If someone is going to write a mod or addon, I would expect them to support it until such a time they can't. There have been quite a few mods that I've used in the past that I've really enjoyed and the author has abandoned them over time. Seems like there should be some type of clause that states if an addon or mod is not updated or supported for a period of time it automatically becomes re-usable code, or rendered obsolete and taken off the site. Just my $0.02 cents worth..
You have also never written an addon or provided support for it have you? The only person who can put that clause in is the author and only if they want to.
Lets say you build a house, and don't actually move in for a few years for whatever reason. But a hobo has now moved in, you seemed to have abandoned the house, now he wants to live there and he says its his. You seemingly abandoned the house, its the same idea.
If someone is going to write a mod or addon, I would expect them to support it until such a time they can't. There have been quite a few mods that I've used in the past that I've really enjoyed and the author has abandoned them over time. Seems like there should be some type of clause that states if an addon or mod is not updated or supported for a period of time it automatically becomes re-usable code, or rendered obsolete and taken off the site. Just my $0.02 cents worth..
If there were any such clauses, I would simply not bother releasing my code here to be honest. My code is my code. You can't go and release my code as your own without my permission, period. Either write your own, fix it for yourself and don't release it, or get my permission.
You have also never written an addon or provided support for it have you?
Actually, I have.. See the link in my sig. The previous author(s) of the "Email Reminders for Inactive Users" mod were kind enough to put up the mod up as "Re-usable Code" and hasn't updated or supported the mod, so I rewrote it. Matter of fact, I'm in the process of re-writing it again.
So now were punishing people for having things to do outside of their hobby, seems unfair. You haven't ever released a single addon have you?
Supported means different things to different users, Geeky Designs supports its modifications by fixing bugs, we don't currently go out of our way to support everything every user asks.
One last thing to add: People here write addons because they wanted to, wrote it for themselfs, wrote it for a client who wanted to release it. Releasing an addon here doesn't pay our bills, or tuck us in bed at night. There are 168 hours in the week, 64 of these are likely consumed by sleep. This now leaves us with 104 workable hours for the week. Assuming we work a normal 9-5 job, or at the very least 40 hours a week we're down to 64 hours. How much time do you propose an author spends on vBulletin.org suppoorting their modifications that they are not paid to support? This 64 hours that are left assumes no commute time, no family time, no time to cook food or take showers, or do daily chores.
You know, fair enough actually. I think the idea was backwards. What WOULD be ideal would be to reward developers who support their modifications with a points-style system similar to eBay. That way it's still a "buyer beware" but developers who decide to go the extra mile and offer basic / good / excellent support are duly rewarded and recognized for their efforts.
Except why would anyone look in the 3.x mods section for 4.x mods?
my goal here isn't to skirt laws, or take credit for other people's work. I just want to share my fixes for people who are patiently waiting. If it means just posting the fix under the 3.x link to get it out there, that's fine with me
Every country on the planet recognizes that people die and when they do we give away their stuff to others. But not here! If you publish a single line of code, say "Hello World!" on vb.org, you then own it for eternity. Absurd, but apparently just never actually thought through by anyone except really paranoid coders (that were still alive).
That's not true!
If you die, you still have the copyright for 20-70 years after your dead (depents on what (music, text, etc...)
03-29-2010, 07:36 PM
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