I am not sure I agree with this.

Mods are open source and distributed under the same license as YaBB itself (or even Perl).  If it is an open license, whether it's agreed to or not, anyone is able to make any modifications to it they want.

If you want to limit the rights, you'd have to say so in the license agreement attached with the mod.  Open source means open everything.  If we're allowed to hack YaBB, why would we not be allowed to hack mods that are YaBB?

I've owned one of the longest running Perl/CGI script depositories and I get emails all the time with people telling me they updated my scripts or added their own features.  It doesn't upset me people want to change things, in fact it's a good feeling to know that your code is so good that they just want to build off it to make it suit their needs better.  No one should feel like their mod is inadequate if someone is mod'ing your mod.

I'm not saying I'm touching other people's codes myself, but if the license is open source then why would anyone have a problem with it?

Maybe I missed the point. From what I was reading, it sounded like some users may not allow other people to modify their hacks as long as they are still around.

I'm just saying, whether you are around or not, your code is and should be available for anyone to do what they want with it.  Of course I don't believe I should be able to take your mod, add one feature to it, and rerelease it as my own.  But we should be able to do anything we else with it given we don't "steal" the original credit.

everydayteens wrote on Apr 13^th, 2006 at 6:26pm:

Not true, Mods are released under the same license as YaBB (YPL), which is not Open Source but a restricted Open Source License which limits the redistribution of altered code without respecting the copyrights of the original author(s).

As said before, the "unwritten" rule on boardmod (and also on yabbforum) is respecting each others work which in essence means you a free as a bird to do with my or for that matter anybody's mod code as long as you leave the copyrights in it and do not redistribute it again under your own name.

Modwriters (often also the developers / beta testers of new YaBB versions) spend a lot of their free time on making new features outside their normal lives, without being paid for their hard work other then with the gratitude of happy users.

This is what makes the mod community tick and thrive here as we all know that respecting the work of any coder means next time someone requests a new and exiting feature the same guy/girl will probably jump in again with the same enthousiasm as before.

If you want to use mod code for your own purposes it usually takes you one email or PM to the author to ask if it is OK and I have never seen any of us deny the use of our code for your own purposes.

If you, like anyone out here respects the unwritten rules there is nothing you or we have to worry about, if not..... I think you will find little help left here but I do not think that is your intention

Quote:

But: if I need old mod (YaBB1) for MY using on MY Forum (YaBB2), I not need ask PERMISSION, I seat and rewrite mod as I shall want. I so think... or I am not right?

Today I rewrite Rating mod for YaBB 1.3 by Carsten for using in MY YaBB2 Forum. I ask Carsten about publish this mod, or send him changed variant of this mod for him check and next release by Carsten. I write... write... write... and what? No answer...
What to do with it mod? Kill? No problem... I kill it...
I using this only on my forum and not publish as mod

Since I got a mail from someone regarding updating of one of mine...

Anyone can update my mods as required. I would, however, ask that people inform me, so I can keep a note on the life of my small additions to the community.