[The Geek]

From my viewpoint I feel that the following points are valid:

• There is a lack of appreciation from some members here
• That lack of appreciation can lead to projects becoming abandoned or taken commercial
• Once commercial, they are (for a large part) abandoned on this site
• This leads to large contributors not being around as much
• This leads to more .ogres here

Yea, my math is skewed, but its just another way of looking at it!
The way .org is set up now leads to a natural culling of a lot of talent around here however it doesn't cull the negative users at all. If you cant see this crimps a lot of potential quality for add ons, then my name is Olivia Newton John.

Look how all the massive projects are either getting abandoned or going commercial. It all results in the same thing: They wont be on .org anymore which in turn makes this less and less of a useful resource for vbulletin customers.

Yes, there will always be great FOC additions released here regardless of any change in rules. There will always be coders who catch the vb bug and go crazy releasing and supporting stuff FOC. There will always be content here for free. However it is my opinion that Jelsoft needs to change .org to better suit its customers.

Jelsoft should take every opportunity to provide its customers (and even more importantly: its potential customers) a showcase for what their product can do. Most people do not buy a forum system simply to run a vanilla installation - most buy because they can morph it visually and functionally. Right now, the only showcase for Jelsoft is .org which:
Is running an outdated version of vBulletin
Only allows FOC add ons
The add ons are frequently littered with 'this sucks, doesn't work' posts, half finished projects or totally abandoned projects
Frequently 'hobby' level modifications (nothing wrong with that - but if your looking for something massive, you can be hard pressed to find it here)

Basically, its not the resource and service the Jelsoft could be offering.

Solutions?

Awhile back (before I switched to the dark side and went commercial) I remember Wayne suggesting a fee for being listed in a commercial section of the site. I was not for this as its just a cost that gets passed on to customers and makes it difficult for people to make a progression from hobbyist to capitalist
However I see no other way to do it. Its only fair all around. If someone cant afford (within reason) to be 'listed' because no one buys their stuff - then its generally a sign that the product sucks, support sucks or the idea sucks. Therefore its not as valuable for Jelsoft customers.

The old doomsayers need to look to the future and what could benefit all vBulletin users best. Offering people a place to look for commercial scripts is not going decay the amount or quality of offerings FOC here. Oddly enough - with no commercial options - that is already happening.