Something Constructive

[spence2]

Erwin, Xenon, et al.,

If we agree that:
1. One of the reasons for the popularity (sales) of vBulletin is this community: the hacks & add-ons.
2. The scripting changes from vB2 to vB3 are major & complex.
3. Hacks written for vB2 often require extensive modification to "port" to vB3.
4. Hackers deserve respect, credit, appreciation and protection from those who might attempt to falsely take credit for their work.
5. Emailing or PM'ing hackers for permission to "port" their code is haphazard, stymies or delays productive work and fails to inform the community.

Would it, therefore, be possible or advantageous to:

1. Publicly (via an announcement) advise owners of vB2 hacks that a time period has been established to declare their intentions to port their hacks from vB2 to vB3. Owners of vB2 hacks could then reply publicly in that thread to inform all of the community.
2. Once their intentions are announced, could those hacks be listed in a vB3 "Pre-Beta Forum". This would reveal to the entire community their intentions and advise others that they do not grant permission for their original work to be modified.
3. Given adequate notice, publicly, those who fail to respond would, of course, retain ownership of their vB2 hacks. Please note: "vB2 hacks", which is exactly what they are.
4. Those hacks, however, not "reserved" for porting in the apportioned time period by their owners would then be freed for singular or collaborative efforts to port them by the members of this community.
5. Any vB3 hack based in part on a vB2 hack MUST be designated as such by the submitter. All such submissions must give credit to the vB2 hacker by whatever phrase this forum chooses ("BASED ON ___", "PORTED FROM __", etc.). If not, the proposed hack will not be accepted.

I mean these suggestions to be constructive. Their purpose is to promote fairness to all members of this community, expedite and organize a more structured approach to the issue of permissions granted or denied.

Feedback is welcomed, of course, as I'm sure these ideas can be improved!
But, truly, Erwin (Xenon, et al) IMHO something similar should be enacted and SOON.

[Reeve of shinra]

I think the "Based on" would most appropriate as it would also acknowledge those who wrote hacks for vb2 thats others are writting from scratch for vb3 and currently aren't covered by this 'porting' rule.

[spence2]

And after a bit more thought...

Could not persons submitting new hacks be asked to display the following information:
I will/will not support this hack via this forum.
I will/will not support this hack via email.
I will/will not support this hack via private messaging.
I do/do not grant permission for credited portions of this code to be used in the creation of other mods for the sole benefit of this community.
I do/do not reserve the right to grant or deny all such requests on a per request basis.

Spelling out such things clearly from the beginning might be a good start as we all forge ahead to vB4, 5, 6...

[Xenon]

hmm, we can think about some of the checkboxes, but surely not all.

The support will stay as it is, i don't think anyone will offer support per email, and if he does, he has to mention his mail as well

We will think about the others things, but currently Erwin and myself are very busy in our normal life.

[Andreas]

> normal life.
What's that? Any URL where I can download it?

[TheAnt]

yes, http://etherealdreamoflife.net :P

[Wonko of Shinra]

No, no, no.
live you can find at www.unrealtournament.com

anyway, my opinion of this is relatively simple, vB's rules were set in place for the thought that people actually buy vb release a hack and actually stay in the community, I'm obviously not an example of this, nor is the guy who wrote this script before me. Which then limits the abilities you can do with these scripts. Obviously I've spent a lot of time adding and working on the journal hack, I'm not cheaply ripping off the guy who wrote it. But you need to think about the future of your site, your product, and your community. As if somebody in vb6 wants to port something he saw in vb2, he's screwed. I do agree with a the permit for protection only lies in the verson of vb that it was coded in.

If you request the use of the program written and after 7 days don't get a response. then I beleive that you then are allowed to make a mod of it for the latest vb edition. with no more than the words ("based off of XXXXX by whoever")

If we can write addons for the release of other hacks, we shoudl be able to update them.

[memobug]

My ability to upgrade to vB3 is contingent on hack updates that are in limbo due to the "permissions" issue. Surely there is a solution to all this? Maybe releasing hacks under GNU or something that won't stymy development.

1. Ask the absentee author for permission.
2. If there is a postive response or no reply within a reasonable timespan, allow the new author to post the rework with "based on" credit given.
3. IF there is then a complaint from the absentee author at some point in the future, THEN remove the rework.

It's nice to be considerate [1,3] but let's be real! My Photopost hacks have been used in integration hacks posted here (and credit has been given, but no one asked my "permission"), so what is the big deal? If I was upset about it, I would complain.

4. Add this box as suggested by Spence2 on every new mod so we don't have to walk this road again:

I do/do not grant permission for credited portions of this code to be used in the creation of other mods for the sole benefit of this community.

Regards,

Matt

[Wayne Luke]

Originally Posted by memobug

Maybe releasing hacks under GNU or something that won't stymy development.

Jelsoft cannot allow hacks to be released under the GNU license. Any such hack will be removed from the server because of the license's viral and invasive nature and total lack of regard for previous intellectual property rights.

People are free to denote their hacks as available under licenses that understand commercial software such as the BSD Open License or the Mozilla Open License. They can even use the Creative Commons license. However, it is up to the hack creators to determine what license they distribute on.

How hacks are released and updated is something that needs to be worked on over the next month or so.