Bugger Off with your Branding
- Thread starter JamesBrown
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I don't think that that's what @JamesBrown meant. The way I read it is that it's about paid add-ons that add their links on the footer of his forum. That's not asking for free stuff imo as he has already paid for the add-on(s). If it was about free add-ons that add copyright links then that's quite another matter.
Probably just suggesting that its okay to do branding but just:
1. Make branding not be overly disturbing and clutter (having more add-ons from same provider) your footer more than it should.
2. Branding removal fee should be based on the price of the bought add-on. I also feel weird to buy a $5 dollar add-on but removing branding costing me $80.
3. Transparency for if branding is applied at all and if you can disable it (for free).
To a certain extend we know what we pay for and aren't forced to pay for an add-on. But I've dealt with the same frustration as well.
Like I mentioned before, would I have bought add-ons from one developer who puts big branding labels in footer at a new line for each add-on? Probably not. Do you know that beforehand? Nope.
1. Make branding not be overly disturbing and clutter (having more add-ons from same provider) your footer more than it should.
2. Branding removal fee should be based on the price of the bought add-on. I also feel weird to buy a $5 dollar add-on but removing branding costing me $80.
3. Transparency for if branding is applied at all and if you can disable it (for free).
To a certain extend we know what we pay for and aren't forced to pay for an add-on. But I've dealt with the same frustration as well.
Like I mentioned before, would I have bought add-ons from one developer who puts big branding labels in footer at a new line for each add-on? Probably not. Do you know that beforehand? Nope.
Mate he does not want free advertising on his site.
There are people signing up asking him to promote their stuff. He does not want to do that.
He's telling them to go away because they stink up his forum.
Fair, what are you on about
One way I make money is by selling adverts
An add-on developer makes money by selling add-ons. I buy an addon, I pay.
Why should I give the addon developer an advert for free?
I Just don't like those links in my footer. And thankfully, the best addons don't have them.
I buy a lot from developers, I support them more than many. I just don't want their little messages on my front page.
Imagine being so simple you can't understand that?
99.9 of the time, those little messages exist solely at the bottom of the site, where no one ever looks.
Also, its not exactly hard to remove those messages if it bothers you that much.
If that's true, and it likely is. Why do some developers insist on them?
I just don't like them. From reading the thread; I'm not the only one. Hopefully we'll see it less and less as the best developers set a good example.
To do this legally he would have to pay the branding free fee. And he refuses to do that but still does not want the branding. That's what this thread is about.
I agree, I don't like branding either. That's why when I am buying an addon with a branding-free option, I just ignore the original price and consider the branding-free option the only price. Its the price that I will pay to get what I want. That said, I have passed on many an addon because it wasn't enough of an addon to be honored with a brand, or the brand removal wasn't worth the price of the addons functions. The value has to be built-in to make it reasonable.
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Addon developers probably know branding isn't useful promotion. They just want to make extra money with the fee.
Not a fan of branding fee's.
I don't mind giving addon authors credit for their work, but would prefer it if they didn't have to add text and links to pretty much every page of the forum.
Maybe a dedicated "Credits" page would be less obtrusive, though I guess they're hoping the SEO advantages of being everywhere will help them.
I doubt many people are Googling for XenForo addons when the Resources section here is a better place to find them. I know some authors don't have their stuff here, but I think that's more of a "them problem".
Maybe a dedicated "Credits" page would be less obtrusive, though I guess they're hoping the SEO advantages of being everywhere will help them.
I doubt many people are Googling for XenForo addons when the Resources section here is a better place to find them. I know some authors don't have their stuff here, but I think that's more of a "them problem".
I guess they didn't overthink it: XenForo places its branding notice in the footer. At some point in time an add on developer followed that path and others joined. I've currently around 70 add ons installed, a mixture of free and paid ones. Only two developers of those add ons place a branding in the footer: Dragonbyte and Xencustomize. Xencustomize does it for each of their add ons separately, so I even have a branding from them for their tiny free carousel enhancer (that I've only installed as it was developed to solve a behavior they invented with their Events Manager and that wanted to get rid of). Assumed, all 70 add ons would have their own branding notice in the footer it would be a complete mess.
Though while I don't like branding I respect the right of add on devs to do it and am not annoyed enough to pay for branding free. I possibly would buy it if it was like 10$ or so, but not for the amounts typically charged. I am however thankful for every add on dev that does not do branding.
I have to correct myself: @Veer hinted me to the fact that the branding for Carousel Enhancer can be removed w/o payment - which is indeed written in the add-on description. Did not realize that until now and as the add on adds branding by default and has no options it seems it has to be done via template modification. He also pointed out that it would not fix an issue introduced by Events Manager but improve a default behavior of XF. Nevermind: As it was developed specifically at my request, is free and does what it should I have no reason to complain and this wasn't my intent anyway. It was about illustration, not complaining.
Vote with your dollars (or usage of addon). If a developer requires things that don't align with what you are willing to give them (for example a "branding link"), they just priced themselves out of you using whatever it is. 
FWIW, I priced myself out of people using most of my addons simply by making them not available for people in any scenario (not worth the support/effort even if they wanted to pay money). I make addons for myself, then once in awhile I let others use one of those. All my best addons are just for me.
FWIW, I priced myself out of people using most of my addons simply by making them not available for people in any scenario (not worth the support/effort even if they wanted to pay money). I make addons for myself, then once in awhile I let others use one of those. All my best addons are just for me.
I deleted the add-on.
Its nice that you share some functionality with xenforo core so we can all enjoy it while support is done by xenforo.
FWIW, I priced myself out of people using most of my addons simply by making them not available for people in any scenario (not worth the support/effort even if they wanted to pay money). I make addons for myself, then once in awhile I let others use one of those. All my best addons are just for me.
Thank you for sharing what you do!
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