Browsing mods yesterday... viewed a Demo link and BAM! Ripped style... this will never end and best not to think about it unless your developing a solution... good attempt Xphusion w/ the watermarks but when they find one of your clients site not using the watermarked images as they have the paid version... it's thiers then. Also what about all the new downloader add-ons for firefox and IE etc??

You can just about DL entire forums these days and piece them together which is sad, thank goodness not everyone is code savvy eh?

Like I said, don't let it stress you UNTIL you NEED to address the issue in regards to yourself. I do take the time to report suspected pirated themes to their owners though.... that is less than a minute process and I consider it respectful to say the least.

S-MAN

Edit: I still LOVE that sig Shelley C :D

good points Michael...

everybody can download a complete site for Offline Browsing, which is not considered leeching, as Mozilla, Apple and Microsoft are including a specific TOS for it... the bug comes when you resell or re-release it.

anyway, the best way for you to not see your style leeched is to avoid a copyright notice in the theme... these thingies are indexed by google... go search for "vbulletin", and 99% of the results are copyright lines in the footer, these are not even sites related to vbulletin code, hack, etc... it's hard for anybody to find a real vbulletin site because of this, but very easy for leechers to find a style and leech it.

yes nexi thats why i dont use Text based © just for that reason heh i put my © on an image that way i can completly remove the text based © from the footer.

I know this is NO way right now to completly prevent the ripping goin on...but there has to be ways to slow it down and what i think ..is all the designers need to sorta band together in a small forum somewhere and try to come up with a good solution to slowing this kinda stuff down cause doing somthing like that would prob benefit the community.

I use to be a designer for php-nuke but the ripping GOT so dam bad i just had to leave...so i came over to VB...to find out its the same over here (not as bad) but its here aswell and its sad to see such a great portal like vb have to deal with this kinda Shat

It's not just with vBulletin its with every single portal, cms, forum, etc. PHP-Nuke, Joomla, IPB, vBulletin, phpBB3 etc. those all are in the same boat as the next one.

You will never stop the hackers, lechers, nullers - it's like trying to stop a virus that's already spread. You cure 1 person and 20 more people are infected. It's a never ending battle and there always 1 step or two steps ahead of the game.

What needs to be done is - congress needs to sit down with these country's and come to some kind of agreement to get offshore people the ban. It would be like hosting in the USA, DMCA notice and BAM there shut down.

the day that happens ill personally buy everyone i know a vb license lmao:cool:

Pretty big attitude change from someone who thru a fit like a 4yr old about it not to long ago eh?

I have to disagree once again :)

Why should we consider a forum that is aimed at the software we purchase to be a privledge ?

Without members vb.org would not exist - its a members forum - nothing more - nothing less.

It certainly is not a Privledge in the sense you meant it.
This board is a platform to sell more copies of vbull - as people come here and see what can be done so purchase the software.

Note : The text above is copyright to me,and that means you cannot Quote it.

so how would you explain why you have access to the files only when your license is verified and your account granted?!


Sub-note: i did not quote you... i'm safe!

Sorry, you can disagree, but what nexialys is stating is correct.

all i know is something has to be done sooner or later or vb is gonna end up like all the rest of the CMS's...dead.......coders will leave,designers will leave iv seen it happen WAY to many times before i mean sure people will still use it but progression in the modding /design part of the community will come to a halt (unless of coarse your one of those folks that just do it for free)

where did you see any CMS dead ?!

i founded Postnuke 8 years ago and it is actually pretty well going, after a commercial turn of faith... (Adam, one of my co-worker, moved the cms to a new level here: http://zikula.org/ )...

if you talk about another vBulletin portal, you can see that vbAdvanced is pretty well alive, and Jelsoft is planning a new Content Manager for 4.0, which will lead any good coder to develop any range of portal, wrapper, cms of any kind...

vB.org, dying?!... nah... mutating... lol

nah not the actual CMS as a whole just some of the key parts died off like before VB i was a phpnuke junkie myself i was a theme designers with some of the best nuke theme designers out and i worked for php nuke platinum and Nuke-evolution, and since all the ripping started (its was pretty small in the community when i was there) but winthin the past say 4 years the ripping has grown like wildfire...now the designers and coder for the php nuke communities( at least the really good ones) have up and left...and honestlyi see vb going that way to.

I havent even been in the vb scene for more then 1 year and i do themes iv release about 4 or 5 free ones here...and im already being ripped and so have many of my buddie designers that have just came over here...makes me as a designer not even wana continue here...and i haven't even been here long at all...im about to say hell with it and already pack up n leave..

i have to disagree with your post as well.
Just cause u say its right does not mean its right.
I myself do not see this this board as a Privledge.Its a board that caters for the software that it sells and without this board,Jelsofts profits would certainly be down.

the goal obtained by Jelsoft is not what make this site a privilege or not, because the first goal of the site is to gater the software fans, and in second place is to gater the modifications released... then if someone else is making profits from it, that's good... i can tell that the real commercial-like coders here are making more profits than Jelsoft, because it's here they have clients from, not from anyother place... without these coders, the site would be dead... clients or not, jelsoft or not.

good point thats what im saying if the ripping and stuff keeps up coders will leave designers will leave and well as both u and i said this already it will be dead...

now the Questions is? Is there a solution? (their may be but according to Jelsoft it could takes years) but i don't think people wana wait years by the time jelsoft does something coders/designers will all be long gone..

i guess its just a lose lose situation

regardless of jelsofts role - i do not see access to this site as a Privledge.
If u feel privledge every time u log in then you maybe you need to get a life :)

Hands up all those who feel warm and rosey and Very Privledge when they vist vb.org ?

define: privilege;

for me, this is describing very well what is the privilege here... if you have a different definition, please teach me, because you just show nothing right now...

Vb will not die, or more specific vb.org won't. Coders, designers will leave and 10 will pop up in their place and evolve into advance coders who's abilities will get better and better thus contributing better and better content. The org is community driven which is a big factor why it's such a successful site to the point we see copycat sites pop up who will always try to be what vb.org is.

You may have seen it all before but in my opinion the org is different. There are motivated people who will continue to contribute to a site whether or not content is being stolen because often than not the source files are held by the authors not the stealing sites that enduces people to come here/register here to receive modifications of their graphics and styles and support for the scripts they choose to install.


Site's may become stagnated, but designers/coders will never halt in making their submissions. The site is free to an extent sure you still have to own a license but it's free in the way that after your purchase people post their 3rd party addons for free which makes the future of this site strong both for this site and more for jelsoft.

Without this site, jelsoft would not get as many customers as they do or atleast that's merely my opinion in making that statement.

Access to any forum is a privledge granted by the forum owners/administrators, and can be removed by them at any time. You have no automatic right of access.

Paul hits the nail on the head above.

i have to correct you Regs.... Paul ALWAYS hits the nail...

;)





hey, that looks like a VISA ads... lol

well finally i have to agree with someone as ive been at the recieving end of having my access restricted.

But somehow i still dont feel privledge :)

When i have to pay for something then Privledge does not come into it and without paying for it or even needing the software then the site becomes obsolete.

In all fairness this board should feel privledged to have some of the fine coders that have made this place their home and then ashamed of letting the con aritsts have a free reign.

ok, so the staff here have to be ashamed of letting people leech the site?

hum, ok, i missed something now... are you telling me it's Paul's fault if there is not enough anti-piracy politics on the planet?!

PAAAAUUUUULLLLLL

Hand UP :p

I love this site, I love helping others but hate the tactless few on here who put others down 24/7 instead of developing or contributing to the community themselves.

Look @ me for an example, seriously... last year this time, I knew 1/8th of what I know now and I learn more every weekend it amazes me. So 1 good coder leaves and 9 more of me pops up... you would be better off staying and battling it out lol or well seeing as I have been posting lately maybe not :p (J/K).

All good points, all good statements even from Lasto who has to disagree with most rofl... I still wuv you, just like my wife... hard headed and stubborn. What it all boils down to is good vs bad... morals/ethics the lot of it and think about it - Not all hackers/pirates/thieves were that way since they were born. CHOICE and whether you make the right one is what matters no matter how else you try to disguise it or cover it up. It's our actions that define US not everyone else as well so loopholes are everywhere we might as well get used to it until we all blend together as one planet and start exploring the universe but then we will have to deal w/ Klingons and Vulcans and the BS will be back!

ROFL... serious and yet not serious but take it w/ a grain of salt will you eh?

I think you're taking the word "privilege" in a different way. You're taking it as something very, very special. Say, for example, the best seats at a footy match. Privilege, the way we are talking about it, is the opposite of "un-restricted" (kind of...).

Well, I'm here to 1) have fun and 2) try to make a few bucks.

I've never seen a rip off site that was even remotely fun, so there goes #1. And, people who don't pay for vBulletin and have to get mods from rip sites are certainly not going to pay for anything else, so that rules out #2.

I just ignore them. They aren't my audience, and nobody who goes there is my audience, or was ever going to be anyway.

Once more, you don't pay for access to the vbulletin.org forums (or the vB.com forums). You only purchased a license that allows you to use vBulletin and to receive support using the support ticket system. Everything else is not what you have paid for. Access to the forums can be denied to anyone at any time.

I was surprised to see the toksta mod I released yesterday at vb.org, got posted at vbteam in not more than 5 minutes with the attachments and all. How was this done? It even ranks good in google.

btw the one who has posted this has a vbseo logo avatar :p

well its kinda clear that someone here with a license is delivering all the new mods to them

but if im not licensed i cannot access the forums and i cant be licensed without paying for the software.

In a slight french accent...

But of course :p

They will pay for a license to get the versions they want to tinker away with, and as a bonus they get to DL all the mods they want and view all the codes and such w/o a "Only Licensed Members can view blah blah" and find more useful info. They would be stupid not to do so if you think about it. Still hate the ones doing it and one site had it to where you had to prove your a vb owner... when I take my new site public (3.8.2) and I post any mods for DL, the actual DL link is going to be the one on here so they will in fact have to login and that will prove they at least purchased a copy since they are licensed on here. I just think some sites that put up their own mods for DL on their own sites should not even if it requires registration as when they are registered there goes your work out the window.

Your technique was good in the past, Michael, but now with these leechers, it's not that useful,...

that's why i do not apply any verification process on my site. there is not that much interesting stuff on my site yet, so i'm not leeched to death, but i can tell that even if i had a verification process, my stuff would be leeched away because one nuller would visit vb.org for the code, or a hacker would nullify it, etc...

anyway, if someone leech my code freely, that just mean they would not pay for it anyway, so i prefer having them visiting my site for support, it help me learn how to support better and it also show me how much my stuff is really interesting or not. i also visit vbteam because i want to see if my stuff leeched there is grabbing any interest... (but as my name is related to vbteam, you can say that google make a good job here, my stuff have a better view on google than vbteam itself...)

Sadly I know this but better than nothing IMO however you bring up good points regarding support and seeing how much attention is drawn but I have no time for that so I'll stick to my way for now as that helps me sleep @ night eh? :p

yeah, people have no time anymore... it's easy for me to say that, i work 2 hours per day, taking care of my family the rest of the time... browsing the internet is like spikes of spared time.. lol

ahh yes but sometimes Family is work enough, not meant in that "way" but you know what I mean :D

Its funny I stumbled upon this thread.

I googled my latest shoutbox release and found downloadable versions on at least 20 different web sites (none of which I seem to recall even being registered on)...

It's amazing that 20 different download sites would have that bad a taste in mods :p (j/king)

remember that most of them are not hosting the files, they just are RSS Feeds of vb.org, so you "think" they have your releases... take care of that when you visit the sites.... i found some of my friends being accused falsely about piracy they were not doing because of that.

Want to do something about your mods getting ripped?

They are the advertising agency used by [x]. Submit a complaint to them about [x] publishing your mods without permission, as its against the tos for their clients to have illegal sites, it'll hopefully get their ads suspended. As a lot of you probably know, ads are what a site relies on to pay hosting fees. Without the ads [x] will be in a bit of a mess financially and it will hopefully cause the site to go under.

It may also be helpful to submit a piracy report to vbulletin as the site distributes nulled copies of vb as well.

Its not up to vborg to do something about mods getting ripped; its upto the person who owns the mod. They have ripped at least one of my mods, so i'm going to take them down; all i need is a few more guys who've had their stuff ripped to submit complaints as well.

I sent this complaint to their advertisers:
edit:
I have removed instances of the site in question from this post and replaced them with [x]. [x] refers to wrapped in code tags so unlicensed users can't see it.

actually if you fill a complaint against this guy, you will accuse a celebrity in the Radio stations in Los Angeles...

it's a fake account, and you just fallen into the trick... which would be pathetic.

do you seriously think that a pirate would register his real name on a domain registrant at 5$... that's a real show here, you really know nothing about the internet and you want to play the Net Cop...

stop that.