[MJM]

Some thoughts ...
It's a different scenerio if you have a not for profit .org and then create a paid venue to raise funds

vB.com is a commercial enterprise that provides .org as a free service.
This provides ...
- a place to direct non support requests that vB are not willing = nor obliged to provide.
- a place where a volunteer community infuses new ideas and applications into vB software.

vB.com benefits greatly from it's community of free mod/hack/plugin providers, which expands the versatility and consumer base of it's product.

If vb had hired a team to do this work it would have cost big bucks, which could have either
- spread their resources out too thin and could have been detrimental to the development of the core software
or
- put themselves into a favorable position of having a product with many additional new features/plugins, and added income income from specialized plugins...

Of note ... vB.com has not yet provided any plugins, free or paid.
But we know they are going to ... to what extent, we don't know.

If vB.com is to keep on top of the competitive edge it will need to periodically offer free new plugins, formerly also known as ... new features.
If plugins cost more and more, the consumer will shop around for an application that includes the plugins that they need.

vB may offer more advanced paid plugins, tailored to a specific consumer audience or need, but there will always be competition from other free and paid products.

vB needs to find a way to further reward and provide incentive to it's community of mod/plugin providers.

I would have hoped that tried and trustworthy mods/plugins would have made it into a vB support arena, ... ie, vB provides paid staff to assist with free/stable plugin support.

~ Mark