I can only speak for myself but I certainly am not at a level with this board to be able to do that yet, even then I am more of a help someone out for the sake of it type of guy. For the most part that's how I learn this stuff. Time and knowledge permitting I will do anything I can for free, that's probably also why my site barely makes any money. ;)

Actually i take back my post - upon reading some of the major hacks i now see why some people have choosen to grant help only on their forums.As Zachery said above they do it out of their own pocket which is true and who am i to knock em for that.Maybe i was out of hand with my post,but i just sort of relised that after reading a few replies to basically any hack - you will always get those who can install it fine and then u get those who no matter what it says in the instructions still run into problems.So can see how a thread can soon spiral out of control as theirs about a million and 1 things that people are asking.
Yep i was wrong and will admit it.

[high]* lasto shys away :)[/high]

Another thing that happens is that one little things often spirals into something major i.e. Will you help me with this template edit, then you help and they keep wanting more and more. To me, at that point when someone cuts out of the thread it's understandable, it can be a catch 22 sometimes.

i believe giving support on an off site forum is a good idea since it most likely where the coder will visit everyday. I also believe it makes everything alot more searchable and accessable for browsing members. That is why for every hack i make, big or small, i provide a support forum on site(guests can post of course in those forums). So some may do it out of trying to get people to register but i think its easier on the coder and user to have a separate forum for the hack. i have to say its alot more organized and easier to read;)

We here at vBulletin.org are considering having forums and subforums for major add-ons for vBulletin. We can see that for large hacks, having just 1 support thread is not enough. This issue is being discussed by staff.