******* Resource Removal

[51463]

Me 3,

I really loved his credits add-on and i was planning on getting him to do some custom add-ons for me.. looks like i'll have to find a new developer..

On a positive note.. I heard from Mike Creuzer that there is a credits alternative coming out soon by his company. Crossing my fingers for that.

 

[FredC]

Me 2, very confused what to do :-(

I wouldn't upgrade to any new versions that are sure to pop up in the near future.

The guy screwed hundreds of us simply by being shady if he was authenticly trying to be legit he would've never had any of these problems surface in the first place. Even his attribution footer link is atrocious.

As an owner of many ******* products in some cases X 2, I applaud the decision made by the XF staff and goes a long ways in renewing my faith in XF Ltd. as Sneaky Dave said "Buyer Beware". Hopefully I have learned a lesson in all of this. Time will tell I suppose.

 

[sbj]

Playing devil's advocate here.

So, from what I understand Xenforo's words are "we have nothing to do with custom add-ons, it is the user's business to use them or not."
But suddenly now it becomes Xenforo's business and they ban *******. Wait, what? Isn't this odd?

And how is this going to be the best solution? While ******* was listed here, he did some aweful things. How will this become better when he is banned from the community now? If I were him, now for sure I wouldn't care much.

It would be better if Xenforo would have integrated him and kept him under surveillance. A win-win-win situation for all. For *******, because he would still be able to be a part of the community. For customers, because they wouldn't left be alone and know that they are somehow "protected". And for Xenforo, who would control *******, so it is safe for Xenforo's customers which would be a good reputation for Xenforo.

I don't have a paid add-on installed from *******. I am not affected from this decision. But I feel like all *******'s customers moneys went puffff...
Under this circumstances the real losers of the story are the customers.

 

[TickTackk]

It would be better if Xenforo would have integrated him and kept him under surveillance. A win-win-win situation for all.

You're asking all the staff from here should stop doing all the important work which comes first here and keep an eye on him?

 

[sbj]

You're asking all the staff from here should stop doing all the important work which comes first here and keep an eye on him?

I said I am playing devil's advocate.
From a customers view of point, yes, I would ask for that (well your sentence is highly overdone).
******* provided over 250 add-ons. That means 250+ add-ons/features Xenforo doesn't have.
As I said, now the customers are screwed. No protection, maybe less/bad support etc.

 

[Paul B]

That means 250+ add-ons/features Xenforo doesn't have.

Or need, in a lot of cases.

 

[Jake B.]

On a positive note.. I heard from Mike Creuzer that there is a credits alternative coming out soon by his company. Crossing my fingers for that.

Very soon

 

[HWS]

I know a lot of people here have used *******'s work. And for you all I think this decision will come most difficult. But from my perspective as a resource developer, my respect for XenForo has doubled if not more so for them taking action. They stand by their resource developers. ******* was making a profit off our work, @Jon W 's work, @Russ 's work, @Chris D 's work, @Arty 's work, @Bob 's work, you name it they were on that site. Not to mention nulled XenForo and the like. He (blatantly) copied our concepts and our code and it was probably worse than the few we found. XenForo is sending a clear message here, they stand up for our own.

I speak for my entire company of five employees when I say thank you, XenForo.

Mike, just today I audited code of a similar add-on from ******* and another one from another developer. ******* released his add-on just weeks after the other was released. I was stunned to see 90% of the code copied there. And it was not standard XenForo code, but individual code written just for the purpose of the add-on.

I think ******* has some employees, who do not at all care about copyright.

 

[FredC]

Playing devil's advocate here. But I feel like all *******'s customers moneys went puffff...
Under this circumstances the real losers of the story are the customers.

as one of those customers I personally do not feel this way at all. I feel like XenForo has done the right thing and I have restored faith in the company that is the foundation of my business. no single plug-in will ever make or break my forum however the software that it is built on can. The integrity of the owners are equally as important to me as the quality of the code. Fortunately in the case of XF I seem to have found both. Unfortunately in the case of ******* I have found neither.

 

[51463]

*******'s also from a country doesn't care about copyright.

Here's my theroy.

My theory was always that ******* possibily started out as a one-man 'company' As he got more and more popular and got more money. He hired a team of developers. Now most people would think. You can't make enough money from add-ons to pay your developers. In the UK or USA you can't...

But in vietnam.. Its a poor country and the wage is low. I believe the average wage in vietnam is about 180 USD per month. So yes in Vietnam you can.

Also considering that he sells add-ons in USD. Once converted into his country's currency. It's a lot of money.
He had a bigger advantage then everyone else.

Labour is cheap.

 

[Jon W]

Even his attribution footer link is atrocious.

I believe he copied that from me. Lol.

 

[EQnoble]

At any rate if no discussion can be had in this thread about "what to do", it will become a bashing thread (people do get frustrated when they don't understand purpose or format) eventually which is unproductive at the community it is meant to serve.


It would just make sense for users (or a couple devs who already have access to the lions share of the addons) to make a master list of ******* directories to check against or better yet provide a single php doc that will detect ******* addon folders starting at the www/ and removing directories related to the addons in question in one swoop.

Then no discussion about this matter will be needed other than in the individual addons' threads where users who continue to actually use the resources can ask questions because folks will be able to uninstall and easily remove all files by visiting one temp doc on their server or something like that.

As far as XF making the best move or not, anyone hating can pretty much take a sugar coated frosted flake and wash it down with a coke and a smile if they expect a legit company (xf) to allow things to continue in this situation regarding the addons in question. They made the least ugly decision that can be made in this situation once brought to light.

My two bits.

 

[TickTackk]

*******'s also from a country doesn't care about copyright.

Wrong. You haven't read the news of early 2014 then.

 

[51463]

Wrong. You haven't read the news of early 2014 then.

No i have not. As far as i knew. Vietnam only acknowledges national copyright not copyright from other countries.

I will have to research this more. So i retract my orignal statement.
My apoligies.

 

[TickTackk]

Every country respects copyright law, including Sweden

 

[sami simo]

Playing devil's advocate here.

It would be better if Xenforo would have integrated him and kept him under surveillance. .

I agree.
But I understand also XF can't host materials that infringe copyright.
The problem is : some people have spent hundreds of dollars on products thinking they should respect a minimum of quality because they are hosted on this site, now turns out they were not. and customers have to deal directly with the bad coder. its a strange situation.
normally addons should be investigated somehow before submission , not years after .this is the way some sites works (envato..).

 

[Jake B.]

I agree.
But I understand also XF can't host materials that infringe copyright.
The problem is : some people have spent hundreds of dollars on products thinking they should respect a minimum of quality because they are hosted on this site, now turns out they were not. and customers have to deal directly with the bad coder. its a strange situation.
normally addons should be investigated somehow before submission , not years after .this is the way some sites works (envato..).

His paid add-ons were never hosted here. The XenForo staff don't have access to download his paid add-ons, as they are distributed via his site. There is no way for them to investigate every line of every add-on that is submitted, it's just not practical.

Plus, as stated previously:

The result here is from a combination of things, many of which have indeed been discussed elsewhere and the allegations can be reviewed there if you wish. The issues are mostly not code related.

 

[adwolf1]

Looking forward --

Are any existing add-on authors considering re-implementing some of *******'s add-ons, in a hurry?

Because there are several unique ones, and you have a captive audience in dire need of reliable replacements ASAP....

 

[Jeremy]

I agree.
But I understand also XF can't host materials that infringe copyright.
The problem is : some people have spent hundreds of dollars on products thinking they should respect a minimum of quality because they are hosted on this site, now turns out they were not. and customers have to deal directly with the bad coder. its a strange situation.
normally addons should be investigated somehow before submission , not years after .this is the way some sites works (envato..).

Any reports of copyright infringement are investigated and dealt with accordingly. This has always been and always will be the case.

 

[Jake B.]

Looking forward --

Are any existing add-on authors considering re-implementing some of *******'s add-ons, in a hurry?

Because there are several unique ones, and you have a captive audience in dire need of reliable replacements ASAP....

I'm sure most, if not all, are interested in doing so