I don't think anyone is concerned about the small hacks, it's the hacks that are popular that coders could get away with charging.

Everybody works hard on vB. Even beginners. I visit vb.org cause it's a community where help can be asked and given to tune vB. Not because i can download free stuff !!!

It they want to work and make vB as a job, no problem. But the community is not the good place for this in my opinion.


Don't mix up member of a community and customer of a company. That's not the same thing.

So do everything you can to prevent the possability of a commerical idea creeping into a coders head so that you dont have to pay for it? Hear no money, See no Money, Speak no Money :)

This debate is more heated than the 'Tastes Great/Less filling'. The suggestion for a feedback system was to benefit the users.

I would love a system where I could see what the users (who honestly bought the product) thought. Was it worth the money? Was the support good?
Thats one of the things that makes release threads work so well here. Its open feedback! You can quickly tell from feedback on a thread if there are problems, whether its supported or not, what others think... etc. That is worth 10x what the author says about his work.

Well, how about in the case where a prerequisite to becoming a member of the community is to become a customer first :rolleyes: Sure, anyone can sign up but only CUSTOMERS can see the code/files, etc.. It is a community of customers, so it is a bit different... it is not all black/white.

Could you not create this on your website for your customers to fill out after they purchase a hack from you, and done business with you.

Sure, but as a Jelsoft customer going through a directory of 3rd party enhancments... I dont want to see what they say about it... I want to see what the community says about it.

Its not a do-or-die... its just what I would look for when I would browse it.

If the hack is popular, why the hell should the coder not be rewarded for his work?
I mean the reason why I work extremely slow on my RPG is because the only reason for me to do so is to learn new PHP tricks. I'm not getting anything back from this community or any other, nor do I see any donations coming my way.
Besides from a reputation that may land me coding jobs, of course.
But still, a few stray jobs here and there aren't going to buy me much.
Im not saying that by making my RPG paid, I will be using $100 notes as toilet paper and use them for lighting cigars, but it would make the years (I use plural as the hack has passed its 1 year anniversary here at the org) I spent on it worth my while.
(Just for the record, given the fact that Ive publically stated in my installer file aswell as in a previous thread on this forum that my RPG will forever remain free, that is how it shall be. I just used it as an example, as it is one of the most extensive mods on this site.)

I can only speak for myself and a few coding mates from this site I have talked to when I say that free === no motivation.
No, the carebear "sharing is reward enough. Free software FTW!" crap ain't gonna cut it.
I don't like to pay for software (be it $5 or $500) any more than any of you, but I have to look at it from a coder's point of view as well.

*straches head*

From this:
How would you tell that by a directory if the author provides good support?

The sign up system is to avoid piracy (french community is still waiting to be reconize as official to have such a tool... :D). Vb.org does't exist to make the Vbulletin's aftermarket service. The community of customers is on vbulletin official website.

Alright, look at it like this. If all of the vBulletin hacks that were popular over time became all paid hacks this would hurt vBulletin as a company. Because after that happens, vBulletin won't have vBulletin.org to entice new people to purchase the vBulletin software.

See where they are coming from?