Mods being copied all over the world??
 

Hi Everyone :D

I did a search on Google earlier for one of my hacks to show a guy at work and i was supprised at all the different sites that have copied them from here and added them to their sites, which i thought was nice as i must be doing something right but a large majority of the sites are underground nulled sites and one of them was even offering the latest version of VB for free :eek:

Now whilst is nice for me to see my hacks on VBulletin support sites, like VBulletin Germany and France, i'm not too happy about it appearing on nulled sites, i just wanted to know what VB.orgs policy on copyrights was and whilst its nice to be asked, Like Allan from the VBulletin-France, its also nice to know exactly where all these hacks are allowed to appear.

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this or am i just being paranoid :eek:

Actually, this has been brought up before in here.

Sorry lynne, Its just that i hadn't seen it, being a newbie of sorts :p

It happens, anything that can remotely be copied and put on these warez sites is. My advice is either to contact their host (if they're in a country which actually cares about who owns this stuff), or just ignore them to be honest.

Just ignore them. They have thousands of other peoples work on their sites, many with much deeper pockets than anyone here, and they can't do anything about it, so don't think you'll be able to.

Thanks for the replys guys, Its not bothering me at all, i just wondered what the stance was here on the copyright issue.

:D

I was in a rush in my reply too. I know I've seen threads about this, but can't remember the subject title. But, basically vb.org, or Jelsoft, can't do anything about it. Jelsoft doesn't have the copyright on your mods, you do. So, you can try asking them to remove them, but unfortunately, some of those places could care less about copyright law and you aren't going to get far in asking. It's best to just ignore them, I think.

I'm not overly worried about it, i know theres nothing much that can be done, unless you want to spend $$$$$ I may start to add my own copyright both on the forums and in the code, I found these guys on the net and wondered if anyone has has any dealings with them http://creativecommons.org/license/?jurisdiction=uk

I've chosen UK, but you can select your country from a dropdown, its more of a voluntry thing, but i guess the warez sites don't go by the rules of decency.

Anyway thanks for explaining lynne ;)

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2009/03/34.png

A couple of weeks ago I saw a guy on digital point selling a zip file with around 200 VB modifications in it. The price was like $5. I thought about reporting it, but who would I report it to?

And why would someone pay for a mod they can get for free, unless they do not have an active license.

That is the problem in a nutshell. The vBulletin 'pirate' scene is rampant with no way of controlling it. As soon as something is released here at vB.org, it is almost guaranteed to be reposted at other sites, sometimes within minutes.

You can search the forums here to see what the responses have been in the past when the issue has been brought up. :(

Sometimes those pirate sites are the only way to find a modification that suddenly went to the vb.org graveyard. I haven't had the need to do that since I keep backups of the mods I download but others might have.

Wow thats bad, but i guess its an easy way of making money for these sellers, with all the nulled versions out there and our free mods being sold, they have it made :(

and like you, i'd be lost at even trying to report it??

Perhaps a self descruct code might suffice :cool::D

--------------- Added [DATE]1236808905[/DATE] at [TIME]1236808905[/TIME] ---------------

Now that worries me Kev :eek:

each time someone find for the first time that we have a dark side of the net, we see that kind of thread of panic and stress.

you can not have a safe side of things without an unsafe side... it's like " hell VS paradise " ... and it's not always clear which side is the paradise. you see the nulled market as a bad thing, but remember that if we would not have these nullifiers, you would have an unsafe software with flaws and insecure authentication. these pirates help you having a really efficient forum.

for the release side of things, yeap, it's bad... i always suffered this situation until vbEnhancer.com, because i did not want to see my stuff released there and unsupported... now i do not care anymore... they want to play with my stuff, that's bad for them, nobody will help them if they crash their forum.

in the last 2 years, i was involved in some of these pirates sites (yes you can check on google), because i wanted to spy on who was doing it and who was really using it... i can tell you that 90% of these "members" have no idea of how to manage vBulletin at first. they have their small fan sites hidden, and they ask for basic questions about how to change the vBulletin title in the footer... pathetic... their future is simple: they switch to phpBB and the more addicts are paying their license in the next months. for the 10% that have knowledge of what they do, i can tell that they are doing it just because they are renegades... most of them have legit licenses, they just do it to be different. and some just hate to pay for products because these products do not worth 100 or 200$.... this is something not related to vb.org because this site is not providing paid solutions.

dont knock it some of these warezs sites are worth there weight in gold.Ive seen hacks on them that are not even available here and considering there are a lot smaller in size some of the better ones go out of there way to help members.
And yes ive seen hacks appear on these sites within minutes as well of them appearing on here but thats life i suppose even though i have nothing against it.

yeah, i know a lot of addons which never were release publically that were found on some of these sites... sometimes it's a good way to see what's in the commercial market!

there was even a place well known where some members were making requests like "i want nexia's hacks" ... i was happy to answer them myself.... sooo funny to see them hide after they get caught.. lol

get caught doing what ? only thing u can really do them for, is for running an unlicensed version of vbull and thats upto Jelsoft to proceed with.
Remember a hack is only useful if someone can put it to use.We all download hacks and even click install but that dont mean we keep the hack installed on our boards.Ive deleted many ive installed after a few days as they where not what i throught they was etc.

So even though some of the items are released here under license restrictions that specify that they can not be posted elsewhere, and/or that the branding can not be removed, that it is OK to have these sites offer them? I find it a bit ironic that you have links in your sig about getting ripped off while at the same saying "warezs" sites are worth their "weight in gold."

maybe u never read it right - i said that some of these sites have hacks that are not even released here as they are free to use of the board that makes them.Remember not all sites that offer vbhacks are all from here - some of them actually make their own.

It's not just warez sites. I've seen web design companies/individuals replace my copyright with their own so it looks like the modification is their own work. I find that much more irritating, although you're more likely to be able to actually do something about it, should you want to.

Maybe you didn't say it right. There is a big difference between sites offering hacks other than vB.org and advocating that "some of these warezs sites are worth there weight in gold." As you said it yourself, you have nothing against those sites reposting hacks from here.

I think some people would be surprised at the number of "vB experts" who take that approach as well.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but nullifiers do not contribute to secure software, rather the opposite.

They don't only target hacks, styles & graphics from here but other 3rd party legit vbulletin sites. There's a specific site I know about that distributes my stuff and members even asking to steal my styles which were never released and never will.

Do they do any harm. No, not really. Like someone stated here. there are scripts/images/styles that arent here and many scripts on these types of sites that either have been abandoned, moved to the mod graveyard or the author pulled their stuff from here.

Whether you look at these sites as a valuable resource or a source that is ripping you off or damaging your potential sales/revenue is down to your own conclusion.

You either benfit from these sites (which many members here do) and there are others who feel the backlash (not to be mistaken for whiplash).

uk's first released hack was someone elses code minus the credits.

please consider not accusing anybody publically... you can report his work if he really pirated someone's work... we don't want to read from this.

--------------- Added [DATE]1236859657[/DATE] at [TIME]1236859657[/TIME] ---------------

you just read my comment the opposite way *(not the first time)...

I'm not accusing anyone of piracy. Just stating that his first mod was code from the net minus the credits.

Read whatever you want into that. It's a fact.

you did not say it was "from the net", you clearly indicated it was "someone else's code" ... when we take someone's code and delete the credits, we call this a break of copyright, so yeap, you made accusations.

Eitherway. And a fact.

If your worried about sites stealing your stuff, don't post. There's not a great deal you can do apart from bite your tongue and smile. It's the same principle of the scripture you posted about scamming except this scripture would be one line and your workload would be decreased by 100% without the worries.

That said, I think your a good contributor here UK so I would advise on carrying on and bite your tongue. I'm going by you were the author of this post and I never actually checked who started this thread.

You might call it that but here on vb.org we call it an 'innocent mistake' and I get the warning for pointing it out impolitely to the person who invented the new code that's exactly the same as the old but without the original credits:)

Are you new here? Thought you'd know this:confused:

Nobody ever got infracted or infracted for allerting staff on a copyright breach.

Trying to force your opinion by repeatedly posting in public about it (like you just have done in this thread) will get you warned and if continued infracted. The issue you are raising in this thread again is something that already has been handled and closed, no need to bring it up again now.

PS Your infraction was for namecalling, not for bringing something to the attention of staff.

I think my posts in this thread were both very relevant to the opening post. I didn't call uk any names in this thread. I just pointed out that he has released code that was available online but he released it without the original credits. It's not off topic. It may be uncomfortable for people to deal with but it's true.

your view on having the truth is way funnier than mine...

:eek::eek:

Just got in from work and seen that people have been busy :eek:

My first hack was great, I went on the dynanmic drive site and found a great Snow script, and with Roms help i released my first hack here

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=197312

Just in time for Christmas, i thought it would be cool to let members use this snow script, This part here made me smile earlier

Then theres this?? :eek::eek:

Its a good job i'm an easy going guy :cool:

Anyway, just to put the matter right, In the public domain there are many snippets of code, examples and theory's which can be used for many things, the worst culprits are the javascript sites which will happly use the same script and add their copyright to the code, I try and steer clear of those sites as they, seem to just use the copyright idea to promote their sites.

I've bought a few self help html lessons in the past and ideas from those lessons can be useful when coming up with an idea or a mod which was recommended by someone, Bog standard code is not copyrighted by anyone. " weeks ago i had a guy from my forum moaning that my iframe hack is copyrighted?? Since when has the iframe command been copyrighted?? like wise if i see a code which i can use in full or in parts i will do, if there is no copyright then thats what i'll do.

Over time if someones says, hang on a minute, Joe bloggs did a script the same, then i will check that indeed he is the author and not someone who simply adds a copyright to a script. if i can find enough proof and have communications with the author then yes i will most definately add the credits.

Like wise if i wanted to publically accuse someone for some wrong doing i would make sure i get my facts right. I don't want to get into a debate over this as this will spoil the originallity of this thread, but You even admitted to me before Punchbowl that you when a little over the top before, and i've told you not to worry about it.

Why bring it up again???

If you go through my hacks, you see that i have indeed added a credit to the author if i've used their code in full or in part, I enjoy doing this on here and helping people, Its not as if i'm set to make millions doing it :eek:

lets try and get back on topic, Its an interesting one if that :up:

/me throw some coppers to UKBL!

and two just hit me on the head :p

Seriously, if the copyright issue is down to us and not vb.org, can we have some control over the downloads, perhaps by adding a password to the zip or even an identifier to the download so we know who has downloaded and for what site. This will identify the original downloader and their details from a warez site?

I've always wanted to say (Mimics Marco) "Your Showing up as Unlicenced" :D

Are we allowed to use any copyright protection within our hacks or downloads??

Apologies second 'hack'. You know the one I mean.

One of the ones before you invented css menus anyway. lol

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=197488 ???

Wrong again :eek::eek:

can't see where this is going, so lets just keep on topics please guys ;-)

And whats the topic?:D

This topic is comming again and again, as nexialys and lynne wrote.
We(coder & designer) have to accept it, you can't do anything against it....

You left the dynamic drive credits out at first too didn't you? Putting them back was the part of the 'help' you got.

Sorry 3rd mod https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=198078 It's hard keeping up as you release so many!

You put back the credits in the end and it was all an innocent mistake as you explained someone on your forum had sent you the code (minus credits) and you had innocently posted it as your own.

I only mention this because this is a thread about mods being copied and it was started by you and it's something that you did yourself accidentally in the past.

you really don't want to stop by yourself, hey...

post reported, even if it worth nothing.

true, I must confess theres not alot that can be done, it must be nice in a way that your work is also appriated by so many, even if they are not meant to have it :eek: