that's what we would call a steal. vb.org is just "hosting" releases, they are not the ones who produce them so they can not control their distribution... people have to understand that, and it's way beyond your need to be informed of the install/uninstall process... it's about ownership... people don't care as i see... you are not coders(or you do not care about copyrights).

They have to :)
After all, all those Add-ons/Codes released here are intellectual property of the respective authors; neither Jelsoft nor vBulletin.org staff does hold any rights on it.
So if the author decides to remove all files that's solely his decision really and has to be respected.

vBulletin.org staff is not responsible for you not keeping track of your installed modifications.

ok, you bought a Commodore 64, 25 years ago... the model was still on the market when you bought it, so you thought it would be just great to buy some games for it, and all the possible extensions.

now, you want to use your commodore again, but the joystick is broken... you call at the shop you bought your machine, and they refer you to the Commodore HQ for pieces and service. They say they can not help, and that you will have to go to a flea market to find an old machine for the pieces...

You whinne, you complaint, you fill a grief, and they turn back the regular answer: we can not help, we do not support the engine for 24 years already, sorry...

i personally think they would not let any discussion go after 2 pages of a thread, nor 25 threads in the last year...

so why do you continue?

... and yes, my example is flawed... just apply it as you wish

Would it be possible/plausible to add another setting to the mod submission process that specified "uninstall instructions"? This would be similar to the supported setting.

The instructions could then be added as another upload (text file) that somehow couldn't be deleted by the mod author.

Obviously somehow, instructions should be able to be updated, not sure how but perhaps this could be a start to people on both sides to work together for the betterment of the community.

90% of the releases here are NOW made via the products manager and require no uninstall process... we talk about old hacks that are hard to uninstall...

10% is worthy enough for something like this to be discussed.

Here is another idea:

This site is based on the hard work of volunteers. Admins, moderators, coders, everyone is volunteering their time for the greater good of the community. Why not implement another "program" where volunteers can submit uninstall instructions for modifications that may require them?

Create a new forum that only these volunteers can start new threads in. Set some guidelines, do your best to promote it and leave the rest to the community.

there are still mods that ask for template modifications, or new templates to be made and $CODE to be inserted manually, or files to be uploaded.

all im asking is that there is a system or something where if a file is moved to the graveyard it is noted how to uninstall the thing incase there are suers who have it installed that dont have the original information any longer. why is this such a debate??? its a VALID argument, one that deserves the observation and consideration of the staff here. im not asking for cheeseball smilies to be added here am i? im asking for information to be available to those that have INSTALLED the mod, instructions on how to uninstall it, a reversal tool, what needs to be uninstalled and deleted from the server and if any template edits need to be reverted.

You know, there is nothing to stop you from posting uninstall instructions in the thread for the modifications you have installed. If you do that, then when the modification gets moved to the graveyard, or archived, you can search the thread for your posts and find the uninstall instructions. I'm sure the others in the thread will be thankful that you took the time to post them also.

maybe thats the solution to all this. Tell hack designers to also include the uninstall in the text part of their post, and not just in the attatchment...

That is the correct/best way to modify templates (if template hooks can't be used).