Separate forums for supported/unsupported hacks

[maranello]

Well, I have been a member of this forum for a long time now and the only problem I see is the unsupported hacks. Most of the time the coder makes a hack, uploads it, makes a few posts, then he disappears. Not that he disappears from the site, he just disappears from the thread and makes other hacks. Some of the hacks have 40-50 pages long threads, if you search, 95% of the posts are "there is a bug with this" or "this is wrong" or "how do you do this", but no reply from the coder. I even saw one hack where the poster completely ignored it for over 2 years yet he still posts in the site.

Now please before responding->I know that some coders say upfront "unsupported", I have NO problems with that. But some people just say nothing, or they even say it will be supported, but you wait weeks/PM the author of the hack, get no response.

My idea is to have 2 separate forums. 1 forum for supported hacks, 1 forum for unsupported hacks. For the supported hacks, make sure it goes thru admin approval and if the author stops supporting move it to the unsupported section.

I can see 1 problem with this, basically many people will stop using unsupported hacks. This will of course piss off a lot of authors. Maybe then they'll consider being responsible and giving support for their hacks. One thing I don't understand is, if an author doesn't have time to give support for a hack (totally understandable), how can he release 2-3 or more hacks within a week and have time for those? That's completely wrong, it's unfinished business. There are some hacks that have major problems, some even screw up your forum database.

Please read my post carefully before posting. I know that:

1. Authors don't need to give support for hacks, they can say "unsupported" up front.
2. Everyone has a life and things take time.
3. Hacks don't have guarantee, we use it at our own risk

My concern is:

1. Authors who say "supported" but yet they disappear.
2. Authors who doesn't say supported/unsupported, who make 5 posts after posting their hack and leave a thread with 50 pages and disappear.
3. Authors who fall in 1/2 above but they still post other hacks.

I wouldn't make another hack before making sure I have a working version of my other hacks. It just doesn't make sense. It's so frustrating to post to thread, get no reply for a long time, PM the author, no reply, but yet I KNOW that he is in forums because he is posting other hacks! That is complete BS. I understand if vb.org wants those hacks, but PLEASE make a separate forum for them, and make sure they post there. Maybe when 10 people download their hacks in 6 months, they'll understand their mistake and start being more responsible.

Thanks