If a coder has seemingly abandoned their plugin, and I've fixed it for 4.0

[TheLastSuperman]

I can see how some have different perceptions and opinions on this however it's rather simple to understand, arguing a point on the other hand leads to 3 pages

1) You can't copy the code 100% and find/replace the creators name with yours not even 99% (unless they marked it as "Re-Usable code" as previously posted).
2) You can have a similar idea and code your own version of a mod up as long as the majority of it differs as some things you can't simply recode for instance an actual php function (http://www.w3schools.com/PHP/php_functions.asp) may have to be called with the same code but a writename does not always have to call the name "John Doe" now does it? Nope
3) Just be respectful, that's why someone became ticked off and invented copyrights... someone flat our jacked their idea and did not give credit... innovation by instinct on the other hand is always welcome as long as it's a new and different way to make the world turn.