I didn't read this entire thread as I do not have that kind of time right now. I did however read the first post and want to comment on it.
If you run a search on the threads and posts I have created on this site, you will find that I was a complete noob to coding when I started working with vBulletin. During that time frame, I too was like a welfare child and wanted everything given to me for free. The concept of paying for modifications was insane and shouldn't exist. As I said, I was like the typical welfare child.
As my knowledge of vBulletin increased, and I started to learn how to manipulate the code, so too did my outlook on "free" stuff. Once you start coding your own modifications and see the hours you invest in it, giving it away doesn't seem logical anymore.
If you want to see stuff given away, learn to code and give it away. Don't complain about the coders who are charging. You seem to think that their knowledge and time should be given away, or should cost what YOU think its worth. You couldn't have a more ignorant arguement if you tried.
Everyone wants their website to be unique from their competitors. The unique site that functions the best will get the most traffic. If your site is monetized, this means that your site will also get more funding. If everything was cheap or free, every site would be pretty much the same. I know I don't want my site looking like everyone elses.
The cheap people out there (I was one of them) want to be able to have everything those that invest in their sites have. They want all of this at rock bottom prices, or free. They are like those people who are on welfare and somehow feel that everyone else should eat the costs for their stuff.
If you want something for your site, buy it. Stop whining about how you can't get it free and grow up already. If you want it for free, go to school and become a programmer. After you have your degree and can code these modifications yourself, come back to the site and release a version for free of every paid modification. I can 100% guarantee that you will never do that, and you would never be able to support the modifications.
I can also guarantee that if you do begin releasing those mods, you will come across many users who do nothing but complain that you are missing features, don't offer fast enough support, and that though its free it could/should be better than what it is.
Like I have been saying, your argement is almost exactly comparable to the welfare system here in the U.S. You want everything for nothing.
(Start releasing those mods, and I mean all of them that are comparable to the paid mods, and you will confirm what I am saying.)
11-01-2008, 05:32 PM
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