Let's play the devil's advocate (again ;)

A lot of coders here release most of their work for free here at vb.org because they feel that is the right thing to do. This category will probably be releasing most of their work for free whatever we do.

Another big part of the coders make work that could (not saying the above category of coders could not) charge a small amount for most of their work, but simply don't feel like going through the trouble of advertising and setting up a site to support paid service for the relative small amount of income that could be generated out of this.

I think that if it was easy too advertise their work to the whole community, they might choose to post in the paid hack forum when given the choice of releasing it for free or for a small amount. That would be the beginning of the end of this community in my opinion.


PS In the above i am not talking about the bigger solutions that are offered for payment.

PRO's
====

Quality control, more variety, a larger community as the money hungry hackers flock from far and why trying to sell their products

CON's
====

People release less free hacks as they already have the market and thus only released paid hacks and then the comm just becomes a market place.





Who knows i wouldn't mind either way :)

I would have to agree... However, that would not happen if the community staff members would decide what to allow for paid forum and what not to allow. Only the best modification, imo, should be paid.

I am sorry but then we would have to monitor and analyze all posted hacks, and decide if they are one of 'the best modification'. We would be like the Jury on Idols.

I am sorry but that would only result in decissions being not accepted and long discussions. There is no way (that i can think of) we could pull that off. And what i might think of as a good hack that should be payed, might be considered worthless by someone else.

I don't recommend a 'paid addon' forum.
I think this will be confusing to some members.

A simple "PRO" link directory where members can submit their sites and rate others (comment required) is all that is needed.

This way .. a list of available vb resources can be found if member is seeking specific services/applications.

vb.org can charge for better placement within directory and a title tag; otherwise, submission is free.

That's probably the best way. And making a separate site is no problem.

Dear Abby,

Cant for the life of me see why, it just a little too doomsayeresque for me but then again we just disagree a bit.

IMO the best way is to grab something like vba?s links directory and allow submissions and ratings. It isnt going to result in everyone sudenly wanting to pay for everything, it will just result in a lot more visibility for those that cant give theri time away for free.

Lets face it, Jelsoft should support these guys as much as us martyrs that do it FOC.

If I seem biased its only because I have pondered (especially as of late) the pros and cons of being a macker moving to paid only versions of hacks (some others have prodded me to contemplate this). Not because I could make money at it (it would be impossible to make even a fraction of my time investement back), but because it would give me the opportunity to code more projects that I would like to sink my teeth into.
Its hard enough to keep my head above water now as I spend most of my free time devoted to upgrading my work for 3.5 and supporting the people who currently have my work installed.
There are at least 4 more major macks I have in early stages (GeekMart and GeekBay have been in the pipeline for months now) but it is impossible to squeeze out any more time to devlop these concepts.

I dont code vb mods for profit, I code them because:
1- I need the mods for my site
2- I like to code
3- I get a buzz from others enjoying my work

If I go the paid route, I would have only serious installers paying me a fraction of what it cost for me to actually make the mods. I have never done that because that route violates one of the key reasons why I code: because others may nJoy my work. Saying that, 75% less installs means a lot less support which means I can get onto some of the other projects I have brewing.

so... Charge $5-$30 per mod and release more mods or drown in support for current releases and never have time to make new, better and innovate work?

its a real catch 22.

Im going back to the pool to contemplate the string theory and its relation to cold beer.

There is one more tiny problem no one mentioned... :rolleyes:

If a programmer develops a set of code that is for a fee, and does well - if the same functionality is included in a following vB version, what stops the programmer from suing Jel for theft?

The vBorg community is so incestuous with code, you can hardly tell which code is a sister, mother, daughter, or neighbor's wife... :devious:

Take a look at the last five years suits against Microsoft. Majority of them were because an ancillary program features appeared in a follow-up version of MS product. Some with and some without merit.

Even just the threat of such suit could cripple a small business. :ermm: Yes, I do have first hand experience - that is why I no longer code.

I would LOVE to see a comprehensive resource of developers of code, styles templates, etc... I am just not sure how it would be implemented... :tired:

I think it's from past experience :)

I'm not gainst a directory listing commercial products. My preference is for such a list to be done on vbulletin.com, not .org The .com has more clout as the official site, and can demand some conditions to be met, prior to listing them to prevent any abuses.

But getting vb.org into this does open up a few cans of worms.

1. Licensing issues. First there's the vBulletin license. We alrady see a lot of posts to have member's enter their license information, and the occasional glitches when some one no longer shows up to the mods as a licensed user. Now you'll have multiple licensing issues and they can get entangled with each other, as to who's licensed to what.

Are commercial hack authors privy as to who is a licensed vB holder? Does vB care that only liensed vB member's can get support for commercial hacks done by 3rd party on vb.org? Would they need to share such info? Would they provide or request such info? Do members care to let some personal info be shared by both parties...

2. Disputes. We already see a few heated disputes between service providers and members. Someone paid for the work and didn't get it. Someone did the work and didn't get paid, each one flaming the other and vb.org mods have no way to tell who's right and who's wrong. Now add in to the mixture paid hacks, and disputes as to if a member paid for the hack, or pirated the hack, or paid for the hack and the author is MIA and neither delivered the product, nor supports it. Or a glitch in whatever licensing mechanism that author uses, and further disputes about that.

Each of these can get really personal, as it will involve accusations of piracy, or taking other people's money, and no one knows who's telling the truth, of it's it's a bug in licensing keys. Then you'll get members saying they know that this member would never accuse someone unless it's true, and other will say the same for the author and becomes too peronal.

Multiply this by the number of paid hacks, as more and more get added here.

Of coure this would not happen with every paid hack, but it is bound to happen once it becomes more frequent.

It could get ugly really fast.

3. The "Lite" model: In the forum rules it already lists this as an option:
This way at least you don't have any of the above problems, no dispute about money or licenses, and a good way to show your goods. If one doesn't want to do that, they can just do what other commercial developers do, start their own business like PhotoPost, vB Advance Gallery, etc.

Gang, many of you run ad banners on your site. Do your members hold you responsible for the service offered by your advertisers? At best, they may just ask you to zap an ad banner for a scummy advertiser. I don't see the difference here.

Amy