About Add-on Shares

[mysimsek]

First of all, I would like to say to Hi every member, and Dear XenForo Official Team,
Let me know how can we share free add-ons?

I think we need to standard or policy follow the rules.

Our goal is to support and development in all countries for XenForo. Important point is, How will Xenforo system evolve if the free resources are not shared?
Coold you please write your suggestions? Which one is correct?

Plug-in sharing is prohibited without permission and also when we share add-on we just add to official resources url. (Not in host)
If you are thinking about it in this way, what should be the permitting process?

 

[Ozzy47]

How would you provide support for a add-on if you can not code?

 

[HePBiZ]

As in every software; The shortcomings in language support require opening a new support site for the language used in that country (of course for other reasons ). In this situation, personal thoughts can be shared extensions. As a result, we don^t track whether they are licensed users benefiting from these sources. This responsibility belongs to Xenforo. I think that if the user doesn't talk about this subject, it is the ethics and freely to share and share with each other our own language. It is possible to say otherwise in 2018. If you say yes, I suggest you follow the policy.

 

[Ozzy47]

Why would any self respecting developer want his addons to be used by unlicensed people?

This is why people have to get the add-on from here, so the developer knows the user is a licensed XF customer.

 

[HePBiZ]

I agree with you. I don t think they can use it anyway. Why cant be followed by this company. If we could follow it, we wouldt have had these problems. We both won, and the xenforo family.

A problem that cant be avoided cant be as funny as our politics say

 

[Ovunc Dinc]

It is always right to follow policies and rules, but ultimately it is most important to be able to identify them ethically.
Creating an add-on or theme is not enough it is valuable to be explain and support use.

Add-on publishing without a share permission is not true why we renew our xenforo license?
There are countless null sites and there is no imposition for any of them. ( Maybe could be, I did not see a site that was sued for legal purposes )

I have story,
I bought a add-on but I didn't know the author I found out later that it was a null copy. I bought it again to legal author.
The $15 crumbling was gone.

So it is important to download the add-ons with use official sites or with URL's.
Follow rules and wait Xenforo Team decide.

 

[Ozzy47]

Exactly, only place someone should download a addon is from here or the developers personal site and their github page.

 

[Paul B]

As I have communicated to you via ticket and conversation, just because an add-on is listed on our site here and is free to download, that does not give you the right to host it elsewhere and redistribute it.

Explicit permission must be sought from the author for each add-on in order to redistribute it.

As mentioned above, allowing third party sites with no way of checking XF license status is not ideal and results in unlicensed persons from using add-ons (not to mention sites such as that typically allow XF to be downloaded).

Furthermore, contacting add-on authors on this site via a separate conversation for each add-on, requesting permission to do so isn't really acceptable.
Quite rightly, some of those authors have reported your conversations as spam.
If you do feel the need to contact someone, then a single conversation should be all that is sent.

Having said all that, I suspect the vast majority of (if not all) authors are going to deny your request, so ultimately it's going to be a wasted exercise.

 

[Ovunc Dinc]

Everyone has a different idea we can find to solution while discussing.

In this case,
authors will be notified when they publish their add-on in official resorces field.

-approve to share thirdparty website.
-reject to share thirdparty website.

@Brogan is it possible add this field?
there will be a situation to protect both sides.
Just new multisection field it will be userfriendly and basic.

 

[netr0n]

As I have communicated to you via ticket and conversation, just because an add-on is listed on our site here and is free to download, that does not give you the right to host it elsewhere and redistribute it.

Explicit permission must be sought from the author for each add-on in order to redistribute it.

As mentioned above, allowing third party sites with no way of checking XF license status is not ideal and results in unlicensed persons from using add-ons (not to mention sites such as that typically allow XF to be downloaded).

Furthermore, contacting add-on authors on this site via a separate conversation for each add-on, requesting permission to do so isn't really acceptable.
Quite rightly, some of those authors have reported your conversations as spam.
If you do feel the need to contact someone, then a single conversation should be all that is sent.

Having said all that, I suspect the vast majority of (if not all) authors are going to deny your request, so ultimately it's going to be a wasted exercise.

Sharing elsewhere a plug-in that members share free of charge does not hold XenForo accountable. You are not legally entitled. Someone else can make someone else's software legally not the xenforo company. So even if you have a complaint, you do not legally have the right to suspend or cancel your XenForo license. If @mysimsek friend is in place I sent a warning to XenForo company under the law. XenForo can not own someone else's software. you have no legal right. You have no right to suspend your license. Will you show us the right to do this legally?

 

[alfaNova]

XenForo License Agreement
This software license agreement ("Agreement") is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or an entity, "You" or "Your") and XenForo Limited ( "We", "Our" or "Us") for the use of XenForo software (“Software”) and any services that may be provided. XenForo Limited reserves the right to modify the terms of this Agreement at any time.
By purchasing the Software (or authorizing any other person to do so) You warrant that you are capable of entering into a binding legal agreement, that You have read and understand this Agreement and that You accept its terms and conditions. You acknowledge that this Agreement constitutes the complete statement of the agreement between You and XenForo Limited.
1. Grant and Scope of License
Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement and the payment by You of the applicable fee for the Software, XenForo Limited grants You a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to install, download and use a single instance of the Software ("License") through a single installation. Each License may run one instance of the Software, accessible via one URL. Any attempt to circumvent this limitation is prohibited and will result in the License being revoked.
Before deploying the Software, you must register in the XenForo.com customer area the address (URL) at which You will use the License. This URL must be kept up-to-date. You may create a single additional test installation for the purpose of testing the Software. Any test installation of this kind must be password protected, and access to it must be limited to You and Your website staff.

7. Add-ons and Services
Add-ons and services associated with a License (“Add-ons”) may have additional requirements which You must ensure are met before purchasing.
You may only use an Add-on with its associated License. If the Add-on purchase becomes invalid (such as through refund or cancellation, etc), you must immediately uninstall the Add-on and delete all associated files.
Add-ons may not be separately transferred between Your Licenses or to a third party. When a License is transferred to a Subsequent Purchaser, all Add-ons associated with that License will be transferred as well.
Access to Support and Updates for the Add-on is dependent on the associated License having current access to Support and Updates. The License's Extension Payment may be changed by the purchase of Add-ons. Once an Add-on is purchased, the Extension Payment will always take the Add-on into account. To not extend an Add-on with an Extension Payment, You must contact us to cancel the Add-on before making the Extension Payment. No refund will be given in this case and should You wish to re-gain access to the Add-on, You will need to re-purchase it.

https://xenforo.com/license-agreement/
I could not see any matter about 3rd party addons. That is mean you can not apply any enforcement about this kind of violation. According to above aggrement XenForo outrage upon justice of customer and from a different viewpoint XenForo does not protect developers rights.

XenForo shall update license aggrement immediately about licensed 3rd party addons for provided that it is effective as of the update date.

 

[LaDezs]

Everyone to help their country with foreign language.
To understand exactly what an add-on is, it must be in its own language to explain it.
I want to tell here that: Our goal as turkey xenforo of support sites where add-ons to fully explain the functions of the Turkish users.
Unfortunately many Turkish users do not understand the full functionality of the plugins included in xenforo.com. This requires us to share the add-ons as a support page.
Such sanctions are not subject to the Xenforo licensing rules.
We ask that you do your studies in this direction.

Everyone who answers here has a common point: "Xenforo".
Do not cool us from XenForo with this approach.Good Work.

 

[eTiKeT™]

I have been helping people by supporting vBulletin for 10 years. In this 10 years I have never allowed content like null, warez and I will never give it. The same applies to xenforo.
I get permission to publish the plugin in general from the plugin coders. I translate it into Turkish and share it on my forum.

But the current situation is very unusual and funny. If the person who thinks, writes or encodes the plugin allows me to publish it then why is xenforo uncomfortable in this situation?
Only the person who encodes the plugin can complain and xenforo can not enforce it. Also we warez yada null do not publish content.
While it is necessary to find solutions to Xenforo warez content sites, it is very wrong to apply this sanction to us.

By advertising XenForo, we are the people who increase the customer potential and provide more human information.

 

[JoshyPHP]

why is xenforo uncomfortable in this situation?

I can't speak for XenForo but I can answer that as a generic developer. The issue is that they can't control the quality and legitimacy of third party sites. Imagine a bad actor, a website that redistributes XenForo add-ons but they secretly modify them with malware. You'd see plenty of users complain that their "XenForo was hacked!" and people would blame XenForo Ltd for it. On the other hand, if it turns out someone published a bad add-on on XenForo.com, they could instantly shut it down to protect their users.

I translate it into Turkish and share it on my forum.

Why not translate it and share it on XenForo.com? You can provide localized support on your forums and link to the original files here. Do note that it is possible to provide translation files separately from the original add-on.

 

[netr0n]

I can't speak for XenForo but I can answer that as a generic developer. The issue is that they can't control the quality and legitimacy of third party sites. Imagine a bad actor, a website that redistributes XenForo add-ons but they secretly modify them with malware. You'd see plenty of users complain that their "XenForo was hacked!" and people would blame XenForo Ltd for it. On the other hand, if it turns out someone published a bad add-on on XenForo.com, they could instantly shut it down to protect their users.



Why not translate it and share it on XenForo.com? You can provide localized support on your forums and link to the original files here. Do note that it is possible to provide translation files separately from the original add-on.

XenForo company has to publish the language patches in Turkish, Arabic and all languages of the world. This is not a solution. Whatever you do with the free add-ons after you have implemented a sanction while warez content generators are placed in the sites? We support our country for years as a support site and then a rule comes out that ignores all our efforts. If this rule were in the beginning, we would not support our own users for XenForo. XenForo has no right to show third party software as its own license. These are personal attachments that are contrary to the use contract.

I see a commercial purpose here. Otherwise these sites are not getting closer. No forum software maker can put such a rule. Can you give me an example? It's a funny practice. Xenforo owes its popularity to XenForo software support sites.

 

[Mike]

I'm well aware that there are language barriers here, but there are claims that there are no rules against sharing third-party content without their permission. I'm afraid there is and it's not our rule; it's copyright law. Regardless of the cost of something, the author has the sole rights to control how their work is distributed. Unless they explicitly say otherwise, you have no rights to redistribute any work made by a third-party. You can never assume that this is acceptable. You must be explicitly told it, either by the author themselves or via the license agreement that they choose to use.

If a resource author gives you permission to release their add-on on your site, then there's no problem with this. But again, you need explicit permission from them and to follow whatever restrictions they may set out. The fact that we have had resource authors complaining about their resources being downloaded from another site means that this is certainly not always done. I would suggest that in 99% of cases, it isn't done.

While it's not entirely relevant to this conversation as no one suggested that licenses would be revoked from this (particularly for a first offence), but it is covered by the license agreement. See the "restrictions" section. However, we have and will continue to take other steps to protect resource authors from users who would violate their rights.

This whole discussion essentially goes away if you don't redistribute the resources. Technically speaking, even translating the resource description without permission is questionable, though I doubt most authors would have problems with that (and it gets into a copyright grey area). And as mentioned, add-on translations can be shared independently from the add-on itself. If you then just link back to here or their own site for distribution, then there shouldn't really be problems.

 

[netr0n]

I'm well aware that there are language barriers here, but there are claims that there are no rules against sharing third-party content without their permission. I'm afraid there is and it's not our rule; it's copyright law. Regardless of the cost of something, the author has the sole rights to control how their work is distributed. Unless they explicitly say otherwise, you have no rights to redistribute any work made by a third-party. You can never assume that this is acceptable. You must be explicitly told it, either by the author themselves or via the license agreement that they choose to use.

If a resource author gives you permission to release their add-on on your site, then there's no problem with this. But again, you need explicit permission from them and to follow whatever restrictions they may set out. The fact that we have had resource authors complaining about their resources being downloaded from another site means that this is certainly not always done. I would suggest that in 99% of cases, it isn't done.

While it's not entirely relevant to this conversation as no one suggested that licenses would be revoked from this (particularly for a first offence), but it is covered by the license agreement. See the "restrictions" section. However, we have and will continue to take other steps to protect resource authors from users who would violate their rights.

This whole discussion essentially goes away if you don't redistribute the resources. Technically speaking, even translating the resource description without permission is questionable, though I doubt most authors would have problems with that (and it gets into a copyright grey area). And as mentioned, add-on translations can be shared independently from the add-on itself. If you then just link back to here or their own site for distribution, then there shouldn't really be problems.

Defending author rights is the job of the courts. It's not Xenforo. Xenforo is not a court of law. Legally, he has no right. a plug-in that someone else wrote will not cover your license. There are free add-ons on my site and you have applied this rule afterwards. Remember that if you cancel our licenses, we will give the XenForo company to court.

 

[Chris D]

There are free add-ons on my site and you have applied this rule afterwards.

That is totally inaccurate.

The license agreement, which you agreed to when purchasing and downloading the software, is clear on this point:

You undertake to ensure that the Software is not used by You or others to engage in illegal activity. You may not use the software to engage in any activity that would violate the rights of third parties. You hereby agree to indemnify Us from any loss or damage arising from Your breach of this provision.

We are well within our rights to restrict or revoke any licenses which contravenes our license agreement.

 

[netr0n]

That is totally inaccurate.

The license agreement, which you agreed to when purchasing and downloading the software, is clear on this point:
We are well within our rights to restrict or revoke any licenses which contravenes our license agreement.

This is the case if the software is licensed. The software does not belong to XenForo. So XenForo can not be punished. These are the jobs of the courts. Free software is not licensed! I find this practice funny. Could you document that free add-ons are licensed?

It is the author's job to document this. It's not XenForo.

 

[DragonByte Tech]

"Addon authors didn't give us permission to re-host add-ons, then we looked for validation from the company, and when they did not give it to us, we're going to threaten to sue them if they enforce the license terms we are violating."

I'm not entirely sure I follow your logic here...

This is the case if the software is licensed. The software does not belong to XenForo. So XenForo can not be punished. These are the jobs of the courts. Free software is not licensed! I find this practice funny. Could you document that free add-ons are licensed?

I'm going to assume you aren't actually this dense and you're just playing dumb, but:
http://info.legalzoom.com/copyright-laws-freeware-shareware-23060.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_copyright

Etc.

A basic Google search would tell you that you are wrong.


Fillip