Interview with Kier Darby - XenForo Developer

[The Sandman]

The Sandman submitted a new Article:

Interview with Kier Darby - XenForo Developer

The third interview in our XenForo trilogy features Kier Darby, XenForo Developer and former Lead Developer and Product Manager of vBulletin. I'm truly blown away by the amount of time and effort Kier put into answering our questions considering he is currently working about 18 hours a day on XenForo.

Kier did an Interview with us a bit over 5 years ago which I strongly urge you to read before going on - it covers a lot of the usual TAZ interview type questions, and some of the answers Kier gave are all the more interesting in retrospect. As I wrote in Mike's interview, I also recommend that you visit the XenForo Mothership to learn more about XenForo. I'll give you two warnings though, and heed them well:

1. If you are not careful, you will find yourself inexorably drawn to participating in the XenForo Community at the expense of sleeping, spending time with your family, and posting in your own forum.

2. The forum seems different from other forums - simple, clean, organic, intuitive, and interactive are some of the words used to describe it. It's a bit of a shocker at first but you'll get used to it.

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Do you mourn the passing of Jelsoft? In retrospect, would you have liked to have done anything different before or during the transition?

I poured my heart and soul into Jelsoft and vBulletin for the best part of nine years. Deciding to leave was one of the hardest choices I have ever made. There are many things I would like to have had done differently, but none were within my power to affect. I guess if there’s one regret, it’s that I didn’t push James and John to make me a director of the company when I took over John’s responsibilities.


Surely you considered switching gears after leaving Jelsoft, getting back into computer graphics for example. What made you decide to stick with forum software development?

Going back to CGI wasn’t really a viable option. Having been out of the industry for so long, I am well behind the technical curve. I see things coming out of ILM, Pixar and Weta Digital now that blow my mind, whereas back when I was working in the industry I could explain the production process behind pretty much anything that the leading CGI facilities put out.

The decision to stick with forum software came out of looking at where my...

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[DaveL]

Superb interview. Was a great read,

 

[Akela]

Kier, I have to say that, considering your schedule, it is impressive that you found time to do an interview at all

The forum seems different from other forums ... It's a bit of a shocker at first but you'll get used to it.

You hit the nail on the head here, Howard.

...Mike and I ... frequently disagree, though our disagreements have seeded some of our best features.

Sounds like an excellent partnership.

vBulletin was born of an age when having more options and more data displayed was a desirable thing. People wanted to be able to control minute details of the way they interacted with a forum - or so we thought.

... Our focus with XenForo is on providing a superior user experience rather than piling on new features. We are more of the opinion now that if we believe there is a right or optimal way to do something, we will just do that, rather than providing options to allow people to do it another way.

This quote may become the most memorable comparison of vB and XenForo. It just needs to be displayed well

 

[dragonfly]

Awesome

 

[Brogan]

Great stuff.

Enjoyed that.

 

[smacklan]

Great interview and insight into a true visionary in our industry!

 

[Saeed]

Thank you Howard, for conducting and publishing this interview over here.

And thank you Kier, for XenForo and for sharing your vision for forum software with us all. It was a treat indeed to read and learn more about you.

 

[nguoivohinh511]

I've been looking for the Like button after the first post but I can't find it. Where is it Sandman?

 

[The Sandman]

I've been looking for the Like button after the first post but I can't find it. Where is it Sandman?

 

[karrott]

Amazing interview, just as everyone said it would be. Thanks again Sandman!

 

[Akela]

I've been looking for the Like button after the first post but I can't find it. Where is it Sandman?

I think nguoivohinh511 meant the Facebook "Like" button. Please, correct me if I am wrong.

 

[karrott]

I think nguoivohinh511 meant the Facebook "Like" button. Please, correct me if I am wrong.

He's actually referring to the xenForo 'like' system, which has become quite popular among its members.

 

[Akela]

He's actually referring to the xenForo 'like' system, which has become quite popular among its members.

Silly me

 

[The Sandman]

My scratching head smilie was supposed to be sarcastic - I know what he meant.

 

[Akela]

OK, I am missing a sense of humour today

In my defense, I worked till 4 am last night

 

[Ryan Gordon]

Very good interview indeed. XenForo seems like it will raise the bar on forum software.

 

[ebb]

Excellent!

Thorough and professional.

Thanks!

--E.

 

[Jonah]

I love this. Nice!

 

[Sir_Nick]

Was a interesting interview and glad to see people drawing interest into XenForo.

 

[grc]

I've been looking for the Like button after the first post but I can't find it. Where is it Sandman?

My very first thought! Thanks for the interview, very interesting.