I'm very pleased to hear that "page edits" is a benchmark for a "hack". I would prefer the word "plugin" if the extension did'nt require page edits, and reserve the word "hack" for those extensions that require page edits. Thus using the word "hack" to signal that the extension somehow violates the intentions of the extension framework.
The word 'hack' is somehow historical. The Plugin system was introduced in vBulletin 3.5 (now a few months in a production version). Until version 3.5 file edits where needed for most additions/modifications. The word 'hack' became a synonym for modifcation/addition/extension, and is still the most used word to describe a modification (modification as in modify functionality, not modify files). I guess it will take a while until this word is replaced by a word that sounds a bit more friendly to new members of the community.
11-13-2005, 06:18 PM
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