UBB.Developers Forums General Discussion Suggestions and Feedback Isn't this the truth?

Infopop TOLD Scream that the perl version MUST be dropped, as it is a direct competitor to UltimateBB?

Scream - why not come on here, and say that it was your decision to drop the perl version and not Infopop.

Quite simply 99.9% of your customers do not want this to happen.

What happens if in 6 months time, you realise (as everyone is telling you), that Infopop are a greedy bunch of idividuals, and will not allow you to develop things how youi would like to, and you decide to leave Infopop - what happens then??

Be honest - just how you have always been - and if Infopop are telling 9as they tell their own moderators), do not respond to any posts that are anti-infopop, PLEASE ignore them.

It is funny how Ted, has not directly answered any questions that have been critical of him and Infopop - no he has asked his forum moderators to all come on here and be nice...

Ok, couple of things. Ted hasn't been here because he has been working on getting everything ready for the switch. Just like I have spent all of my time in the past couple of days getting things ready here, he has been getting things ready there.

As far as only .1% supporting this change. Nah, that ain't true. Probably 75% of my customers never visit the forums and I only hear from the via email. I've received a pretty fair number of supporters.

As for why the PERL version was dropped. You're off there again. It's not because it's a competitor, I mean, the PHP version is just as much of a competitor as the PERL version would be. If I did not think that dropping the PERL version was the best thing to do in the long run I wouldn't have agreed to the deal in the first place. Yes it was a hard decision but as I've stated over and over[]/testimages/icons/wink.gif[/], I've got so many hours outside of my day job to work on this thing and it will be much more productive to work on one script. I've explained this more in other threads lately and my fingers are getting tired so don't want to repeat myself[]/testimages/icons/laugh.gif[/].

What happens in 6 months time and you see this thing is still progressing just as well, and better than it is now? I don't have a crystal ball. I made a decision that would allow me to focus on improving the program. Why? Because I want to keep the customers happy.

I really don't know what else I can say in this. Yes, it seems some people have had a bad experience with Infopop, but some people have had a bad experience with many different companies. I've got people that think I suck because I didn't do this or I didn't do that. I'll probably have even more now[]/testimages/icons/laugh.gif[/] but that does come with the territory. For every venom-laced email I've received about the decision I've received one that states I did the right thing. These come from some of my current customers, from some of Infopop's customers and from people that I've never even heard from before.

Give this thing some time. Many people are making decisions way to soon. Wait til things settle down a bit. This entire forum has never been about flaming and bashing. That's why I never got into any of the debates as to who put out the better discussion board. People are going to use what they want to use. Everyone will be better able to make informed decisions after things settle down. If you want to be mad at somebody go ahead and be mad at me. They didn't do a hostile takeover[]/testimages/icons/laugh.gif[/]. I made a decision that I think is going to be great and I'm very excited about it. Obviosuly, not everyone is going to agree with me, but more people do than just what you have read here.

Right on Scream... you made the decision you felt was best, and feel confident that it will be the best thing for the product in the long run. I truly hope you're right, but we all have to understand where the negativity towards the change and towards InfoPop is coming from. There will be more no doubt, when somebody doesn't like what happens or what feature is or isn't added... etc. Ya can't please everybody, but hopefully it is the right choice for you, and will result in a better product in the long run, and a better, more productive situation for you.

I think the W3T users should also understand that it's your company/product and you made a decision that was right for you. Hopefully, it was beneficial to you, because without a doubt you deserve a lot more credit and compensation for your work and efforts than you were probably getting.

Thanks Muhammad. I definitely can appreciate everyone's concerns. I've been on the other side of this a time or 2. So, I don't want anyone to think that I don't care, it's just about me or their concerns are without warrant. Other people have pointed out that this wouldn't be where it is today without all of you. So, my very initial thought when this deal was discussed was you guys.

Rick,

I can understand the Perl issue but most people who take the time to post here and get involved are fairly technical and there are an awful lot of webmasters out there who want a good forum that is easy to install. If PHP offers this then it has to be a good choice.

I've commented on this in another post I made this evening but I think that you should also remember that a lot of people expressing concerns are more worried about what will happen than the changes that have been announced. As far as I can tell you have developed and maintained WWWThreads as a hobby and you have provided a wonderful piece of software at a very good price. I would rather that you reach an agreement with a third party than cease development and people do always have the option of finding something better.

I don't know what the future will bring and I am guessing that you are not 100% certain either but you have given people something that they can walk away with, something that will probably be hacked by third-parties for a long time yet and something that you supplied for a token fee. Maybe it is about time that people stopped criticising for what may or may not happen and started thanking you for what you have done. I personally appreciate your efforts and I know that my 6,000 members do too. From my site alone, your software has helped thousands of people to do their job better and that will continue regardless of whether or not I update the software or leave it at the current version. Thank you very much from me and from my 6,000 members.

Thanks Simon. It's true that none of us know how this will really turn out. The people involved in the deal are naturally optimistic. And the people that are going to be affected by the deal are naturally concerned. But only time will tell how this turns out.

I'm glad the forums have worked well for you and everyone else that has been a customer. I've received just as much enjoyment from knowing that there are websites benefiting from this as those who actually use it.

So I'd like to thank you and everyone else that has helped this succeed. Everyone that has done translations, tracked down bugs, suggested features, beta tested, etc. All of you have been a very big part of this so I hope to pay everyone back by coding a great product for years to come.