https://discuss.flarum.org/d/20590-farewell-and-what-s-next-for-flarum This is kind of saddening in a way, surprisingly enough, it's unfortunate to see him leaving. Apparently, he is going to be working on a premium forum software.
Flarum never reached version 1 status in the 5 years of development. Hard to see that as much of an accomplishment.
I'd hope for vbulletin instead. There's enough room for new selfsustaining software but it's a huge gamble to challenge existing software with massive funding like XF/IPB or even puny Nodebb. Just a well paid leadership position could suffice if Flarum's lead really needed to be compensated accordingly to his fulltime involvement in forum development, and joining a software house in need of fresh blood and products adapted to current trends would be an ideal outcome. Getting only 100$ a month from patreon is literally offputting, when at the very worst following the example of some scriptmakers and running a paid, even expensive SaaS version of your opensource software is more rewarding.
I've always liked the look and minimalism of Flarum, gets to the point of post content without too many bells and whistles. Looking forward to seeing the commercial platform the developer is going into.
This is called "banana principle" and is a valid and proven software development model that puts importance on continuously releasing improvements and fixes to users. There's no "1.0" release in this model, because everything's in the game. Some software sidestep this by using dates for releases, and other by going into big numbers (like Chrome).
I thought it had a lot of promise, I still do. I'm glad to see the project hasn't been completely abandoned. I hope the remaining developers are able to take it further forward.
It's definitely saddening to see Toby leave but I know that I'll want to continue following his new project once it has been announced. He is a talented individual and has done so much with Flarum to bring it to where it is now. In saying that the current team are a dedicated bunch and have already put plans in place to continue with Flarum's development. No one can replace Toby but we can do our best to continue working on an amazing bit of kit. Flarum is growing and will continue to grow. It works wonders for your community and can be so useful, even as useful or powerful as other forum software on the market. Don't cross Flarum out just yet. I usually post updates and major announcements about Flarum on this forum here at TAZ.
