Quote from: JeromeTash on February 03, 2025, 09:55:27 PM

Is there any chance that we shall use the newer versions of SMF in the future, or we shall just stick to this current one?

There would be some benefits to upgrading, but there aren't actually that many differences between 1.x and 2.x, so it hasn't been a priority. I could see it happening someday, but not anytime soon; there are tons of differences between bitcointalk.org and stock SMF 1.x, so it'd be a very major project.

Quote from: hugeblack on February 04, 2025, 07:57:14 AM

How much did this investment cost?

The total amount spent was $5.9 million, spread across 11 years.

Quote from: hugeblack on February 04, 2025, 07:57:14 AM

And what is the future plan to develop the forum software?

I'm very hesitant to undertake any major projects again anytime soon. So I'm mainly planning on incremental improvements to the current software, on the same trajectory as the last several years, but perhaps a bit faster since Epochtalk is no longer consuming time and money.

Quote from: BenCodie on Today at 01:25:22 AM

Reportedly 11,000 BTC were donated toward creating this new forum software.

That's not true. 3116 BTC was donated, with a total value-at-time-of-transaction of just $68k. The remainder comes from advertising/fee revenue, with a total value-at-time-of-transaction of $3.2 million. And then much more value came from capital gains. Furthermore, donations were meant to be a way of supporting the forum in general terms; it wasn't like some Kickstarter project. The main pages about donations didn't mention the software project at all, and almost all donations were made before that project even started.

Quote from: Synchronice on February 04, 2025, 09:39:54 PM

Do you plan to compete other social platforms and make this forum more popular like it was during its glory days?

I don't think that that will ever happen, realistically. This whole style of forum is just not as popular anymore. To have even a chance of making it as popular as it was in its glory days, the whole structure of the forum would have to change, and I think that it's more important to retain the fundamental soul of the forum. So I envision the forum perpetually existing as a place for a certain niche crowd who still appreciates this kind of forum. This doesn't mean stagnation: the forum can still grow and improve while remaining niche.