[The Geek]

Spot on Amy.

I understand why it would be frustrating for some to install a hack that was put here FOC and then down the road the author decides that if you want further updates or releases - it will cost you.

However life has a funny way of doing things like this to you.

You can release something FOC and suddenly it takes over your freaking life. Sure, you want to continue work on it - but you get stuck as all your current time is spent slammed with support requests from people who couldn't be asked to follow the readme or who want help fixing someone else's work! If you have more than a couple popular hacks here on .org - you will find yourself in a free, part time support job. That means little to NO time to develop new, bigger, better additions which in turn equals serious burn out! Thats the key reason I went commercial. I had no time left to develop future additions AND support them for the masses of casual admins. Now I have less users in a more controlled environment that allows me to support and develop without getting an aneurysm doing it.

As for the price of stuff like vbSEO, I totally understand why some would object. However its all relative isn't it? If it really was too much then price would come down to where the market would support it. Or more inexpensive solutions would come onto the market. Me? I agree its expensive - however it is still an acceptable investment for what I get out of it so I bought it. I was the same with PhotoPost (which was around the same price). While PP is a great product, I eventually went to vBa as it suited my needs better and cost less. Its kind of ironic considering vB is the most expensive forum in its class.Llike going to a phpBB forum and seeing people flabbergasted about vb's price. Its all relative.

I love .org and miss the buzz of releasing work here. What I don't miss is the angry .orgers and the occasional user that treats you like he owns you because he installed your hack that you spent 3 months working on, released to the community FOC while he invested 2 seconds of his time (and would of halved that if he would have read the instructions )