[Grover]

Originally Posted by Spinball

What Internet Brands didn't realise was that the savvy vBulletin admins had loyalty to the people developing the product more than the product itself.

Well... I see it a bit different. I have (as so many others indeed) huge admiration for the talent of Kier&Mike (and their vision and how they relate to their paying customers and community and so on). I was (and still am) very upset when they decided to leave vBulletin. We all know now how that turned out.

But, I have to be honest: if IB would actually be able to improve the platform hugely and provide us with a Gold release that everyone would be proud of at the end of 2009, then I could -obviously- live with those key developers leaving, eventually. In the end I want a solid, state of that art product and honest customer relations. If IB would able to provide what Jelsoft always provided, I would have stayed, happily. With or without Kier, Mike and Scott (although much preferably with them included on the team, obviously).

It has been made painfully clear that Internet Brands did not care about their customers at all. It has successfully destroyed the good name of the product and it's supporting community for a large part. How do they expect me to support them anymore, if they show such a big amount of disrespect both to the product and their customers/community?

In all fairness, the addition from IB Adrian to the team and how he is communicating with the customers/community, is in my eyes finally a step in the right direction. But for so many, it is too late. Customer relations may be improved a little, but we are still stuck with a product that is flawed: full of bugs and offers it's customers a remarkable underwhelming 'year 2001-looking' userinterface. Not to forget the horrendous quality of the Search system... not to forget all the bloat (and they even create new bloat and confusion, like the new Attachment 'Manager' for instance) ... and so on and on and on... and we even had to pay a premium pricetag for all this! :down:

I am so excited about xenForo... even after using it for a few hours I felt like this:

http://xenforo.com/community/threads...age-4#post-986

Originally Posted by Floris

Just think to yourself: What was my first impression when I saw the GOLD release of vB4 made by what, 20 developers?
vs .. what is my first impression when I see the first build of the first version of this xenforo alpha made by 2 developers?

Floris on vbirc.com/chat Thursday 29th July 2010

....

So when Kier, Scott, Mike and the others left, so did the loyalty of the savvy vBulletin admin.
I expressed concern at the time, but Ray's reply was that they had not lost experience from the team.
A large number (if not the majority) of the savvy vBulletin admin are still with version 3.
Those people, myself included, are excited to see XenForo because we know that Kier and Mike know what they are doing. Looking at their software, it is patently obvious.

Amen.