[SpeedStreet]

Originally Posted by FASherman

Didn't the guy from EVB say that he'd remove hacks at Jelsoft's request? I think we need a little more spine than that.

One other question. Is there a lawyer around who can help the site owner set up the site in a way to avoid personal liability?

Personal Liabililty can only be avoided in the instance of the foundation of articles of incorporation, or the development into a Limited Liability Partnership.

I really don't think you understand the ramifications of what you think you are trying to do FASherman.

YOU DO NOT OWN YOUR COPY OF VBULLETIN. You are merely the purchaser of a license allowing you to run that specific copy on one server, one domain in one instance. You retain no legal rights whatsoever to modify, alter, change, dispose of or replicate the code in any way, shape or form with Jelsoft's implied or direct consent. It would be *VER* easy for Jelsoft to add some verbiage into the existing licensing agreement stating that any code modifications to their software package are only availible for distribution from their own, controlled websites. This is their right when dealing with Intelectual Domain in the International Copyright Theater.

I decided (in the OODLES of free time I seem to have when I neglect my work) to do some further research into International Copyright law regarding Licensing Agreements, and I'm sorry to say that JelSoft does retain the right under certain conditions to modify the existing licensing agreement and enforce it retroactively on existing clients and license holders. The letter of the law is written to protect the authors, not the customer...as it should be.

Don't sit here and try to stage a little coup. Up until this point, there have been two hacks in dispute, and now everyone is talking about leaving the site....That's great. Let's splinter the community even further so even less can get done.

Without a centralized hub for modifiers, vBulletin will fall by the wayside. Hacks will become more poorly written, you'll have to check five or six sites to get what you want...and those that do not pay for vBulletin will then have access to that which sets our sites apart from theirs.

Think about what you are doing, and please drop it.