Every so often developments, changes, discussions and events occur that make even the most resilient users, team members and followers lose interest in our project. We, as a group, can only apologise for the miscommunication and missed chances to set things right.

We realise that with every step you take we need to be right beside you and not in the shadows pulling the strings. We need to learn from how you use our software, embrace the unique customisation of your forum and make it as easy as possible for you to see what we’re planning – and how you can help us accomplish that.

We understand that we need to be more open; this week, we’re taking the first steps to do that.

Team Changes

• There will be one ‘MyBB Team’ usergroup to which all team members will belong to.
  This change is mainly for our internal processes only as there are a number of shared tasks and responsibilities across the group. Each member still belongs to a sub-group, such as Support or SQA, to which they’ll focus the bulk of their time. The member’s team will be visible by their usergroup badge and not username colour.
• There will be no application process or job vacancies for team member positions.
  Being more open will allow users and followers to discuss changes, make commits and write documentation without being a member of the team. We encourage anyone and everyone to help in all aspects of the project and, if they accept, can be invited to join the team for a more permanent group position and a pretty usergroup badge.
• Members of the MyBB Team should be considered core workers who regularly contribute to the project.
  With open development forums we’ll be relying more on user contributions and interactions to move the project forward. The team will be there to help and guide you through the hoops whether you’re a beginner or an expert.

Forum Changes

• We’re reorganising Support forums to help provide the quickest service possible.
  A new Installation and Upgrade Support forum is being created to help users who are struggling to get their forum going. General Support, Security Management and Support, Merge System Support and International Support will also be a part of this category.
• We’re moving International Support to 3rd party sites for users to get help in their native language.
  MyBB has a large non-English following and we struggle to support these users. By providing easy access to the best support forum in their native language they’ll benefit from their local community. International Support will be closed to posting and have only one thread per language – which will include language pack addons for the language and a list of support forums available.
• We’re making an official repository for language packs.
  The mybb-translations repository on GitHub will hold all official language pack addons for MyBB and we hope translators will move to this model. They’ll be able to get support from other members of their community to help translate MyBB into their language. Greater communication with translators will help have packs ready for new releases.
• We’re centralising the Resources forums to provide a one-stop place for modifications.
  The Resources section on our forum will change to include Plugins, Themes, Translations, Third Party Integrations, MyCodes and Tutorials. Sub-forums in these categories will provide Releases, Support, Development and Requests threads.
• We’re removing the Requests/Services/Jobs forum.
  This area has been a near constant thorn for team members and moderation and, by redirecting users to the Resources forums (for plugins/themes/logos) or Web Development forum (for domains and general help), we’ll have more time to concentrate on our project.
• Being a part of the MyBB Team is a privilege, not a hindrance.

  While we actively promote user contributions we expect all members of the community to rightfully respect team members, who are dedicating their time to help.

  Personal attacks, trolling and disrespect is not acceptable anywhere; whether on a forum or workplace; and it will not be tolerated. Past history and rules have cultured a group whose sole intention is to disrupt, disengage and challenge and this has to change.

  We feel those who are responsible for this change know who they are. We want the MyBB community to be friendly, mature, creative and open. If users of the community can’t do this new forum permissions can restrict them from certain areas and, ultimately, a permanent ban will be issued.

  No users, regardless of length of membership, status in the community or reputation, are immune to this.

Development

• There will be new development forums for MyBB 1.6, MyBB 1.8 and MyBB 2.0. These include Discussion, Bugs and Issues, and Suggestions and Feedback.
• While these will be available for everyone only members of the new Contributors group will be able to post in the Discussion forum. This usergroup can be joined via your User CP and is exclusively for people who contribute to the project (via making resources, tutorials, guides etc. or interacting on GitHub).
• We’ll be turning off new issues on Redmine, our development site, and moving bug reporting to the forums. Once confirmed these bugs will be reported automatically on GitHub by a team member. While we would prefer users to follow this to be able to discuss bugs and reproduction, we won’t reject issues posted directly on GitHub if you prefer that method.
• We’ll be moving to a GitFlow workflow for our main repository.
• We’ll be running scheduled releases so that you can expect regular updates for your forum (this won’t affect security releases).

Summary

These changes are all about cleaning up, refreshing and changing the way the MyBB project works to focus on our primary aim – to make great forum software – and for others to help us do that.

We’ll be making most of these changes this Friday, 1st November. Development changes will happen at a later date and more information will be available soon.

Q&A

The prospect of a Q&A has been openly suggested quite a few times and I’m pleased to say that, alongside these changes, several team members and I will be available this weekend to take your questions. Look out for a thread in the Community and on Twitter for more details of this.

We hope to see you there!

MyBB Team