Former vBulletin lead developer Kier Darby to develop new forum software?

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  • borbole
    Senior Member
    • Feb 2010
    • 3074
    • 4.0.0

    Originally posted by IB Adrian
    If by "the management" you are referring to me, yes.
    I think I speak for all of us in saying that Kier and Mike have done a really nice job with the software, and it is great to have a more competitive marketplace for forum software - I feel we all win from that.
    The respect I had for the vB staff grew even more after reading this comment. The sportive and relaxed attitude you guys are showing is admirable

    Comment

    • BirdOPrey5
      Senior Member
      • Jul 2008
      • 9613
      • 5.6.3

      I don't understand how you let talented people leave without some sort of non-compete clause... I don't know the details of these guys departures from vBulletin but it seems very short sited to not have offered them some serious coin to stay out of the market for 5 years.

      Comment

      • Wayne Luke
        vBulletin Technical Support Lead
        • Aug 2000
        • 73978

        Originally posted by BirdOPrey5
        I don't understand how you let talented people leave without some sort of non-compete clause... I don't know the details of these guys departures from vBulletin but it seems very short sited to not have offered them some serious coin to stay out of the market for 5 years.
        Non-compete clauses are very hard to enforce. Most jurisdictions have laws that you cannot impede a previous employee from making a living.

        I wish them the best of luck and think their new offerings will make things more interesting for all involved.
        Translations provided by Google.

        Wayne Luke
        The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
        vBulletin 5 API

        Comment

        • BirdOPrey5
          Senior Member
          • Jul 2008
          • 9613
          • 5.6.3

          Originally posted by Wayne Luke
          Non-compete clauses are very hard to enforce. Most jurisdictions have laws that you cannot impede a previous employee from making a living.

          I wish them the best of luck and think their new offerings will make things more interesting for all involved.
          I'm sure it will... I think this is probably the best thing that could happen for consumers AND vBulletin consumers in the long run, though I'm sure some people at IB must not be happy campers today, I know I wouldn't be in their shoes.

          As for the non-compete clause I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, I've seen them used and enforced. You aren't stopping them from programming, just from programming forums... and it would be something they chose in exchange for money or stock, if they broke it they'd have to repay.

          Comment

          • Reeve of Shinra
            Senior Member
            • Sep 2001
            • 4325
            • 4.0.0

            Why would they sign a non-compete offer like that after the fact? They are taking a chance but the rewards are well worth it.
            Plan, Do, Check, Act!

            Comment

            • anthonyparsons
              Senior Member
              • Mar 2005
              • 2597

              Plenty of forum competition already exists for market space: http://www.forummatrix.org & http://www.forum-software.org.

              Like others, I like to have more variety to the mix. I will buy one to test it, and I will use one in a new production site I sponsor to gauge user feedback, just as I have many other software versions. If users respond positively too it, then I may change in the future. If not, then I won't. I tried an IPB site in front of a vb user base, and they didn't take it well. We admins love new things, but unfortunately are you going to sacrifice your user base as a result? A new startup / newly created site is one thing, an existing, well established site is a whole other ball game that is a massive call to shift a significant user base from. Human behaviour dictates whether change is apt or not... not us owners / admins.

              I seen someone post about avforums being a big board who may shift to xenForo in the future, though they also highlighted that third party development was needed before they could consider it, then I would be pretty interested to see such a large forum shift and measure their user base for positive / negative feedback. I love the initial release of xenForo... can't say enough good things about the intuitiveness of it.. can't deny it. I showed it to the missus last night, being a 40 year old forum user, and she didn't see any fuss as she doesn't have the same interest within the scope as a user compared to me being more design oriented / admin. Actually she started with comments such as, hmm... that bit is nice, I don't like that, where is this, where is that, are the mod functions the same / similar to the current (vb) and the list went on... being all these bits and pieces she currently has access as a user, but doesn't on the xenForo (yet, being alpha, possibly never)

              I have a user base of people like her for established forums... they don't care, and they don't do change well.

              I will be interested to read measured feedback on those who change with a significant community base. I have read some pretty damning things from others who changed out to IPB and lost many users as a result of their administrative decision. Some did ok, some did pretty poorly due to change. Will be interesting to watch.

              Comment

              • KW802
                Senior Member
                • Jul 2003
                • 1165
                • 3.8.11

                Originally posted by BirdOPrey5
                As for the non-compete clause I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, I've seen them used and enforced. You aren't stopping them from programming, just from programming forums... and it would be something they chose in exchange for money or stock, if they broke it they'd have to repay.
                With IB based in California, non-compete clauses don't exactly go over to well there.
                [URL="http://coolscifi.com"]Cool Sci-Fi[/URL="http://coolscifi.com"] | [URL="http://awalkerbit.me"]Walking Dead[/URL="awalkerbit.me"]

                Comment

                • steven s
                  Senior Member
                  • Jul 2004
                  • 3722
                  • 3.8.x

                  Well, I now know where my next pre-sale money is going.
                  ...steven
                  www.318ti.org (vB3.8) | www.nccbmwcca.org (vB4.2)
                  bmwcca.org/forum | m135i.net
                  "I tried to clean this up but this thread is beyond redemption." - Steve Machol

                  Comment

                  • Carnage-
                    Senior Member
                    • Jan 2005
                    • 758
                    • 3.8.x

                    I'll probably buy a license to see if its worth using on future projects, but without a CMS I wont be switching anything over to it.
                    Some of my Mods:
                    Advanced IP Ban Manager (vb3.6+ version) - Fine grained control over blocking trouble makers.
                    Advanced IP Ban Manager (vb4 version) - Fine grained control over blocking trouble makers.
                    Use Original thread for Comments - Uses the original thread for comments for any forum threads promoted to CMS articles.
                    Custom Friendly Urls - Allows customisation of forum urls from the admin CP.

                    Comment

                    • Eriksrocks
                      Member
                      • Apr 2008
                      • 82

                      I have a feeling that Kier new this is what he was going to do ever since he left, and if he was offered a non-compete clause, he probably denied it. As far as I know they can't force you to accept a non-compete clause.
                      Planning to continue using VB 3.8 post EOL? Then join the VB 3.8 Forever group and visit www.vb3forever.org!

                      Comment

                      • anthonyparsons
                        Senior Member
                        • Mar 2005
                        • 2597

                        Non-compete clauses here in Australia only have a legal 6 month period. My wife's company wanted a 12 month period when she had her contracts developed, and the solicitor said she could have that, but in a court, the court would over-rule the contract to the law, being 6 months only. So all her employee's only sign for 6 months. The non-compete also only applies to them running their own company in competition, not working within the industry for someone else. Non-compete though still enforces they cannot approach a client former client for six months, whether the client comes to them or not, they can't touch them.

                        I think you would be hard pressed to get beyond 12 months in a court, because the person must have a right to earn income within the field they know. Being UK based, similar to Australian law, as we are both Queen's countries with quite common laws.

                        Comment

                        • BirdOPrey5
                          Senior Member
                          • Jul 2008
                          • 9613
                          • 5.6.3

                          Originally posted by KW802
                          LOL California... well I guess that is the answer... Had IB not been based in a "People's Republic" I never would have suggested they accept a non-compete clause for nothing, but fact is this new project of theirs WILL COST IB Hundreds of Thousands if not more in lost future licenses. Someone should have foresaw this and offered them big money to stay out of the forums business, not programming in general- they would be able to use their talents in many other places.

                          Comment

                          • anthonyparsons
                            Senior Member
                            • Mar 2005
                            • 2597

                            There are a lot of talented up and comer programmers... you can't buy them all off. You might delay something a year or two, but that is it.

                            Comment

                            • Carnage-
                              Senior Member
                              • Jan 2005
                              • 758
                              • 3.8.x

                              yeah but that talent doesn't have 'former vbulletin lead developer' on their cv's
                              Some of my Mods:
                              Advanced IP Ban Manager (vb3.6+ version) - Fine grained control over blocking trouble makers.
                              Advanced IP Ban Manager (vb4 version) - Fine grained control over blocking trouble makers.
                              Use Original thread for Comments - Uses the original thread for comments for any forum threads promoted to CMS articles.
                              Custom Friendly Urls - Allows customisation of forum urls from the admin CP.

                              Comment

                              • Trevor Hannant
                                vBulletin Support
                                • Aug 2002
                                • 24325
                                • 5.7.X

                                Originally posted by BirdOPrey5
                                I don't understand how you let talented people leave without some sort of non-compete clause... I don't know the details of these guys departures from vBulletin but it seems very short sited to not have offered them some serious coin to stay out of the market for 5 years.
                                Not sure you could force them to sign one on their resignation if it wasn't in their contracts already.
                                Vote for:

                                - Admin Settable Paid Subscription Reminder Timeframe (vB6)
                                - Add Admin ability to auto-subscribe users to specific channel(s) (vB6)

                                Comment

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