going (as admins) to assume you are referring to license renewals, which are specific to the script admins.
Now, if you are speaking as an end user paying a membership fee to participate on a site, you may want to be a little more precise on your topic title. 😉
There have been a few sites that I was willing to pay a membership for. But they are few and far in between.

 

[Ravenfreak]

vBulletin does allow those without a license to post on their support forum, though only in a few areas like Pre sales questions. Anyways, I sometimes will check out the Xenforo support forum even though I no longer have an active license with them. (I switched to Woltlab.) As for paying membership fees to post on a forum in general, I've never done this and I don't think I would pay unless the forum had exclusive content that you can't get anywhere else.

 

[Cedric]

Well seeing XF and IPS is the most popular community script around here, it’s natural to compare the two.