Curtiss,

I think we need a sort of rule of politeness which states that as long as a modwriter is an active (visiting and participating) member of the boardmod community it means hands off his/her mods with the alternative of asking permission to change/add to his/her code.
If the modwriter is dead and gone and there is a need to recode or change those mods it is up to the coder to decide.
However, I still would suggest to try and contact the original author just in case.

I already released some of my mods to other coders willing to pick up where I left off, as my time is so limited and my development sources are aimed at Y2 it makes no use to hold on to them.

In any case, courtesy and polite asking will benefit the community as a whole and prevent fights over code, because after all it is Open Source.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Ron

Outumuro wrote on Oct 31^st, 2005 at 1:25pm:

Best example is Dave Boughman handing over FA to me to further develope.
It all boils down to some background communication between devs.

I know that Shoeb Omar is still up to his ears in school and exams, so allthough his many great mods look orphaned he is still frequenting this board and yabbforum from time to time keeping us up to date on his hective live.
In this example it wouldn't hurt to send him a PM to ask if you can continue and pick up on one of his mod in order to keep them in line with YaBB developments in total.

Also mentioned in the "Rules" for mod-writing 

http://www.boardmod.org/docs/HowTo.html#Author

I am in agreement with a lot that's been said, but just a few thoughts.    

We all have changed someone's mod to fit our own needs at one time or another.  I've done it a bunch.  But, because I respect other people's original concept, I tend not release any of the changes I've made on this board or any other outlet (one exception is the code for sensitive censor in the YaBB 1.3 version and I only did that because of my distane for bad language). 

Anyway, I think that if you are able to modify a mod then you are able to write a different version. This is not stealing an idea as long as you acknowledge that you got it from someone else AND the orignal idea was very unique.  For example, I do not think that Xonder should acknowledge anyone who has ever created a YaBB calendar, but if someone decided to do Carsten's YAMS, in paticular the Map thing, then they should acknowledge him.  THis does, however, create a grey zone of what's original and what's not.

With that, I would say that a new mod version of a mod (new code and everything) needs to have some added functionality for it to be at least be displayed here.  I know that I would not like it if someone wrote versions of my mods without any new functionality (unless we are talking for a new YaBB version and I was inactive).  But as modders, we need to be open to new ways of doing things, especially if its better and faster. 

ap

astropilot wrote on Nov 1^st, 2005 at 2:55am:

I think adapting code for your own purpose is beside this discussion Astro.
We are talking about rewriting/altering code from others for redistribution.
As a lot of my fellow devs and YaBB friends already wrote it is specifically mentioned in the rules, but the grey area is the abandoned mods I think.

If someone writes me a nice email asking permission to alter/upgrade or reuse my mod code for redistribution I will probably agree with that on my terms (which basically means that my name remains in the code as original writer) but after that my only concern is that mods keep evolving.
If I do not have the time to keep up with demand and someone else who I think is capable to advance with my code, I will be the last one to deny usage of my code.

It's the people that use my code (or for that matter anyones intellectual property) and put their name under it that pisses me off sometimes.

astropilot wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2005 at 11:51pm:

That is still somewhat different then modifying and release them online for the general public.

I'm not a particular fan of having multiple versions of mods that are rewritten from scratch and add the exact same functionality, as there is the grey area of what does written from scratch mean ?
After all we are not competing eachother to write the best mod, but to add new functions and enhance existing ones.
I think the real thing that is good about this place is that people help eachother optimising their code, so no matter where the code starts, it gets optimized by cooperation anyway over time.

It's not uncommon to use the most excellent parts of someone elses code into your own new or existing mod so how far do you want to take the discussion.

I have the good practice of adding remark lines (even in Y2 base code) to emphasis a contribution of someone to my mod code (like I mentioned e.g. Graham for fixing up parts of the SMTP code compliance to RFC's in the Y2 engine).

But for me coding is a way of relaxation anyway and not a way to boost my ego, so actually satisfied "customers" pay my virtual bill without the need to see my name in Neon next to it

I do not have too much of a problem with other coders borrowing parts of my code as there are only so many ways to write a certain function, as long as people do not use my code to show off their skills

If I disappear for 3 months or more, all of my code posted here and at YaBBforum can go to the community to maintain as they want and port as required .