With the recent release of MyBB 1.8.16 reports are coming in of various bugs and template changes affecting with all themes.
Us too here has been affected as I upgraded as soon as it came out and was awake.
So this is requiring me to do a State of Address to publicly address this issue and our stance on things.
I am also going to explain some thoughts about us upgrading, MyBB, QA, polish and other things about running forums etc and ways everyone can get better and benefit.

We know that MyBB 1.9 is meant to break everything theme wise, but everyone was and is expecting the current 1.8.xx branch versions to be non or minor breaking changes and fixes.
We also expected a documented list of template changed codes that were needed to bring out running theme templates up to the new point release standard.

MyBB staff are currently reviewing the release of 1.8.16 and what happened with lack of feedback etc and will be releasing 1.8.17 within the week to fix the extra bugs and will be changing some procedures in how future versions are managed with being rolled out

What has happened from the public statements I read in in response to my inquiries etc was MyBB didn't have enough testers for this version nor did anyone tell them any of these bugs were going on, so they pushed the update live feeling it was adequate for most users without knowing the true impacts of what was going on.
Instead what happened was a range of bugs and changes that has impacted most users from login issues, missing icons, thread closed message and icon, extra comma in index, report function broken and others.

Please note that no-one is to specifically blame here for these issues, its a combination of many things that has caused this to happen.
Also please no bullying or putting the developers down at MyBB, its not nice or called for , do not vent your frustrations out at them turn your frustrations into positive reinforcement and constructive thoughts about future change.

The combination I can see that has caused these issues are:

• Not enough testers for this version
  
• Not enough people caring
  
• No proper notices for testing (blog, homepage, in the users own forums as a announcement)
  
• No proper pre-release version for everyone to run themselves on a test board and provide feedback with
  
• Pushing a version that was inadequately documented and tested
  
• Not enough public communication in relevant noticeable areas
  
• Developers are not normally public relations people so they tend to develop without realising to tell the public or know that the public may not be as technically minded
  
• Not enough procedures and checks in place for rollout to mitigate issues
  

None of these are MyBB direct fault as such given the way the forum has been run and managed with developers not enough time as it is and not enough procedures put in place.

The way it can be mitigated in future releases could consist of a range of things not just limited to this list:

• Expanded in board announcement section in the mybb forum software with categories to highlight different types of notices to users
  
• Adding and pushing public prerelease beta versions users can run on test boards in between the stables
  
• Expanding the version tag in the software to show 'Current' and 'Latest' version as well as tags Stable / PreRelease etc and add URLs to the version numbers to highlight differences
  
• Expanding the MyBB blog to incorporate categories on different types of content updates, news, etc, etc
  
• Assigning someone as a dedicated document, spokesperson who's goal is to document and be the mybb face of PR (this is hard to do)
  
• Liaising more with the public on improving back end and consumer relations
  
• Creating a more open environment like say Microsoft did with 'insiders' using the public as direct beta and bug report testing environment for prereleases
  
• Automating more back end processes with error checking and other tools
  
• Creating more of a closer interaction with the community then a 'we are developers we don't owe you anything' mentality I have seen from some people.
  

There are many other ways MyBB can improve and we should be letting them know the best and nicest ways possible.
There is no point saying you have been butthurt etc over this it doesn't help anyone.
We need to make lists of positive reinforcement and let them know what we expect as users as well as to help them improve themselves for us.

While we don't owe each other anything technically, we have a obligation as MyBB users to ensure that MyBB is run in a safe happy, positive, environment and that we advise them wherever we can on customer relation and process improvements,
They are building this forum software for us as users and community leaders, and as such we owe it to them to be those leaders to voice and express our communities desires, wants, needs and to encourage them whenever we can.
Remember we wouldn't have our communities without the forum software whether its SMF. PHPBB, Xenforo, Invasion, Vanilla etc etc.

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My views on who should be running a forum:

There has also been discussions that users should not need to know coding to run forum software.
In my view forum software is directly a web based service so in order to run a web based service you need some understanding of web based administration.
No you don't need to be a systems level coder or anything but you need enough knowledge about how web sites, scripts and even how the web servers themselves are run and managed and to be able to diagnose and fix basic and common sense minor code change issues that pop up based on browser, os and other changes.

If you don't know how to run and manage a web service or have any understanding on how web servers are run, setup and maintained then running a forum isn't the way to go and you should hire or partner with someone who does know about administration of web based services and servers.
It's the same policy as if you were trying to run a kitchen serving food to customers but had no cooking or kitchen management skills.
Just because one is passionate enough shouldn't mean they should run something.
Likewise don't put a beer fan or drunk with no management or drink creating skills in charge of a brewery as the saying goes.

I am fine if people are passionate and want to create their own community, but in order to do so you need someone that can administrator and maintain the platform and services.
You also need to ask yourself why you want to create a community in the first place and what you personally are going to get out of it for yourself and how you are going to manage and maintain your community.
If you can't run or manage something yourself, then get someone else to do it for you or look for alternative platforms etc.
Forum software is web based and you need someone that can manage, administer, diagnose and fix web based services and if you are hosting yourself you also need to know server, email and other types of management.

Remember our communities rely and expect us to have and grow the skills required to keep the services they use running smoothly from the forums, email, server and its running processes itself and other things like keeping regular backups, security of their personal and other information and many other things.
We are administrators as as such we need to administer and maintain the services our communities use.

If you want to run to run a community and don't have basic web and management skills as mentioned you need to get someone who can do that stuff, because if something breaks on your end or there is a conflict like PHP, MYSQL, apache version, port forwarding, email server, backup or even server OS and hardware issues, it needs to be fixed and is out the realm of the forum software as that is your priority to fix in a timely manner to avoid downtime and other issues.
You are the one that needs to fix that stuff for your community, clients etc.

Aslo with social media facebook, google+, discord and many others it's far easier than it ever has been to run a community with no web knowledge as they are premade multi group and purpose platforms managed by proper companies , Google, Facebook etc that have their own web management teams who work 24/7 keeping those platforms up.

---

What about us?

As for our community as we are still young and no-one really comes here yet It is ok to update and see whats what.
In the past I ran a Minecraft community and waited on updates as we had over forty, third party plugins yet I was screamed at that we should update not wait a week.
With what's happened with MyBB 1.8.16 these are the exact reasons why I never jumped to update before on production servers as a update can break your server and ways you do things.
For here I am trying to take a more laid back open approach where we can have the opportunity to update as to new security and other versions quickly.
I also want this community to grow with us where we go through the ups and downs together so the ongoing work is very open here for now for us to grow and work on building this community together.

Though in saying that I have toyed with the idea of a dedicated testing and update server which can be rolled out with a new update before we apply it here to diagnose and detect any issues.
However with the current bugged theme and limited member numbers that isn't worth it at this stage, as such as we aren't exactly at that level of stability as it is.
However once and if we do get to that level of stability and have a decent user base I will be implementing a proper separate update and test forum install, I currently have a development test install I was using before we went live with this forum which needs to be redone as is.

I will be making some minor changes to the back end and ways I look at implementing updates in the future.

What you have stated in this post is very true!

However, I do like to focus on one annoying issue that I find it popping up all the time, not just because of the fiasco of the release of 1.8.16, but other releases in the past.

This is what I want to focus on: ' Creating more of a closer interaction with the community then a 'we are developers we don't owe you anything' mentality I have seen from some people.'

During the past 19 months, I've been running MyBB and often when I come to MyBB.com for assistance and/or support on issues that I have ran across I have seen comments by those 'developers' who have this elitist attitude about them and they often are not very good in giving out solutions to the issues.
Often, those developers will say... "Read the manual!". I would reply, "Hmm... I have READ the manual!"
The MyBB.com manual isn't always well thought out and do leave out a lot of steps that needs to be taken to resolve an issue.
Often, when I read the MyBB.com manual, I'm always left wondering... "Wait... there got to be more steps involved in solving this issue." However, I am left hanging trying to figure out what those steps are.
Then, I get the "brush back" from the developers and I end up flinging my arms up and yelling out loud, "WTF! I give up!".

I KNOW that I am not the only one that feels that way when I see those kinds of postings from the team of MyBB.com.

I have been very fortunate that I found another admin for my website who is pretty good at coding and troubleshooting a lot of stuff that goes on my website.
In fact, my admin (0xB9) has found numerous exploits in a lot of the plugins that are in the 'Extend' section of MyBB.com. He's that good in finding exploits and other vulnerabilities in plugins.
This THREAD and this THREAD are 2 of the many exploits that 0xB9 has found.
If it wasn't for 0xB9, I would have closed down my website last year.

I know there are many other websites, running on MyBB software, have closed down due to the above issue that I just described.

Bottom line is this... the developers at MyBB.com need to get the act together and realize that not everyone is a high-end coder or well versed in dealing with SQL databases.

I do agree that there needs to be a Public Relations person to handle all of that.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind it so much if MyBB software did become a PAID software in the lines of Xenforo, which requires a yearly fee.

Granted MyBB software doesn't need to require a high fee like Xenforo. Like $25 USD/£25/€25 per year seems reasonable and fair to all.

The money can be used to hire part-time PR and dedicated developers to alleviate a lot of the issues that have plaqued MyBB.

I have seen this mentality with most developers they don't design for the general person but the more technical thinking people are capable of working through things.
Or they will want to leave any user experience to the last minute in development, I have seen this with the ReactOS project a few years back.
They wanted to do any graphics, themes for the OS etc right at the end and get compatibility out but they were struggling with gaining developers and recognition, however they reevaluated their processes after two failed crowdfunding campaigns which hardly got off the ground where they tried to get funding for more development.

It started with them asking the community for what XP compatible apps they wanted to be compatible with the OS and prioritizing those.
As well they started working on a theme for the OS people asked for, to make the OS pretty would give a better first impression for people.
They also automated most of there processes with better error checking etc.
As well they redid their website to something of a nicer design.
And recently in the last year they announced that compatibility would be shifted from XP / Server 2003 to the latest windows versions in both software and hardware.
Also they announced non windows features like using BTRFS instead of NTFS as the install drive which is a file system used in NAS devices like my Synology as its better than EXT4.
This process is still ongoing and has taken the last 2 years but in saying that they have tripled their development or so by doing this and gotten way more people interested in the project, code is being added and fixed faster than ever before and more people now know about this open source version of windows.

Their development team went from this is what we want to do and compatibility is set as x to asking the community what they want and what would help generate interest and changing to accommodate the best they could to that stuff.

ReactOS is one example how a team creating a open source windows compatible operating system went from having no-one cares except the core developers because they were developing for 18 year old compatibility which was leaving there project behind to now engaging with the community and a bright development road ahead of them.

MyBB just needs to realise and work with the community and it can happen also.

As for what I said in this article on user skills, I'm mainly talking about those that are creating and hopfully have the goals for bigger more mainstream public community orientated sites where liability and legalities etc also come into play.
I have no issues with someone without any skills downloading and using MyBB or anything else, I started there myself, everyone has to learn somewhere and its always good to start by self learning and trial and error.
Anyone doing this needs to know that its better to learn a bit of everything involved HTML, CSS , MySQL, Server and Email management, Apache and php ini directives etc etc all of which need to be setup and maintained for web services.
It's actually a great learning tool for learning a bit of everything as to fix or improve something you will be using and adjusting a bit of everything in some way.
If someone wants a small community for his mates in school or something and wants to learn go ahead, it's the best way.
Facebook was started as a 'in school network' chat community for the students, 4chan was started in a guys basement while he was a student.

Using things like MyBB and other forms of software, even running your own server and learning I encourage as its how I am doing things now I may not a web or server manager with a degree etc or have the skills of many others but I am learning them as I go with the community.

So my whole point about skills was if someone has no desire or skills to learn then this isn't the right area for them, if they have a desire to learn and grow and are just starting out learning about servers software like communities etc, start of small and take things one step and thing learned at a time, as long as you are learning both front and back ends of things and are not jumping in too big it's all good.

This is why I am happy for this community to be small but dedicated for a while and go from there.

I have plans to create a YouTube channel and other things, but I want to get established on this first and a team going so we can all manage this together as joint community leaders.

Even a small social group within friends in school on a forum these people are leading the way in bringing people together as a community and social club and enabling them to share content between them even just in small ways.

My 2 cents,

If BB's it is to be 'complicated' and developer-minded then their days are numbered.
It's no wonder that big companies ditched vBulletin and went to other solutions which don't offer this kind of issues.

Before I had my kind of board, I never saw an Admin CP and that should have stopped me?! Nope!
But I spin servers I know the basics to run them… knowing that, you adjust and ask for help

If we're discussing the ton of files you have on a board and the level of php, css, html you need to run a board
then yes hire, partner or find whatever solution that works for you.
But the easy way it's a hosted and managed board system

Before I had anything I went also checking vBulletin; Xenforo and MyBB

The idea that these subscription pilgrims spread, sounds nice
but if you use a calculator and have brains you can't really turn to a vBulletin or a pumped-up xenforo with all the bells and whistles.
It just doesn't work for small or mid sized communities unless you want to feed a cash cow

MyBB has severe issues from the user standpoint. My opinion!

 1st if you can't ensure a fresh and maintained set of plugins and skins for the boards you release…
why do you built a BB CMS?

I never saw a default BB skin of any dev that would 'entice' me… do you know of any?!
This is the intro 


 2nd Why don't they clean up all old plugins and shove them in a zone where you warn people u got a ton of tweaks to do to make them work with current versions
(i hope nobody will say … look at the date… or at the compatible version)
that is bad for the trust you need to earn from your userbase
Why… because you will try them and feel bad because it broke a ton of things… that is how user trust is gone!

3rd Please don't call Documentation to that thing MyBB has, 
I can think of 2 or 3 for indy or open source or whatever you wish to call them that have real documentation, videos, Q&A's you name it

Facts are if you need help you better go inside the community, ask and be prepared for any sort of mood
I can't complaint about it, but I've read on my searches some answers I wouldn't 'diggest' so well

I agree with basically everything you both say about devs
They aren't usually the best PR you can have (but if a dev is doing it then he better realize people may not understand all the 'mandarin' language' he speaks)


I would just send them to nextcloud and tell them to click on communitty and look at the menu only
Only that beats the crap of MyBB and their PR geniuses
This is so true that these nextcloud guys release auto updates almost weekly… and they have quite a set of 'plugins' they vouch for!

That works perfect for me (production ready and if a glitch say on mobile happens it gets solved in a snap) This builds trust and helpers to your project

Nextcloud isn't a BB, but it's an excellent example of how you can do things the right way and gain track and support your userbase
(essential for indy, startups, open source projects or small companies)

Maybe they don't get that good documentation frees community leaders to really assist people in their bugs and issues
(a dev on a support seat or knows how to behave like a community leader or shouldn't do it PERIOD)

I am the kind of guy that will take it's time to learn the ropes and will ask for help 100 times if needed hire if needed
but i like things to work… (isn't this the way how it was supposed to be)

thanks, drguild about the warning on the update
(or 'the thing' that was supposed to be an update)

They have to review how they are structured, if they wish to be taken seriously by users
(then and only then you can ask admins to sandbox betas)

On 1.9 breaking everything… loooooltry to tell me that in a constructive way Is there one…

Well some security updates, login sessions etc etc they are deferring to later as it will break stuff if they fixed those exploits.
This is one reason why breaking stuff to fix a exploit is OK but needs to be timed right with critical fixes done first.
Last thing is for a forum logins and users to be exploited because the developers didn't want to break anything and maintain compatibility so they didn't fix stuff even if it would break compatibility.

eg:

Devilshakerz Wrote:some publicly-known exceptions that are deferred with accepted risk due to limited resources (e.g. weak session system, password storage or the entire ACP section written insecurely - https://github.com/mybb/mybb/issues/3126) and expected to be addressed in future branches.

Fixes like these are unfortunately going to break more stuff and require more theme template changes.
So I am fine with them breaking stuff to fix as above but they need to document and explain what is done better.

My post on their board is here.

Documentation is something it seems we all agree on,
We all don't want exploits but in order to do so we need to patch things up even in the templates and that breaks stuff.
The only way is for us to just not update at all, but then exploits happen from bots searching for exploitable versions and yes it happens all too often just look at your apache error logs which will be littered with bots searching for open or exploitable services.

Just like these in my logs this is a back end spoof exploit for older vulnerabilities that won't work on my system as is:


I have even had my personal blog wordpress install I run exploited once which I reported the pastbin directory which was used as their file server for collecting information, the install was up to date but seemed not much damage was done as a result of keeping up to date.

We also have regular ip's scanning for exploits if you notice in the who's online there's a 54. ip listed which that range is assigned to Amazon Inc so I know its not Amazon themselves but could be a spoofed IP scanning which does happen.
As long as its doing no damage which it isn't there is nothing to worry about as its normal for scans to happen.

So this is why keeping up with security patches are important regardless if your worried about stuff eg themes etc breaking.

So end of tangent.

The best we can do is try to work with the changes and adjust our own servers accordingly the onus isn't just on MyBB but on us for keeping up to date both forums and back end services apache, php, mysql etc installs and applying any security changes to our customised templates etc.

Also a note on plugins it's not MyBB's responsibility to manage them, they are 3rd party addons just like its not Apple or Google's responsibility to police all individual apps and anything that break in them when the developer has disappeared for a year.
It's not Googles job to fix a app that breaks for example if who they are using say a ISP they are using as a 3rd party provider for a data logger tool changes logins credentials.
However if Google or Apple changes something, I'll talk more Apple as its happened more, they end up forcing all apps to change to the new officially documented API's or be removed from the app store.
Also if a app is abandoned Apple now removes it from their store.

I used to run a minecraft server with over 40 plugins on Bukkit, plugins would get abandoned and break all the time on updates to Minecraft and Bukkit server versions, I only tried to stay with the bigger plugins to avoid the single user making a plugin and andoning it straight away but updates, plugins etc affect everything even games like Minecraft as I know all too well changing and finding alternative plugs for things we did and used over time.

So with that tangent MyBB should notify the community of API changes and its up to the developers of those apps to update to those changes.
Some developers have even started asking for money if users want to update their free MyBB apps with the latest API changes and revisions.
Also more MyBB developers are charging for support for their apps.

Basically if a MyBB app is at a compatible API then its up to the developer to fix that app of they wish to support the app.
How MyBB defines a plugin API level could be improved somewhat from branch version number to a actual api level and each major revision of plugin code gets a new API tag number applied.

We should also take cues from Wordpress etc but even they they suffer much the same with older apps showing being years outdated.
How we change is a entire topic on its own we could start on the MyBB boards.
But ultimately there needs to be a system at a API level and some kind of official api approved tag for apps which has passed checks etc or non approved apps etc.
If developers want to keep there 'Approved by MyBB' 'Approved MyBB 3rd Party Developer' tag they need to follow a set of MyBB guidelines for maintaining and keeping their apps updated.
Which is actually a great idea and just came to me we should definitely pass this along to MyBB.

Security issues, we all understand that have to be addressed
minimizing the wreck it will generates it's their responsibility!

If it costs me a dime, it will take me 1 step on the road for a change

In today and age, you got docker, you tons of ways to get them running flawlessly on your server without being a SysAdmin,
in some cases, you can be a 'dummy'* and it just works also!

Take DigitalOcean for example… droplets  
Why are they HUGE now? Ease of use! Also w/a ton of tutorials done for the 100% human being
and the droplet 'system' that installs all for you… It's 2018 brilliant!
Oh but you pay more… nobody cares!
It's easy, fast, reliable and has support

Take NextCloud or OwnCloud
e.g. Yesterday I had a notification to update an app called Deck… click update DONE
Yes all these apps are production ready (but you can also choose to use betas)
this is brilliant and also 2018
I got a server running nextcloud for 6 months nonstop and I went on terminal …twice
all excuses for 'open source' are gone

MyBB is 2005 from their site to their docs…
to the ACP to the UI… and I am being sweet sayin 2005
Do some searches for plugins or themes
and look at release dates of the results it shows
The message they send to any new user > hey we got 800 outdated plugins + 200 bugged skins for you… we don't check that… go risk it yourself
Is this good for business, does it build trust?

We are all on the same Web, use the same or similar apps, we all know what a slick UI is (it's easy and just works!)
now open acp and compare… try to seduce me to ur open source product with that

On how they structured themselves
being indy and open-source is a very lame excuse not to back up the userbase

Of course, they have to check who does themes and plugins for them,
at the end of the day if all breaks… no matter what, you will think MyBB it's a crap (I call it bad business)
People and companies like 'reliable' and like 'predictable.'

Having the best 15 themes and the best 15 plugins is that so hard to check?
Your putting a MyBB certified seal on it's simply smart (very good for business)… builds trust
you having it inside your board for immediate installation AND update it's 2018 user friendly.

My example, I'm a regular guy but i got a business plan
On the $ aspects: Doing my math I expect to spend X ammount defined in quarters and yearly
servers, domains, special features planned to be added, it can be a paid plugin, a hired freelancer, a 100% responsive skin
plus 25% of the yearly budget for an emergency (this for me means Havoc) so it's not to be used!

If 1.9 will break all my theme, it will probably mess with my bus.plan excel file and I hate it!
Predictability is gone!

I am a individual, now go explain that to a small/mid sized company that uses freelancers on demand?! Many don't have them on call, no $ or are 'touchy' about the ROI on web investments in general
Community building for brands it's a blooming business - explain that to a guy who writes the check lol
 MyBB has the easy way… oh I don't owe you shit- we all know where that leads to.
Users say ok but won't swallow it!
The 2 versions path is something that works
for any open-source or startup

1 BB REALLY supported and paid nonthly/yearly (or they create a bullet proof hosting platform worries free)
1 smaller BB  indy free board version (but a good one)
and they simply go scouting on the forum for help - they could and should

The issue is since devs don't always show the respect they should, that is bad,  since we all know they are who own the MyBB project.
You tell me to take a hike > send me to the manual and then please help me???? In your dreams

Would I help them in my field? No! Why… they gave me a old looking BB - thank you because it was free, it's all I can say!
If Nextcloud, and I am ok to get 4/5 emails daily, asks for anything I may help… I will!
Why… they support me by giving me a trully stable environment, that simple!

Scouting for them won't be easy, I would go supporting and encouraging the good developers that update and are serious about it, get them a highlight on the page to reward them get the updated all first
and shove all outdated crap deep inside the site

That would be a sign of respect to who really supports them (in life it ain't all about $ sometimes recognition worths more)

The communitty side of MyBB should be ran by who knows a bit of each area and also by certified plugins
and people to where you can escalate ur support needs
(use a fracking CRM… collect support questions, and in 1 month you know what people want and ask for)

drguild… send them to nextcloud to learn a thing or two
I just think they don't listen that well…


I don't see them capable of changing all that, but I hope to be wrong…
by this, I am not saying they aren't doing the best they can do. However, it's proven it's not enough

Maybe it's that time to stop for a week look inside the structure and ask all branches of MyBB what their analysis is
also smart to ask to who uses it 

The amateur approach they have won't help them in the long run

They can't go head to head to xenforo, vBulletin, InVision
but they could have a dual development line to generate some income,
that means devs rewarded, certified plugin dev paid also. 

Security issues, sounds like we're out of system lol

I don't want exploits but spare me when say it will break a lot of things
they better make sure they don't… it's better




Apple does check apps and deny a ton of them
Google doesn't care they want zillions on the store
Wordpress: if you choose the best plugins ($)
and a few things like don't name the db WP_
change the admin page and put 2 free security plugins your good to go.

(07-13-2018, 04:50 PM)showbis Wrote: -- SNIP --

Take DigitalOcean for example… droplets  
Why are they HUGE now? Ease of use! Also w/a ton of tutorials done for the 100% human being
and the droplet 'system' that installs all for you… It's 2018 brilliant!
Oh but you pay more… nobody cares!
It's easy, fast, reliable and has support

Take NextCloud or OwnCloud
e.g. Yesterday I had a notification to update an app called Deck… click update DONE
Yes all these apps are production ready (but you can also choose to use betas)
this is brilliant and also 2018

-- SNIP --

WTF???

What you are showing here are products that are way overpriced for what it does.

Also, none of them (from what I can see) are NOT true CMS software. MyBB is a true CMS software.

So, I'm not certain what point you are trying to make here, but what you are saying seems illogical to me.

What @drguild is discussing is directly related to MyBB software, not the other overpriced software you referencing.

@Serpius

maybe you don't look to well into things then…
both cloud softwares have free versions (what i have installed costs me 1€/month in hosting)
so you looked but you didn't see it…

Will I be discussing with you what then?
maybe i could say WTF but we didn't went to school together....

I am not even going to mention again CMS's for real
I was 6 months trying BB's checking plugins and reading all i could get in front
on MyBB wasn't the smartest choice for many reasons

The next time support send you to read the manual. Think on it

Thanks for your valuable opinion

Look I don't want this thread to turn into a argument we are a support community here.

showbis in order for things to change things need to break its that simple if they left the theme templates and plugin compatibility as is and changed everything else with no code updates in those areas just to not upset you that could cause issues.

Template exploits
- Templates have inline javascript some javascript is written bad that a bot or malicious code on your computer could compromise even a bad plugin could take advantage of a exploit here.
- Javascript exploits can be launched client side.

Plugin exploits
- A exploit left unpatched could mean someone could install a bad plugin which ruins everything.
- Sure les risky as they are severside
- A client side exploit could also compromise a forum with a vulnerable plugin (It's happened to wordpress etc before)

Now showbis your saying you don't like changes that break things, so are you happy then to accept risk of MyBB not security updating templates with fixes which affect any theme without the fix applied and could be exploited?
If not then how do you suggest MyBB update your custom templates which some you may have modified yourself?
Do you expect a MyBB representative to go on your board for every update and apply the code changes for you themselves?

If you don't like your themes breaking on updates cause a template or javascript code has changed for a high level security fix, then you need to work out how you personally want these issues addressed and for your code to be updated and tailored to work with you and your workflow and let MyBB know this.

With 1.9 and the TWIG & Composer, templating system themes and code are going to be changed so you can just make sub or addition changes which is more inline in how other software like wordpress works.
You will just be able to just apply custom code as a sub file structure leaving the rest of the template as is so any changes are handled by the backend.
Also core functions and code are going to be moved out of the template system like Javascript to a seperate area so they can be updated outside of themes meaning all custom templates should break less on back end changes with how a core function is run being more back end maintained by MyBB and and others separately from the theme rather than directly in the theme files.

Now these requires templates to be redesigned as you can't do this without changing how the system fundamentally works.
Every forum software this happens to with new core versions VB, Xenforo, SMF etc etc

Likewise Xenforo 2.0 came out recently end of last year and and changed compatibility with all plugins to themes to newer standards, SMF is also changing compatibility with version 2.1 from the current 2.0 version.

Wordpress has a version compatibility system in the plugin area there is a 'Compatible with your version of WordPress' tick and a 'Untested with your version of WordPress' tag.
This is for current compatibility not future compatibility if the owner decides to abandon the plugin etc.
Also Kodi Media player is using plugins and themes they have a official 'This Add-On is marked as Broken' tag if a plugin no longer works.

Also there are 3rd party plugins and themes etc for web browsers and some break on updates to the web browsers.
Likewise Thunderbird email client is going to be changing or has changed core compatibility with all plugins to improve backend and how it runs with security and functionality.
How many times has Chrome told me a plugin is outdated or a plugin has been disabled because of a policy change with the way Chrome works, also I have read of bad Chrome plugins causing security issues like the recent thing that certain chrome extensions can read your emails.

Remember currently all themes and plugins for most software are in the 'user space' meaning its not MyBB or other company made, so it's up to users to fix those same as plugins.
Also they have done well with keeping plugin compatibility, you mention soo many old plugins but a lot last updated in 2015 still work on latest boards.
It's ultimately to up to users if they want to update them or not just as if anyone one of us made our own theme and plugins and we don't want to maintain them anymore.

Compatibility changes all the time with all software it's just a way things are.
The only way is to run a set version and never update again, then again you miss out on new features, security and other updates, open yourself up to exploits etc etc.

Even any content posted on our boards by members if they develop something as showbis you are starting up a gaming mod and asset board it's up to your users if they keep the software, tools and assets for that game updated to changes in the game and OS's, people could easily go and complain at you directly because you are a community about assets and tools that it's your responsibility to keep all these thousands of assets updated and not have broken links etc.
Also you and your members video and other guides might be outdated in time and people will complain your guides are not up to date and you are responsible.

MyBB could do something similar to these Wordpress and Kodi with various tags to show level of compatible with themes and plugins.
So showbis I would suggest you listen to this advice on tags compatible / broken / untested etc for your own community and users when it opens.

Sure they could do plugin and theme organisation better and this is what MyBB needs to work on more and they need us a community leaders to share our voices on how they can do this better.

This is what I mean it's not just MyBB that has user plugins, themes, assets, mods etc but as communities we may also be sharing and hosting such content ourselves along with other software like Kodi, other boards like SMF, Xenforo etc.
Even Minecraft faces this same issue with them having a open community and people just moving on from Minecraft to other things leaving their plugins etc abandoned which break on Minecraft updates.

When I was running Minecraft config files would change every single update with plugins for new or removed features and I would have have to rewrite 20-30 plugin config files some with hundreds of lines by comparison every update with the changes comparing the diffs myself.

So compatibility and changes isn't unique to MyBB its a common thing everywhere.
How software can better present this user space information to the user with changes is key to going forward and something that people try to address in different ways.

As for NAS, cloud and other devices there plugins are known as curated, meaning they are made in partnership and endorsement with the company and adhere to certain standards also to become curated means they need to meet certain expectations in updates, team and other management etc.
Also you will notice that the plugins are just a smaller selection mby 50-100 max plugins.
Then some also have a community areas for non directly curated plugins by bigger community teams, though a lot can be classified as use at your own risk still.

Now MyBB could take on a system like that with a curated endorsement system, but it will mean there will be a lot less plugins for things and people may feel that if a plugin isn't curated and recommended its unsafe to use and harmful, especially given the level of most MyBB users I have seen, they are alreaddy asking this about most currently compatible plugins for new versions that haven't had a update within the last month.

The thing is as admins of boards and community leaders we should have the smarts to see how our board runs and how we feel it can do and be maintained better.
We also need to pass that information along to the developers of the board and plugins, especially if we want a better end user experience for ourselves as administrators.
There is no point getting all annoyed and telling how MyBB or anyone else is crap and 'doing it wrong' and you won't give them any feedback cause its pointless.
As a support community we are here to try to find ways to support others to move forward and that includes MyBB.
I have alreaddy given a few suggestions to the MyBB team and they have implemented Pre Releases which was something I suggested a week ago and have hopfully taken other feedback on board for the future.

We need to find that balance where MyBB can develop and users can develop without things changing all the time and a way users can know if things are working, compatible or not.

If you don't like the system then you need tell them so in a very polite way without being rude, assess your options on what you can do to help or what better suits your environment, but however most software with a open user development space will have some issues with people moving on from their work, or to other systems or whatever.

Also Euan T developer of MyBB has personally thanked us and the MyBB community from himself and the team for all the 'Pre Release' suggestions which they decided to do instantly for this new upcoming 1.8.17 version, While there has been issues with making it more seen publicly on their forums, it has helped to identify some back end bugs on why that happened and some future changes and procedures the team can do and take to accommodate more public information and testing releases.

Euan T has stated that its a first for them this Pre Release and they are very happy with how it has been and are very hopeful for the future to continue and expand this to other areas as its been very beneficial to them.

This is what it's all about and why we are also known as a 'support' community as we will try to do our best to think things over the best and logical we can to support others.

I may have high standards and can see soo many changes for the better, but I think things through on the best way people can support others without letting ourselves get defensive and being pushy or controlling and I believe everyone deserves the right to hear things in the most compassionate down to earth realistic way regardless how we think and feel about them and the way they do things.

I and this community will continue to support the forum software with new and improved ideas taking into account lots of things as well as members.

We are all on this journey together so let's all work together for the future benefit of others.

Extra: Euan T is really flying at the moment on the MyBB board with customer support and responses responding to reports about them being added to git etc, he seems very pumped at the moment over things and that's great.
Even I feel a bit pumped with the Pre Release and the positive feedback about my various suggestions, I feel all fuzzy inside