Suggestions: How to bring vBulletin.org back to what it was before...

[TECK]

A true community member, called hacker, will never bash on you... when you simply express your own thoughts.
It's not a crime to say out loud what you think, if it's said in a constructive way.

To tell you the truth, I purchased vbSEO, for the simple reason I saw no way, with the actual vB.org situation, to have a hack like that released for free.
If the code would not be encrypted, I'm sure it looks like 90% vBulletin code.
I'm pretty sure that's the reason the code is encrypted, they could not sell the product, without getting pinched by vBulletin for proprietory code usage.

I cannot use vBulletin code or techniques to develop a product, then sell it as mines.
It infringes the vBulletin copyright.

[TruthElixirX]

Originally Posted by TECK

1. This site was created for the hackers to share their vBulletin code into a safe environment. I never liked the idea of having templates or graphic forums.

wow. just wow.

[Reeve of shinra]

Generally speaking, paid hacks aren't the problem. Some hacks are really complex and require alot of support and are worth the few extra bucks that people want to charge for it. Some aren't and chances are they wont recieve alot of purchases. It works itself out in the end for the most part and there will always be something similiar around vb.org for free for those are more inclined to using it.

But anyway...

I remember when vbulletin.org first opened up and releasing a hack was considered prestigious. No matter how big or small the modification might be (some were 2 line template edits!), it was your five minutes of glory and everyone appreciated the fact that someone took their time to contribute something back to the community.

Most of us were new to programing in general and questions were tolerated and encouraged and if people got a little snippy once in a while, its one of those things you just shrugged off - like your gf yelling at you when its her time of the month or the parking ticket you got for waking up five minutes late.

phpbb or ubb would release some mod or include some feature that vbulletin didn't have and being the proud types that we are - we rolled our own and tried to "one up" them in the process. It was competitive fun.

edit: that reminds me of another thing. Requests were more simplistic in the vb2 days. Karma was just an integer that was incremented or decreased by a button... today, people are expecting someone to replicate myspace for free. Thats an educational issue and we should do a better job of establishing expectations.

If you want to bring those golden days back, its pretty simple.

* Stop complaining. Some people love drama for the sake of drama but I for one hate it. It serves no purpose and only creates aggitation where are are striving for harmony.

* Make it easier to do business. In short thats the hack database with a wiki like function so users can contribute answers to FAQ's and the occassional code snippet to get something to work between upgrades.

* Keep it fun. No one gets paid to release thier work. Its released because someone needs it for thier own site or because they enjoy the challenge and wanted to create something. Who wants to contribute thier work when its people nagging all the time?

* Practice what we preach. We want to encourage people to post thier mods then we should give a helping hand where needed on thier projects. That doesn't mean coding it for them but encouraging them on how to go about a project, resources to check into, even perhaps books to buy.

I can go on but *yawn* it is getting late.

[TECK]

Originally Posted by TruthElixirX

wow. just wow.

You answered like everyone else relativelly new here. A normal post will be:
Teck, what's wrong with having people posting templates and graphics at vB.org? I like having graphics templates posted... I'm actually pretty good with Photoshop!

Then, I would answer to you:
Hi Truth,
You are right... It's a personal oppinon.
The idea of this thread is to see what it has to be done in order to make vB.org a better place and your oppinion counts as much as mines.
If you have any suggestions related to this matter, please post them here.

[Gio~Logist]

Originally Posted by Chris M

I still call them hacks - We are hackers, people these days are coders :ermm:

It would be interesting to see what would happen if we rolled back .org to 2 years ago and see if we can continue on properly from there, but thats just me lol...

I miss the old days

Now to go to sleep since I've been up for 49 hours >.>

Chris

2004. Yes, that was a good year! I will probably make my usual long post about this in the morning. However, it's 3AM and i'll probably end up typing something completely useless hehe.

[TECK]

Originally Posted by Reeve of shinra

I remember when vbulletin.org first opened up and releasing a hack was considered prestigious. No matter how big or small the modification might be (some were 2 line template edits!), it was your five minutes of glory and everyone appreciated the fact that someone took their time to contribute something back to the community.

Most of us were new to programing in general and questions were tolerated and encouraged and if people got a little snippy once in a while, its one of those things you just shrugged off - like your gf yelling at you when its her time of the month or the parking ticket you got for waking up five minutes late.

So true, everything what you posted Reeve.

Originally Posted by Reeve of shinra

I can go on but *yawn* it is getting late.

You should go on, when you have time, Reeve. This is an important matter...

[MJM]

To the pioneers who made this product what it is.. Thanks!!! vB would not be what it is today if not for you efforts.
But when it comes down to the nitty gritty, you have been contributing to a commercial product.
Much has changed in the business of developing, marketing and selling interactive software since the good ole days.
And on the customer side, the cost of this software is negligble in relation to all other expenses, so, as long as it is possible to import this product to another, life-long dedication to this product can not be assured.

We are living at the cutting edge of a technological revolution and developments are happening faster than some bright minds can keep up with. I think burnout is one culprit that sends some aspiring minds to the way-side.

This is why it is imperative that there be a greater collaboration between vB.com and the coders at vB.org. (Ok, if you want to call yourself hackers, that's fine, but terminology also changes for a reason).

Overall it is you who have been greatly instrumental in the formation of ideas into practical applications.
In essence this is the site which has been pre-beta testing mods with customers, and demonstrating to vB that there is interest in these features and functionalities.

I believe vB, with the intro to 3.6 is now taking the next (albiet overdue) steps to implementing (some of) these mods into it's core products.
The path they choose to take regarding this site and the relationship between coders here remains to be seen.
I personally can say one thing for certain. Despite every mod/hack that's available here, I still need more modifications to get my vb working as desired.
We are still a long ways from perfection

[TECK]

Good points MJM. For example the news robot, implemented in 3.6 version.
What would you do/change to improve the vB.org community?

Thanks for posting your thoughts.

Since this thread deals with vBulletin.org - I've moved it to the Site Feedback Forum.

[Dean C]

You can't enforce rules like this, it's all about attitude. Floren, this place will never be like it used to be unless it's split entirely from Jelsoft again.