The State of this Forum

[cessna140]

My .02.

First, I am a vB user with a site to run and not a hacker. I haven't posted much because I don't have time to hang out. The only reason I come here is to search for solutions to problems or hunt for hacks that will make my site better and more functional. This community is the beauty of vBulletin! vBulletin.com & .org ARE the reason I decided to purchase vB.

Since purchasing vB, I have lurked on these boards in an effort to get a feel for the community and to determine who was really here to help and who was not. Unfortunately, from the start, it was clear to me that newbies & their pesky questions were not appreciated. From what I have seen when evaluating several of these boards, I guess this is as professional as it gets in this business although some are worse than others.

In my opinion it is alarming to see the large number of questions & requests that are ignored or impolitely dismissed. This is too bad because it leaves many vB users without help which is exactly why this place exists, correct?.

I disagree with the notion that paid hacks are a bad thing. If paying for it is the only way I can get a needed hack done, I will gladly pay for it provided it is finished in a timely manner and done correctly the first time. Please, don't take that option away from us, it may be the only way to get some hacks done. Just make the process easier.

Perhaps a real solution is to separate all the "paid" hacks from the "freebies" by confining them to a "Hacks for Sale" forum. All business/whinning can be conducted there. Then change the current "Hacks" database to "Free Hacks". Additionally, it would be a good idea to do away with all of the advertising in the sigs.

Furthermore, establish a "Paid Hack Request" forum where anyone willing to pay for a hack can post a request. Of course, this would be separate from the regular request forum and for most, would be a last resort.

As previously suggested, maybe ALL hackers should be rated on the Quality of their hacks and/or the Service provided, instead of the number of hacks produced? This would provide the non-hackers a way of determining who to approach to get quality work done. I think this would separate the men from the boys in a hurry!

Lastly, if a hacker agrees to take on a job, paid or otherwise, they should make every effort to complete the job in a timely manner or at a minimum, give regular updates as the job progresses. I don't think that is unreasonable and would help solve the problem that was mentioned above by a Hacker that was tired of being harrassed.

Case in point, one hacker (namless) has committed to several hacks I have requested and I have yet to see one of them completed. I haven't had any progress reports and have no way of knowing where the project(s) stand because I do not want to harrass him. He did not have to take them on, he chose to... Because he was the only one to respond to my queries, I am afraid to inquire as I do not want to anger him into quiting. I need the hacks and no one else volunteered. What's a newbie to do?

Anyway, thanks for all the work, despite its drawbacks, it is the best forum software out there!

[Freddie Bingham]

If someone commits to writing a hack for free for you than you really have no recourse against them if they choose not to.

Everyone has a right to sell hacks and the right to purchase hacks. Doing so does not promote the expansion of the hacking community since those activities are limited to a small group of people.

If this forum was split up into a 'free' section and a 'paid' section than that would almost beg for a competitive hacking site to open up that has a strict no asking for and no selling policy.

It is all moot as I have the feeling that the site will continue on as it is. You can post hacks for sale if you want, right along the free hacks. Hacker X sees hacker Y is making a few bucks so he decides to try it. Hacker Z then sees what is going on so he tries it out. Soon enough, everyone is only offering hacks for money and we have constant arguments over the point of the community. It is no longer a community but a trading post.

It is vb.org, not vb.com.

Paid hacks should be left to private messages and emails.

[TECK]

Originally posted by cessna140
Because he was the only one to respond to my queries, I am afraid to inquire as I do not want to anger him into quiting. I need the hacks and no one else volunteered. What's a newbie to do?

i dont see why a hacker would get angry if another hacker will request help? i write sometimes hacks, but i'm not affraid to ask for help. i know for a fact that i got help here in those forums from day one. think also this way: maybe the hackers who say your request had no clue about the code design... and the ones that knew about it, probably were involved in other personal projects. dont be affraid to post. it's all in the way you layout the words (i speak in general now)...

feel free to open a thread in Requests, this where all experienced hackers look first to come up with new cool ideas.

[Sparkz]

Originally posted by cessna140

In my opinion it is alarming to see the large number of questions & requests that are ignored or impolitely dismissed. This is too bad because it leaves many vB users without help which is exactly why this place exists, correct?.

First of all, after answering the same question again and again, just because someone did not bother to use the search feature, or read the whole thread gets old after a while. And it only makes longer threads with more crap to sift through to find the answers for those that actually want to research their problem before asking.

I am convinced that a great part of questions that are ignored are from users who read the first post in a thread, downloaded the hack, was in a hurry so they made a mistake that left their board unusable and just hit the reply button shouting 'why is your stupid hack not working'.

For people considering installing hacks I would expect at least SOME research before asking questions. I would expect them to check through the installation instructions carefully before having a go at it, and I would expect them to try it out on a dev board first, so that in case it breaks something - for whatever reason - it is not critical that it be fixed at once. How many times have you seen people demanding help because they broke their board?

Now don't get me wrong. I actually enjoy helping people, but this is a community of volunteers and we all do what we do here because we enjoy it. The minute some n00b that hardly knows what a browser is comes pushing demands down my throat, I do not feel like helping anymore.

Originally posted by cessna140

I disagree with the notion that paid hacks are a bad thing. If paying for it is the only way I can get a needed hack done, I will gladly pay for it provided it is finished in a timely manner and done correctly the first time. Please, don't take that option away from us, it may be the only way to get some hacks done. Just make the process easier.

IMHO, these things should be at iwanttobuyavbhack.biz or something.

[TECK]

Originally posted by freddie
Paid hacks should be left to private messages and emails.

exacly. in my personal oppinion, is up to the hacker what he does, but he must give something to the community first. if he wants to make money, he can do it on his own website, not here. there is the place to talk about money, and vB.org is not one of them.

take an example: me and vbHome. i will release the full version when my website will be online. and trust me, i will not place a link in my signature about this. i learned from other hackers here that a signature is not an advertising board for a business.

in few words: vB.org is not an money making machine. is a site where people gather to get cool things for their boards, for free.

[Harvey]

Hi,

if someone posted this already or if I miss the theme then sorry (I don't really speak english )

Suggestions:

• Allow posts like "I search a hack xxx. I like to pay for it, please contact me via PM"
• Disallow posts like "look, I sell a hack"
• Allow users to post full tested hacks with no or bad support. The user must write that there will be no support. There are users that wants to share hacks but don't speak english.
• Not for "BETA Hacks": disallow users to post a full release without an example (image or homepage), so that you can see that it works.
• Not for "BETA Hacks": Disallow new threads in "Full realease". Create a new forum "Hack Feedback" and disallow new threads. Let the user post new hacks directly in the hack database. This generates 2 threads: one support thread and one feedback thread for posts like "let me kiss your hand", "look to the image of my board" and so on. (I know that this requires a big hack for this board, but IMHO that makes the board more clearly).

Ok, now I am 30 minutes older and I don't know if somone understands. I do the last suggestion in german.

Macht ein neues Forum "Hack Feedback" auf. Verbietet hierin und im Forum "Full Releases" das Erstellen neuer Threads. Stattdessen posten die Benutzer ihre Hacks direkt in der Datenbank. Darauf hin werden automatisch 2 Threads generiert: Ein Supportthread in "Full Releases" und einer in "Hack Feedback". Letzterer f?r die Dankesschreiben.

Das erfordert zwar einen gr??eren Hack in diesem Board, aber ich sch?tze dies w?rde alles viel ?bersichtlicher machen.

[Floris]

I am very glad that I can find solutions to my forum problems, where I fail to do so with templates. And I think I can get the help here. The team behind vB org is doing good job (and fast). But I am scared to ask a stupid question, because I feel I am immediatly put in a box that is tagged 'lamer'. I do not have this feeling on vB com.

I am sorry to see the shoutbox go, because its a nice hack and looks fun on the portal. But I am happy it is not there no more, since it is not really something that contributes to this site. And the content of the posts aren't 'really' fun to read.

I have seen a lot of full releases that I consider beta stage .. even if I do not know much enough php/mysql to write my own. But there are a lot of good quality hacks out there, like vBstats and those little ones that improve the look of a board. They do not result in 50 extra queries per page load.

I seriously dislike seeing hacks that I need to pay for. For the simple reason that I personally will not purchase any. (This doesn't mean I do not understand why someone would ask money for it!). At least show your 'free' hacks here, and use the signature to inform us you have made more hacks, and they are for purchase. And use your own forum for support.

I am fairly new to this site, since January, but the last somewhat weeks it started to look somewhat messy to me. The new green theme is a nice improvement. It makes it look more professional, instead of 'warez' like.

Restrickting users for downloads and/or even reading threads/attachments is a good idea. Making this public for license holders is a nice idea. And I support that.

Even though I sound negative at times in this post, I do respect the help and support from other members from this board. And the time they put into making code-modifications for the vBulletin forum. And I also have respect for the team behind this web site. For they have done a bloody great job.

[TECK]

Originally posted by xiphoid
I am scared to ask a stupid question, because I feel I am immediatly put in a box that is tagged 'lamer'. I do not have this feeling on vB com.

i must not agree with you. i ask all the time newbie style questions and nobody laugh at me (well only once it happened).

[Sadie Frost]

nakkid, are you talking about me again? lol Just kidding

Anyway, I disagree with that quote as well. Or, actually, I just feel the exact opposite. I always feel that my questions are answered here and that I get help when I need/ask for it - I feel ignored at .com (nothing against the site team there).

[nafae]

I agree with all of what freddie said. if people want to sell something, they should find other venues with which to market their product. vbulletin.org it a place for people to download open-source modifications to vbulletin, not to bid and market hacks that cost money.

And I have never been 'scared' to ask questions. Almost ALL of my questions have been answered on vb.org and vb.com, but i always do a search for the question & the answer, and usually will try my hardest to figure it out myself before I ask. Usually, after all of that, the question will obviously have some merit being answered as noone else has asked it!

I also believe that more careful moderation would be very helpful. Some of the people here are very snappy (to each other) and some moderation would really help.

And about the community, I usually spend most of my time socializing at vbulletin.com because the people in the chitchat forum are usually and generally more mature, and the moderation seems a bit stricter. So yes, I avoid the community here, I usually just stop by the general hacking discussion forum and the full releases once a day and that's it.