The Ethics of Updating for VB3 a VB2 Hack That You Didn't Write

[TheEDIGuy]

Originally Posted by Erwin

Feel free to download a hack and modify for your own forums. But don't re-release it and call it your own.

I personally spent most of today re-writing someone else's VB2 hack for use on my own VB3 forum. No simple task for me, since I'm still a wet newbie to writing hacks.

I documented the process along the way, updating the original author's installation instructions.

I then PM'ed the original author and offered to either release it with full credit to him as the original author, or do nothing and hope that he eventually releases a VB3 version himself.

My time was well-spent because I now have the hack in place. But in the spirit of sharing, it would be nice if I could provide the benefit of that work to others looking for similar functionality. But I understand and respect the original author's work, and defer to his wishes, assuming he ever responds...

I see both sides of the issue, I guess. But when exactly is enough code changed to make a "new" creation, instead of a reproduction of someone's copyrighted original creation? If you create a basketball, and I take the idea of "roundness" and make a soccer ball, have I infringed?

[ManagerJosh]

Originally Posted by amykhar

A lot of popular hacks written for VB2 have not yet been ported over to VB3. If you are thinking about updating and releasing them, please consider the following:

1. Thou shalt not use anybody's code without their explicit permission.

2. It is good manners to let the original author of a hack have time to update their work before you pounce on it and claim authorship.

Now, if you know a better or different way to write an existing hack, the above statements don't apply. Just make sure that your work is original and that you get the original author's permission before you use their code.

Swiping code from others without credit is tacky and won't gain you a reputation as a master coder.

another thought is that one gets written permission from the original author if they can port the hack over to vB3 or assist in anyway to help port it over