phpBB, one of the best known open source forum software to be found on the internet, has recently updated the 2.x version of the software. On itself this isn’t such a big thing, but we need to keep in mind that phpBB already developed the 3.x version of it’s software.
Photo by MShades
phpBB 3.x is completely different from phpBB 2.x and therefor there was a lot of work to be done, before the launch of phpBB 3.x. This makes it even more wonderful that phpBB is still working on the older version of the forum software.
Why should they improve an older version of the software, if there is a new version that is working just fine? Because they love the community that has been created around phpBB and they are loyal to their users. Exactly the way it should be with many more developers.
The community is the most important thing for phpBB
If they would be developing for the money, they wouldn’t exist anymore. All developers and people that support phpBB aren’t receiving any payment for the work they do for phpBB. Off course, phpBB will make some money on the advertisements on the site, but it won’t be enough to pay all her ‘employees’.
But that’s not what it’s about with the people of phpBB, they create and support their software for the people that use it. And that’s exactly the reason why they keep on developing the 2.x version of the forum software.
Still fixing the software
A total of 14 fixes have been worked out in the next update, which takes phpBB 2.x to version 2.0.23. phpBB 2.x exists for almost 6 years now and this makes it kind of old for a piece of software. So why are people still using it and why does phpBB still support it?
Many users of phpBB still use the ‘old’ version of phpBB, as they like their forum as it is and they wont take the risk of screwing up the forums while upgrading. phpBB 3.x brought a lot of new functions that (besides the huge amount of positive reactions) many people don’t like in a (standard) forum.
phpBB 2.x had the possibility to add new functions with so called modifications (MODs), but lots of these MODs became standard in phpBB 3.x. Most users of phpBB 2.x don’t like the amount of standard functions and stay with the ‘old’ version, that is still being updated!
A few thoughts aside
All the search engine optimization gurus say that domain names indeed matter a lot for a webmaster. The advertising agencies underrate these facts with a certitude that marketing plans like pay per click can make up for that.
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Nice article Coen!