Unfair on Developers
 

Hi,
I think the fact that you need a license to be able to download or view any of the mods here is proposterous. If you're a developer like I am working on a vBulletin site, and your client does not give you a key, or has already used it, then where are we to turn?

Furthermore, how is releasing mods to the public going to harm vBulletin in any way, shape or form? The mods are free - you don't lose money. The mods are not the original forum software - they're useless without it.

It's a real pain in the neck. My situation right now is that I need to look at modifications for a potential client - and getting a license is impossible to obtain since there is no contract yet.

It's also unfair when you go to a site and see your modification available to download by anyone regardless if they have a vbulletin license or not.
I upload all my hacks to vbulletin.org because I know there is a smaller chance of someone pirating my work.

If vbulletin.org let everybody download our work then there will be more site popping up with all our hacks.

That's the way it is I'm afraid, it's not going to change. If there was no piracy in the world then we'd all be much happier, but sadly there is, and we will not support it by allowing unlicenced users to download modifications.

+1 I believe thats the main point of it. But if your working for a client why wouldn't they give you access to the tools you need to do your job? And if your into doing allot of that work maybe you should just consider it an operational cost and get your own license and that way there you can go to town on your own test board.

But I can sympathize with your pains. I guess its a catch 22 type situation.

I don't see how it can be considered unfair to the people that release their work here. They can always upload it some place else if they want.

You don't need one. Your client simply has to give you the proper permissions by going to the member's area.

There are no 'keys', you simply grant access to the people that need it. Multiple people can be tied to the same license. At any rate if your client refuses to give you this access, and you require that access to finish the job then it's his problem..not yours. ;)

Yea like i was just thinking
Like vBhackers, vbfaq, vbnova, vbfans, vbcoderz, many more...

Well I was talking about your own web space but that works to I suppose.

So for you it's more a matter of worksmanship than money? But even so, it's not losing _you_ any money if you're not one of those "creator's pride" types.

In response to all the comments saying "hey, they'll give you license keys!" - I'm afraid some of them won't. My recent client was very access paranoid and I wasn't given much to play with in terms of webspace, and the same was true when he asked me to mod his vBulletin forum.

Aside from that, do you not think it's a good idea that legitimate developers and organizations can have access to the mods - and the mods only - to familiarise themselves to them? In the end, everyone's happy: the client is, because they get what they want; the developer is, because they have implemented the solution quickly; and the vBulletin community is because their mods are being used.

Of course, it could be argued that it could be a situation where a developer was working on an illegally acquired version of the software. In that case, any *legitimate* and honest developer (such as myself, for example) would advise the client to either pay for the license or use a free and open source solution, and would object to working with pirated software until the issue was addressed.

The reason why I don't work with, and don't plan on working on, pirated software is a matter of reputation and professionalism.

If your client won't grant you access then ask him or her to download the modification for you.
I downloaded hacks just to see how they work such as AJAX and I'm guessing that's what you want to do.

I personally feel that the logic of vBulletin.org is correct and the logic of your client is not. And bad logic is what should be changed, not correct logic. I guess it's tough but they're paying you to work and if they won't allow you to work...well, what are they paying for? Convince them.