A Honest to Good Aggravated Criticism of Paid Modifications for vBulletin (Essay)

encryption: Windows is encrypted... are you frustrated because Microsoft encrypted parts of the OS you use on your computer ?!... it's their way to hide some cool features they copied from Apple, but hey.. lol

i never encrypted my stuff though, and never will, even if in the next weeks i'm going full commercial/pro ... encryption is for some professional secrets you want to hide, but vBulletin is built from PHP and MySQL, both engines uncrypted... if i want to encrypt something, it will be because i create a complete new engine, nothing else.

but that was debated not long ago, last month if i remember right...

[Lizard King]

All your post is pointless and you dont even have one single correct arguement.

Do you know how hard is it to support and spend time with them plus code free addons for people you dont even know ? Do you think it is fair for you to spend your valuable time coding free addons instead of spending time with family. It is impossible.

Also everyone out there is creating a forum to make money. At least 95% target making money. Why should i code something free for someone who targets to make money ?

One last point : vBSEO is fairly priced as it is an addon which directly brings your site traffic i which also increases your earnings. The support is great so you pay and get what you paid for.

P.S : Hopefully noone will turn this thread into vBSEO discussion. Author made a point and i just responded.

[vbplusme]

Originally Posted by nexialys

encryption: Windows is encrypted... are you frustrated because Microsoft encrypted parts of the OS you use on your computer ?!... it's their way to hide some cool features they copied from Apple, but hey.. lol

i never encrypted my stuff though, and never will, even if in the next weeks i'm going full commercial/pro ... encryption is for some professional secrets you want to hide, but vBulletin is built from PHP and MySQL, both engines uncrypted... if i want to encrypt something, it will be because i create a complete new engine, nothing else.

but that was debated not long ago, last month if i remember right...

Sorry, that's the WRONG model. Microsoft would in fact encrypt the whole planet is they could and ABSOLUTELY YES! EVERYTHING is frustrating about Micro$ so that's really a bad analogy. They are the ultimate scumbags that have driven the cost of living on this planet to where it is today. Maybe you are too young to remember but THEY introduced the $500 software packages and caused the whole concept of software piracy by their ruthless GREED. Its no secret that Micro$ intended to monopolize and dominate ALL software on the planet so that only THEY made $$$.

Encryption and Open Source which most of the stuff here is about are mutually exclusive and can not coexist. Encryption is in the realm of "Micro$" wannabees, nothing but greed driven, and nothing to do with piracy either. IMHO.

My 2.5 cents worth ...



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Originally Posted by Lizard King

All your post is pointless and you dont even have one single correct arguement.

One last point : vBSEO is fairly priced as it is an addon which directly brings your site traffic i which also increases your earnings. The support is great so you pay and get what you paid for.

That's just nonsense! I think it might be YOU that need to do the homework. VBSEO is a scam and yet to be definitively PROVEN to work as advertised or have an "cause/effect" relationship to traffic flow to ones site in an of itself. Frankly, in my opinion, it is nothing short of a marketing ploy to exploit the market. Left to its own devices, VBSEO does nothing to generate the huge amount of traffic they claim in their marketing hype. The results of more than a few tests have showed no significant results without a LOT of SEO help that could do without having VBSEO installed!

VBSEO is one of the best con jobs in the vBulletin Community, similar in fact the the 419 scams, IMHO.

[Lizard King]

And may i ask when did you tested vBSEO , maybe you'll like to include your licensed url so i can check your review. If not you are just another guy who trolls around threads with useless information . You can reply via PM as i stated before i donot want this thread turn to vBSEO discussion. But if you post something like that you have to supply me the requested info otherwise you are just posting Bullshit.

[TECK]

First, this post does not have any adversity towards a specific person. It is the pure truth what I think about all remarks. I will not speak in a shallow manner so it might sound rough but believe me, I'm honest and say exactly what I think.

1. Why the hell is everything for money now?
If you would like to pay my mortgage and all other expenses that total up to $2,000/month, please let me know so I will stop working. All the free projects etc. you see out there survive on donations... I don't understand why people purchase vBulletin and do no use a free alternative. If you spent money on a good software and paid for it to get it, it is absolutely normal to expect to pay for other add-ons, if you want quality.

2. Prices from Hell?
The minimum fee I charge for my customers is 1,000.00, depending on what contract I work on. My current client signed for a 4,000.00 job. However he is getting what he paid for, quality and reliability. It took me 6 months to develop the product he wants. During this time, I did not get paid a dime. Now I collect the benefits from the long nights lost. I think it is fair, especially if the client saves money. Basically, my products will save him overall 7-12,000.00/year. So investing 4,000.00 is nothing for his benefits.

3. Lite does not equal feature non existent
When this community was born, I was doing a lot of freebies. Until I saw how many people ripped my code and did similar releases, while appropriating my hard work. It was allowed, because they changed 2-3 lines of code so it did not looked the same. Not to mention that other products were pure crap, in code quality... That made me decide that I will NEVER release anything for free, anywhere. It was an excellent decision, now I can make a decent living out if my products and services. Most of them are word to mouth advertised.

4. Encryption? What the hell?
I will never encrypt any of my work. I don't have to worry about it, the price tag is to high to worry about having them distributed on the Internet.

That's all I have to say, I hope you see clearly what I'm talking about and why I take those decisions long time ago. They made my life a lot easier and pleasant... and saved A LOT of money to my customers.

Regards,

Floren

[SEOvB]

Originally Posted by vbplusme

Sorry, that's the WRONG model. Microsoft would in fact encrypt the whole planet is they could and ABSOLUTELY YES! EVERYTHING is frustrating about Micro$ so that's really a bad analogy. They are the ultimate scumbags that have driven the cost of living on this planet to where it is today. Maybe you are too young to remember but THEY introduced the $500 software packages and caused the whole concept of software piracy by their ruthless GREED. Its no secret that Micro$ intended to monopolize and dominate ALL software on the planet so that only THEY made $$$.

If it wasn't for Microsoft computers could arguably still not be accessible to the masses as they are today. Microsoft has done way more good than harm to consumers in regards to pricing of not only software but hardware, paved the way for tons of technology (who came up with it first or whatever is irrelevant, MS made it mostly accessible)

$500 software packages were around long before microsoft was and the same concept of piracy was present for ages.

Yes they did intend to dominate the planet. Its called business. You're in a business for profit, not to take a loss. Thats the great thing about it. All the prices they've set are consumer driven, if people didn't pay it, they'd either lower it or not make it.

But all this is neither here nor there as this is mostly about vBulletin addons, and i see a vBSEO battle looming

[TECK]

Originally Posted by Lizard King

Do you know how hard is it to support and spend time with them plus code free addons for people you dont even know ? Do you think it is fair for you to spend your valuable time coding free addons instead of spending time with family. It is impossible.

Also everyone out there is creating a forum to make money. At least 95% target making money. Why should I code something free for someone who targets to make money ?

I totally agree with this, well said.

Originally Posted by FRDS

If it wasn't for Microsoft computers could arguably still not be accessible to the masses as they are today. Microsoft has done way more good than harm to consumers in regards to pricing of not only software but hardware, paved the way for tons of technology (who came up with it first or whatever is irrelevant, MS made it mostly accessible)

$500 software packages were around long before microsoft was and the same concept of piracy was present for ages.

Another well said reply. Guys, if you want this and that in your forums (for free), check Community Server. They could sell you a forum license for only 20,000.00 and suply you for free with all the add-ons you want.

[Reeve of shinra]

I think Dean pretty much hit the nail on the head ... another factor is that the complexity of the mods has increased since the vb 2.0 days. Today, some scripts are nearly as complex as the core forum product itself. Its not the simply "add this to line 113 to get this effect" stuff.

[Ziki]

I agree with some of your ideas like people charging too much.I before released many free modifications and even a LITE version.But we have to live too.Everything costs money,even me going to the bathrooms costs me money.Water,toilet paper,water again and soap.If I wouldn't have to pay for anything,I would release everything for free,but since it isn't,I need to make a living out of something .


Note: Oh and don't forget,some products are so highly priced because of the production price which also involves time making that modification.Jelsoft doesn't have to charge so much because they have ten-thousands of customers,but small websites like us,have only a couple.

[Gio~Logist]

I think Dean pretty much nailed it in his post. Lizard King and Teck also brought up some very valid points.

We can sit here and discuss all day how cheap add on's should be, or we can realize that you really do "Get What You Pay For".

vBseo is said to be overpriced by quite a few people. Perhaps that's the case. However, have you seen how many people use it? Apparently the modification is of importance and is priced as so. Is seo valuable to you? If so, purchase vBseo. If not, you can download one for free right on here.

Also, you sure can go ahead and wait for vbulletin to release any of the additions in which you would like to see included. But do you really think they all will? Vbulletin is above and foremost, a forum software. The potential is indeed immense and a lot can be done, but Jelsoft's priorities (at least i believe) are directed towards the overall forum aspect of things.

They have a wide variety of clients in which all use their software for a different purpose. Imagine every additional feature was included in vbulletin? Imagine if even their own add-ons (blogs, project tools) were built into vbulletin? Then you'd have clients complaining how about many unnecessary features were packaged and crammed in the product, making it not so popular anymore.

Why can add-ons be such a high price? If you're paying for a modification in which was already made and available for sale, i definitely don't see the need in paying anywhere over $xxx (and even then only for cases such as vBseo where people believe it's benefits surpass the fees).

Now, when you get into custom modifications (add-ons that you need for your website individually), I hope you don't ever expect these customizations to be "free" or "built into vbulletin". Or else, what purpose would your website have over the other hundred thousands that can do the same accross the web? Custom modifications can go well into the $x,xxx-$xx,xxx range as the extent of the features needed increase. And that's very common.

It all depends on what the end result is worth to you (and your website). Obviously people wouldn't spent thousands on modifications if they didn't feel it'd benefit them