******* add-on cannot be uninstalled

[Daniel Hood]

I personally don't want Mike or Kier to take time away from developing in order to evalutate 3rd party code. I also think people would cry foul when Mike and Kier see their code and then similar features are added into the core (something that has happened a lot [adding not crying]).

Personally I think people just need to research devs more thoroughly before buying something. Granted that leaves it open to the first person getting burned but still.

 

[Paul B]

I would just like to state that we are keeping an eye on this thread and taking note of the comments.

 

[oman]

I would just like to state that we are keeping an eye on this thread and taking note of the comments.

Good job.

 

[dawg]

I would just like to state that we are keeping an eye on this thread and taking note of the comments.

Thank you Brogan, We all know that you are buried in work and support. Thank you for your patience with us.

 

[AdamD]

Seems incredibly fishy to be honest, do any other developers/themers do the same thing?
Certainly adding ******* to my "Do not buy from" list.

 

[Daniel Hood]

Seems incredibly fishy to be honest, do any other developers/themers do the same thing?
Certainly adding ******* to my "Do not buy from" list.

I've considered adding a call home on install/update but haven't thus far. Mine wouldn't stop it from installing, would just tell me what domains it's installed on for my own personal information. I wouldn't log nearly as much or as often as ******* is considering and I'd absolutely never prevent my add ons from being uninstalled or even installed due to a failed call home.

Encryption and calls home aren't entirely uncommon but *******'s level of one is.

 

[Steve F]

Just have to say that no matter the tactics you put in place only hurt the ones that support you. Making it more difficult for legit users to purchase install/uninstall will only hurt your bottom line. XenForo gave developers tools to check for licensed users and honestly that should be enough and anything more..well we can see as this thread shows.

 

[Ridemonkey]

I've considered adding a call home on install/update but haven't thus far. Mine wouldn't stop it from installing, would just tell me what domains it's installed on for my own personal information. I wouldn't log nearly as much or as often as ******* is considering and I'd absolutely never prevent my add ons from being uninstalled or even installed due to a failed call home.

I feel like this is a little more reasonable. That puts in your hands the ability to determine whether an install is pirated and if you should contact them about it, but if it "fails open" (that is, it can be installed even if it fails the call home) it means that your add-ons can continue to operate even if you decide you don't want to keep your servers online or stop developing.

All that said, I really don't care what kind of copy protection mechanisms are implemented - as long as I know what they are and can decide to purchase or not purchase the add-on accordingly.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I have no issue with a call home as @Daniel Hood describes. To me that is what I would expect actually, because that would at least alert the developer when something is purchased once and installed multiple times. In fact, I have had instances where I needed to test out a paid addon in a specific way and I communicated my intention with the developer prior to doing so. At that point, I had no idea that a call home was actually possible, I just assumed there could be some sort of mechanism in place and decided that it would be better to be up front and honest instead of roll dice and risk getting thwapped with a ruler.

I guess I always start with the premise that most people are honest until they prove me wrong. But the rule follows as it does with children: Trust, but Verify. Nothing wrong with that.

Distrust from the beginning sets you up for the same in return.

 

[Snog]

Since my name has been brought up in this and another thread that is sort of on the same topic, I'm going to tell everyone what my installation system does..

1) It records the server IP address and URL of the site that my premium add-ons are being installed on.
2) It limits the installation to 2 servers.
3) It delivers the most recent release of my premium add-ons to your server at any given point in time.

There are no calls home in the add-ons themselves.

What I will not tell anyone is how the PHP files are marked to identify the owner of the add-on should I find it somewhere it shouldn't be.

This system seems to have been well accepted by people that have purchased my add-ons. It just takes some getting use to since the same install script is also used to install updates. This avoids the need to download files with each update.

 

[FredC]

I personally don't want Mike or Kier to take time away from developing in order to evalutate 3rd party code. I also think people would cry foul when Mike and Kier see their code and then similar features are added into the core (something that has happened a lot [adding not crying]).

Personally I think people just need to research devs more thoroughly before buying something. Granted that leaves it open to the first person getting burned but still.

I wasn't suggesting Mike or Kier devote time to auditing code. I was however advocating for an official policy. As there doesn't seem to be an exploit in this case the graveyard forum was a poor example. However I have every confidence the community can and usually does uncover exploits and or puzzling practices as in this case. I'm not on a crusade I actually believe a language barrier has a lot to do with some misunderstandings with *******, thus far I've personally been pretty impressed with the restructuring if his licensing and billing policies.. Ultimately I believe full disclosure in the resource notes would be sufficient.. However I don't know what should be done to those who purposely try to circumvent disclosure notes.

 

[ehd]

Actually I have just deinstalled my only add-on from ******* which had been deactivated from the start, because it didn't work anyway as it was supposed to. I paid for the add-on AND the debranding afterwards.

Damn, better donate to honest developers which release add-ons for free (you surely know who I mean) and pay a one-time-fee and have no fuzz about branding.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[WoodiE]

I do not see it as spam. Most coders like to use their site to keep a better track of their work. What is so spamming about that? If you do not like it, then do not sign up. It is entirely up to you what to do what you like, as it is up to the coders to do as they like as well.

P.s. Sharing a screenshot you had with someone else is not cool. That is something which is between you and the other person.

It's obvious you failed to read the entire post. So maybe a bulleted point by point will work better for you:

• A developer (@Waindigo in this case) sends me a PM asking a question.
• I respond to said PM.
• Said developer auto-replies, NOT with a response to said question or said response but instead an advertisement to sign up for his website.
• I decline offer, thinking the developer was actually replying, but instead another auto reply to sign up for his website...

You may want to turn your head for this, as it's going to be another "uncool" thing, a screen shot of said PM Spam from @Waindigo:

If you do not like it, then do not sign up. It is entirely up to you what to do what you like, as it is up to the coders to do as they like as well.

Again, further proof you failed to read the post as I've already stated the following:

"I don't care if a developer has a "support" site or five of them. I really don't care what sites they have. What's annoying, as in this case... they start a conversation HERE on xenforo with me expecting a reply to which I reply only to get an autoreply asking me to sign up on his site. That's spam, no other way around it."

The problem isn't the fact Waindigo has a support site(s). It's the fact developer(s) are now resorting to PM spam to recruit people to sign up. Spam is spam and this is spam. Period.

 

[rainmotorsports]

That explains why Waindigo is always in conversation

 

[yavuz]

Nearly all of the man's add-ons are for free. So take a little time to fil three form fields and enter a password. If you don't you can still use his add-ons just don't expect to contact him via P.C. as simple as that.

Anyway, wasn't this thread about *******? I myself had two add-ons bought from him but uninstalled both early versions which didn't have that code in it. Such news are instant turn off for paying customers hence my decision to uninstall.

 

[Jon W]

We can provide better support on our site as we are able to respond to PMs from multiple accounts, link them to projects/invoices and things like that. Nothing sinister here. Regarding support, we prefer this to be kept in the forum anyway. We don't offer free support by PM.

Keeping on topic, our Install and Upgrade add-on is the only add-on of ours that "calls home" and this can be turned off in the options. We only send a small number of options and certainly not things like Facebook details. We use the information we send to provide an up-to-date Outdated Add-ons list and for no other reason.

 

[WoodiE]

If you don't you can still use his add-ons just don't expect to contact him via P.C. as simple as that.

Why do so many people have selective reading? I didn't contact the developer... HE contacted me. HE initiated the conversation. NOT the other way around.

I'll be happy to include anyone, even XF staff, into the conversation to see for their self.

That said, I simply brought it up to show how some of the developers are conducting "business" here. I agree the major issue and the topic of this thread is *******'s shady tactics.

 

[dawg]

We can provide better support on our site as we are able to respond to PMs from multiple accounts, link them to projects/invoices and things like that. Nothing sinister here. Regarding support, we prefer this to be kept in the forum anyway. We don't offer free support by PM.

Keeping on topic, our Install and Upgrade add-on is the only add-on of ours that "calls home" and this can be turned off in the options. We only send a small number of options and certainly not things like Facebook details. We use the information we send to provide an up-to-date Outdated Add-ons list and for no other reason.

Let me just thank you for the add ons you provide, the install and upgrade is gold. I can no longer live without it. Your hard work and add ons are much appreciated.

 

[Snog]

Why do so many people have selective reading? I didn't contact the developer... HE contacted me. HE initiated the conversation. NOT the other way around.

I'll be happy to include anyone, even XF staff, into the conversation to see for their self.

That said, I simply brought it up to show how some of the developers are conducting "business" here. I agree the major issue and the topic of this thread is *******'s shady tactics.

LOL.. proven fact... Most people only read 20% of a web page. And most come with a pre-conceived idea of what they should see.

 

[Jon W]

You started a conversation with us on 2nd September. This conversation was accidentally deleted so we started a new one to make sure that the issue had been resolved. Our automated system then picked up the message and auto-responded.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience.