Looks like some people are trying to be overnight millionaires selling Xenforo 2 mods!

[we_are_borg]

I've seen people say Bob's add-ons (AMS, RMS, Showcase...) are priced high. Well I have to say I know for a fact that his prices are really low compared to the feature set you get with said add-ons. I've seen and used his add-ons for years now, clients sites as well as my own playgrounds, and the power behind them are truly awesome.

I dont make a dime with my site so for me personal it’s high, that said i pay it with pleasure because its very powerful software, good support, Bob listens to you when you ask for a feature or improvement. That is stuff i pay for and i dont mind it all. Like Steve says for those addons it low price to pay its the most powerful software i have seen for XF,

 

[Maddox]

There are three developers out there that I have been happy to pay out for; bob, Snog and Steve / Russ add-ons/styles are excellent and so is the support and I was happy to pay up for their wares; however I am not going to go down the same route paying again for the same add-ons for XF2. I know Bob is not charging for any upgrades as long as you continue with your support renewals and that is a real pleasure to see. I don't mind paying for a style at all as that is the first piece of eye-candy visitors will see and if things look nice, they may go further and investigate and, hopefully, register.

I will not pay for add-ons I purchased previously from anyone else. I understand that XF2 requires a rewrite for add-ons, but I presume that the amount of time spent on such will be minimal compared to doing something new from the ground up. I believe a small upgrade fee would be far better received than having to shell out the full amount. But that's up to the developer - if they want my continued support then they will have to show some kind of appreciation for the support they have received in the past; it's a two-way street, or at least is ought to be IMHO.

I would like to know (but perhaps never will) how many add-on developers do so for a living; or is it just a sideline (call it a hobby if you will) to supplement their otherwise full-time occupation.

 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

I understand that XF2 requires a rewrite for add-ons, but I presume that the amount of time spent on such will be minimal compared to doing something new from the ground up.

If it's anything like moving from IP.Board 3.x to IPS4, then it is essentially the same thing. I'm not familiar with XF1 or XF2, but I would assume that code is not compatible between the two versions, so a complete rewrite would be required to update an add-on to be compatible with XF2.

 

[Fillip H.]

I presume that the amount of time spent on such will be minimal compared to doing something new from the ground up.

This presumption is wrong
If you are writing native XF2 code, there is not a single line of code that can be preserved from the XF1 version.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I understand that you believe that rewriting an application is faster than writing it from scratch, but it's simply not true. Not only do you have to re-create every line of code, you also have to learn new syntax.
You could argue that the time spent on the XF2 version is less than the combined time spent on the initial XF1 release and all the XF1 updates, but that's a logical fallacy because we're talking about time spent writing it from scratch.

Since every paradigm has changed and all the syntax has changed, you will not be spending less time on the XF2 version than you would if you deleted the XF1 version from existence and started coding the XF1 version again (with all your memories of the XF1 version intact), which is the important metric here.


Fillip

 

[sanction9]

I wish these brave anonymous posters would put up or shut up.

Give more (or equal) to the XF community than Andy has, for free, and then talk.

Seems quite desperate and petty at this point. Did Andy slap your mother or something?

Since Andy's addon's, collectively, might very well be used more than any other single developer's, and since I've yet to see a single case of anyone proving that any of his addon's could definitely be linked to a hack, I will agree with this. Not to mention that he's already been verbally spanked by the XF team, and he's almost surely a better and more careful developer for XF than he was a few years ago - I would assume! And $25 for all his stuff...well, you can't beat that price.

I understand some people's frustrations with the current 2.0 addon pricing, especially in cases where re-adding just a handful of the features they enjoyed with 1.5 might now easily cost them 2 or 3 times the price they pay for XF itself - and probably on a yearly basis - but as others have pointed out, these addon's are having to be built again from the ground up. But it's also probably the cost of being an early adopter. If you wait long enough, you'll probably find more of these addon features being offered for free by others, or at least at a lesser price. So if you absolutely must have this or that feature only available via addon, and money is an issue, I'd recommend waiting at least a few more months.

 

[Maddox]

This presumption is wrong
If you are writing native XF2 code, there is not a single line of code that can be preserved from the XF1 version.

Whilst it may be necessary to familiarise yourself with the new syntax (which again I will presume that you will have knowledge of, being a developer and keeping up with current trends) the base line of what you are re-writing will be the same logical progression as a previous version. You know what it has to do and the how to do it, so it's not something that has to be be thought of, tested and tried from scratch - you know the in's and out's of the add-on it's just a matter of writing it out again in the new syntax, which, from the comments made by the XF developers, is supposed to be easier to work with, hence the reason why they developed XF2.

I'm not implying that it is easy, rather that it will be (or should be according to the XF developers) easier and take less time. I will, again, use my own experiences as a website developer; I have to keep up with changes such as Flex and Display:Grid - all new, but not difficult to adapt to. So I presume that as developers you will be doing the same as new ways of working come about.

The discussion about developers is now becoming circular - so I will make this my last comment on the subject. The bottom line, for me, is that I will not pay the full price again for something I have already purchased because the goal posts have been moved. Developers expect appreciation for the work they do, and I am fully on-board with this, but clients should also be given something back in return for their loyalty and their hard earned cash and not penalised for the changes that have taken place.

Just as developers cannot expect to become millionaires from their work, clients are not millionaires either and have to work out what is and isn't affordable and base their priorities on what they need to spend whatever money they earn on; especially in a niche that is on it's knees compared to 10/15 years ago.

 

[The Sandman]

Whilst it may be necessary to familiarise yourself with the new syntax (which again I will presume that you will have knowledge of, being a developer and keeping up with current trends) the base line of what you are re-writing will be the same logical progression as a previous version. You know what it has to do and the how to do it, so it's not something that has to be be thought of, tested and tried from scratch - you know the in's and out's of the add-on it's just a matter of writing it out again in the new syntax, which, from the comments made by the XF developers, is supposed to be easier to work with, hence the reason why they developed XF2.

Porting of add-ons from XF1 to XF 2 requires extensive recoding. Of course there will be a learning curve and the developers will become more adept at it over time, but it will still require a lot of work.

I will not pay the full price again for something I have already purchased because the goal posts have been moved.

This is a blanket statement that doesn't take into account the price paid for the initial purchase and whether or not there are renewal fees for continued use of the add-on. If the add-on was priced very low to begin with, and/or there were no incremental renewals after to support ongoing development, then IMO you should expect to pay for the XF2 version. For higher priced add-ons with ongoing renewals you might expect little or no cost for the XF2 version.

 

[Paul M]

I will not pay the full price again for something I have already purchased because the goal posts have been moved.

Which is absolutely your choice of course, but if thats the price being charged, you wont get the software.
I honestly dont see the issue here, everyone has the choice to either pay the price, or not, and do without the addon.

No one is forcing anyone to buy addons, be it for XF, VB, IPS or any other forum software.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

everyone has the choice to either pay the price, or not, and do without the addon.

Orrrrr.... learn to code!

 

[Paul M]

Thats true

 

[Shin Ryoku]

I'm really not seeing many that I would call overpriced. At least, not ones which would interest me.

 

[zappaDPJ]

Unless there's a monopoly involved I wouldn't be too worried about add-on pricing. It's early days, give it a little time and market forces will prevail. Products that don't provide value will fall by the wayside. In any case high prices often have hidden benefits such as attracting more competitors into the market place. That in turn is likely to drive prices down.

 

[Russ]

Speaking of chargebacks...



Luckily folks like this are rather rare.

 

[Bionic Rooster]

Red Flag "Line 2"
I can't believe that anyone in your crew would say he got scammed and you didn't care.

 

[Ummagumma]

Speaking of chargebacks...

View attachment 49569

Luckily folks like this are rather rare.

There's a part of me that would want to chin him for that. Cheeky sod.

 

[sanction9]

Speaking of chargebacks...

View attachment 49569

Luckily folks like this are rather rare.

Set a little trap for him. Create a private link that can be downloaded x-many times, share it with a Paypal rep beforehand and invite that person to personally try it, then share it in the dispute comments and wait for the person to claim it doesn't work (after they've downloaded it to its limit.) Ha ha.

 

[cellarius]

To each their own if your happy selling $150 add-ons to a few people great.

So, what exactly is the issue?

But if you price it at a reasonable price

Who decides what's reasonable? From what follows I suspect what you really mean is chaep.

But as for me, I value my money and I am not going to spend it on an overpriced add-on!

And that's totally your prerogative. No one forces you to part with your money. It's always a process of balancing on both sites, developer and customer. Lower price/more customers or vice versa for the developer, and for the customer price vs. functionality gain for his forum.

P.S. People are not giving away free add-ons with Xenforo 2.0 because they are looking to make a quick buck.

Scandalous. People wanting to get paid for their work. Unheard of!

And as time goes on a lot of these paid add-ons will be free or reduced to a reasonable price!

So, basically all your're complaining about is that you can't get it for free NOW, and have to wait until it gets free?

 

[Joeychgo]

Scandalous. People wanting to get paid for their work. Unheard of!

Just to clarify, I don't have a problem with people making a buck.

But honestly, I see things being offered for sale that IMO should really be in the core. Its also a PITA because some addon guys disappear, don't improve their mods or just plain charge more then the addon is worth.

Then there is the PITA of upgrading when its a paid addon, which means I cant upgrade with one click using the chris' addon installer.

That said, there are many very good developers out there who don't charge crazy money and who do consistently update addons, etc.

Just venting.

 

[Soulwatcher]

So, what exactly is the issue?

Who decides what's reasonable? From what follows I suspect what you really mean is chaep.

And that's totally your prerogative. No one forces you to part with your money. It's always a process of balancing on both sites, developer and customer. Lower price/more customers or vice versa for the developer, and for the customer price vs. functionality gain for his forum.


Scandalous. People wanting to get paid for their work. Unheard of!

So, basically all your're complaining about is that you can't get it for free NOW, and have to wait until it gets free?

Obviously, you nitpicked what you wanted to try and make me look bad and I said over and over in this thread that I have no problem paying for add-ons just not an overpriced add-on. If you want to spend your money on overpriced add-ons, by all means, go ahead.

P.S. the price of anything is whatever someone is willing to pay for it. I could sell a penny for $100 but that doesn't mean people are going to buy it.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

I have no problem paying for add-ons just not an overpriced add-on.

But again I ask - who is the arbiter for "overpriced?"

P.S. the price of anything is whatever someone is willing to pay for it. I could sell a penny for $100 but that doesn't mean people are going to buy it.

So why complain if they do? Who does it harm?