Proposal: The vBulletin.org Commercial Services and Addons Directory.

[AquilaEagle]

I agree with the proposal and I think it is a good idea to get paid for hacks. It might motivate some people to write more I also don't think that allowing that will adversely affect free hacks, just look at the strength of OS software these days...

The other thing is people already have links in their sig to their businesses, script providers, style makers etc. If this proposal doesn't go through, will the rules change and no commercial links be allowed at all?

[KimmiKat]

As a few pointed out the dot org being non commercial, I'm against this proposal. If there's a need to do such a thing, use a completely different site, not vb.org.

/me votes no.

[LEAD_WEIGHT]

I do not want to see this here, unless vbulletin.org is charging advertising space for such scripts? It will make it so pathetic if scripts all become copyrighted and people will try to make version of it, then you will see Photopost vs vbAdance type lawsuit all over the place. The only people that will be out in the cold is the member's.

*edit

What happens to paid hacks that has the author skips and runs off with your money? Lets say it was a very popular hack and someone tries to make a replacement, but ask they have no rights to create such a hack cause it is to simular? That will suck if all the good hacks end up that way. :ermm:

[john_rsd]

I am not against this, there are some add-ons that I would pay for.

However

To allow listings from those offering commercial services, I would suggest the following

The directory should be under vbulletin.com, not .org

There should be also a vetting process by vB BEFORE they can place the ad.
The advertisers should have to meet minimum criterea for development, AND support before being acceptable.

The advertisers should have to meet minimum criterea for proven history of mods and support, perhaps even require a minimum number of customer testimonials before being placed.

The advertisers should have to meet minimum criterea for proven compatibility for integration by vb.
vb should charge for this "pre-compliance" service and in return advertisers, third party developers would be advised in advance of code structure changes to be more compliant. (in the long run this will reduce support requirements)
There should be an additional recognition for third party developers who work with vb instead of independantly which can be an indication to prospective customers on the third party providers commitment to providing a better quality of service & support.
They should receive an advertising discount applied for them.

The service & support supplied by vb and vb.org authors is fantastic, but it won't be the first time I have seen great ideas commercialised under a parent umbrella and it back fires as the third party support cannot fill the shoes of the parents when it comes to customer expectations.

Alternatively just have a qualified listing or directory, no fees for ads, users who download and get a benefit from the mods can pay a donation directly to the author if they want support.

Just a few ideas, but i do agree 100% that this should be thought out, planned and executed with no haste at all.

[Trickle]

What about paying for installing hacks? There's a certain hack I can't get to work cause its simply over my head right now being a newbie to all of this. I mean the hack is free for anyone to use and install but for people like me who have just spent litterally 10 hours reading and tweaking and playing with a hack and still can't get it......this is where I would pay someone to install it for me. Its still a free hack, the author doesn't step on anyone's toe's by charging everyone for it, only those who are willing to pay for it to be installed? Not everyone who buys vbulletin is a coder or has the understanding to apply a hack or for that matter the time to make this a hobby.

Just my 2 cents

When will a decision be made about this?

[BamaStangGuy]

I agree with the proposal. I think it is a good idea to have one site for all hacks pertaining to vBulletin. If this place is not going to offer customers all the hacks possible for vBulletin I think it is pretty useless to me. So much for being the one spot to come to for all your vbulletin hack needs. Some of the best hacks out there are paid and you will not find them here sadly.

[wolfstream]

My 0.02 on the topic, as a coder and an admin:
The idea itself sounds great, and I'm all for it. vb.org is the place to go to get hacks, we all know this. Why not allow individuals to link here for a nominal fee to advertise their products. It's an excellent idea, and I'm all for it.

There is no reason to charge coders for a listing...

Try to understand something here:
vb.org is doing a service to these providers by allowing them to make money off of their site, and product. This is certainly not going to be a free event, and it shouldn't be, by any means.
When you go into business, certain amounts of funds must be set aside for advertising. You must advertise if you want to stay alive, in any business, no matter what. A central location like vb.org would be the ideal place to advertise, and yes, it should be charged for. This only enhances the quality of the product as it were.

I think it's a bad Id because a lot of free hacks will get paid hacks as soon as this comes here.

There is no evidence to support this, only a fear of this. Most (note: most) of the hacks that are in the db already aren't even worthy of being charged for, so we're probably not going to go down that road any time soon.

The list would have to be something rather heavily moderated to ensure that these products (hacks/etc) aren't exact copies, or even duplicates in some sense of the word of something that someone has already offered for free. Action would need to be taken if someone reported that the hack was indeed something that had already been released, or a copy of someone else's code.

As to "Why pay, didn't we pay already?":
I , for one am all for this mod, and I've paid a yearly rate for a few years now. Why? Because, to me, at the time, it was what I could do. $160 is not pennies to someone running a small business.

Yes, we paid for VBulletin, but what you have to understand is that you're not purchasing VBulletin. Instead, you are purchasing commercial services and hacks to VBulletin, stuff that's not a part of the default package, and shouldn't really be. The VB developers have enough on their plates without working on stuff like this, honestly.

The hacks that will be displayed will need to be something of professional quality hacks, and the developers should, indeed, be paid for their work. I'm not saying that they should demand another $160 like some do, unless it is warranted (and I've yet to see one that is), but I am saying that their work should be paid for somehow. This gives them an excellent opportunity to place an advertisement (again, that's just what it is) in a comunal place, and will probably pick up a good bit of business from it, providing (of course) that their product is worth what they're charging for it (and in that case, I HAVE seen a few that are).

As a developer, if my vb skills were that great, I'd be all over this, as an opportunity, which it is. This is something that will, indeed require a good deal of moderation though.

[GraphicW]

I can fully understand someone wanting to get paid for their work, especially in the case of complex hacks. I am still against a directory of commercial hacks here. I am old school and when I first came onto the web in the early 90's, there were all kinds of free services and people were willing to help one another. Now these days, everybody and their dog is out to make a buck and you have to constantly build castles around your mailbox just to hold back the flood of spam. The same pattern is here, but without the spam. The activity level as far as hack development has slowed down, this site is not as helpful as it used to be and truth be told, I rarely ever find myself here. It used to be you could ask a question and you would have people jumping all over one another to get you an answer. You just don't see that anymore.

I know life is getting harder and finding new ways of earning money is sometimes a must, but just as it is hard for the hack developers, it is also getting hard for the prospective customers as well. Many people here do not run sites to make a profit, their goal is to provide the best community possible within their budget.

I find myself looking in the direction of PHPbb more and more these days as it seems the hack community at Vbulletin.org has been changing for the worst over the past two years. I struggle to find hacks with Vbulletin to allow me to accomplish what I want with my site (especially a good blog with the board). I have this problem even finding a paid script or hack to do some things I would like. I look at PHPbb hacks and I see ithese things (good blogs and etc) and they are almost always FREE!!!!!

I will quit rambling now. I hope that you can see where I am coming from here. The saying of, "Can't squeeze blood from a turnip" is coming to mind here. It just seems that a Vbulletin board these days is becoming a money pit when even a little increase in functionality can result in a $100 investment as well as another annual fee for access to updates.

[b00k]

i vote no thanks

[Wayne Luke]

Thanks for all the replies. I will go over them and further discuss this with staff to see how to proceed.