I never released that hack because I couldn't contact you.

There definitely needs to be permission asking before using the idea of someone elses hack or similar code. Eg. From 3.0 to 3.5 hacks. However, PMing someone on vB.org only asking for permission isn't exactly going to all reasonable lengths to contact the author.

Maybe that should be defined?

The idea behind distributing software for free on the internet should be about the sharing of knowledge not the power or grip over an idea.

Trying to lock everyone here into being able to only code a *new idea* or *new hack* is quite frankly counter productive to this community. If you're toing to start touting that people need to ask permission to use the idea of someone elses hack you are effectively cutting the hack community off at the knees.

If someone wants to retain the ownership of a hack then they shouldn't post it out here for free. They are in essence giving away the hack for nothing... I do believe in giving credit where credit is due but the idea of someone owning the concept of a hack is ridiculous.

"There definitely needs to be permission asking before using the idea of someone elses hack or similar code. Eg. From 3.0 to 3.5 hacks"

I disagree -- alot of vb2 hacks have been rewritten by other people to accomplish the same functionality in vb3. Alot of hack are directly inspired by hacks and/or default features of other forum software... where do we draw the line of "idea"?

As for updating others hacks to work with a new release,... well, most people code a hack to accomplish something that they need for thier own site and not every author sticks around or can even be reached to update thier hacks.

People are very possessive about thier hacks - its thier vb e-peen. I can understand that they dont want thier code used in hacks released outside of vb.org or thier code in releases for other forum software, etc.

At the same time, alot of hacks use functionality from the vbulletin software - if not in whole then deffinitely in part. In the same spirit we should be allowing people to extend upon and update hacks -- just make sure that everyone gets the credit they are due.