Hey all,

I really enjoy UBB Dev Net and what you all are doing for the community.

My only concern is that I have an issue with the database.

It seems as though certain mods that have been listed in the database that are held by qasic are not being released to persons who meet the criteria listed in the boards. I have met all requirements in the posts, filled out the info on the hypermart site, and have still been refused service. I mention this as qasic is not the only person listed as creator of the mods, but some of the UBB staff is listed as well.

I also feel really uneasy about providing all of my UBB information to a 3rd person without knowing that it is being used for some other purpose.

I would like to suggest that any mods be removed from the database if access isn't granted to ALL users who supply the information that is requested by the modification provider(s).

This would help alleviate much frustration when someone like myself is attempting to obtain modifications for our boards.

Thanks for your time.

The protection used by Qasic, myself, and maybe some others, is only in place to protect our work from access by those who don't have valid UBB licenses. We feel that if we paid a lot of money for the software, and spent a lot of time and energy working on modifications for it, it is entirely unfair for those who acquire it illegally and without paying for it to have access to our work.

It is *illegal* for us to ask you for your license information. So none of us do it. We only ask you to log into the UBB members area yourself, and copy a few words to verify the fact that you really do have a license. These words are semi-public, in that they are viewed by everyone who logs into the Members Area, therefore they themselves carry no identifying value other than the fact that we know where you got them from.

We don't ask you to give us the actual license info or any other personal information such as that. In Qasic's case, I believe he asks for the URL to your UBB installation, but that is only used for further verification. Of course I can't speak definitively for him, but I will risk a guess to say that he uses it ONLY for verification purposes, and doesn't sell it or anything like that. I'm sure that because he does ask for your name and URL and stuff, he has a privacy policy in place, so you should check that for more information if you are concerned about your privacy.

As long as you have a working installation and can verify your Members Area access, you should be given access to Qasic's (and mine, and others) mod distribution areas. If you have provided that info and were still denied, there was probably another reason for said denial, and it should be dealt with via a more personal means of communication, like email, with the creator of the hack directly.

---Skorpion

That course of action was followed for 3 days prior to coming to this board. That is why I voiced my concearn publicly. I am not interested in making someone look bad or upsetting them, just re-iterating the facts as they are.

I appreciate your concerns for the security of your work, I also understand the time and effort it takes to create modifications. I appreciate the requirements to show that we actually OWN our ubb licenses, however, I was wondering why Infopop would not be willing to support your requirements for ownership? It seems that they would have the most correct records and the developers of non-infopop hacks could also help prevent piracy. This in no way would say that infopop supports the hacks on their code, but, seems like a fair way for both parties to protect their interests.

My situation has been resolved, as of this morning I was no longer refused access to the restricted area.

Thanks for your reply.

I think the most likely reason Infopop doesn't allow us access to their license database is the privacy of it's customers. Though we all like to think of ourselves as honest, who's to say what may happen if a warez-kiddie posing as a developer suddently gets access to 200,000+ other license numbers... See?

It's been suggested that Infopop (or one of our developers) create a way to query the license database without us ever having actual access to it- we just place a script on our page that checks it and we personally never have anything to do with it. But I think that idea was shot down as well, for reasons I don't remember. Probably cuz it would be too easy to alter...

At any rate, I'm glad your problem was resolved.

---Skorpion

Yes, Intel's problems were resolved finally

But to clarify, I only use what publicly available information Infopop allows me to ask for to verify your license. Even despite my best intentions, there still are warezed copies of my hacks running around. And eventually, people come here asking for support. Did you recently know that vBulletin, when did first put in the "call home routine", found that OVER 50% of all vBs used were pirated? That represents a big time loss in revenue plus the fact that many vB moderators put up a lot of time to give support.

The same goes for here. Before I implemented my registration scheme, I was getting SWAMPED by tons and tons of tech support requests. Ever since I've implemented my registration scheme, support requests have dropped to a manageable level. I provide better one on one support, faster support, and in turn people are more happy.

Although there are times when the registration may take forever to process (that's usually due to school work and such), I do process applications to Qasic.NET in a timely manner and you can be assured that any data you give me will be kept confidentail unless I discover something wrong and you get an e-mail from Brett

qasic

Isn't the capitalized .NET a registered Microsoft trademark?

Correct. It's only a matter of time before they trademark 1s and 0s...

They can't, they already belong to me....muwahahaah

All your binaries belong to us!!!



-Tacks