IPB Nulled Forums

[BomAleold]

i would see who and how many times warez site are reported using ip.content... so serve this data to clients/contributor and organize any action to make cleaning.
site: forumvolt...(dmca reported:OK, 294 times)
site: abcde.org (dmca reported:NO, +200 times)
i would see the fact not only words...
because nulled?
-it is free
-it is work with original xml files exported by developer
-database run good also without license
-not occur link site for support or custom work (yes, more developer assist site warez)

developer could require a check of site is not in blacklist of ips clients?(check if it is passed before install? if yes and it not passed: "you must provide a license id here" or "you don't have buy it here") i now don't know... dependency to a marketplace?

[Makoto]

I know I'm half asleep and all, but I have absolutely no remote clue what it is you just said. >_<

Are you saying you think IP.Board should post a list of known piracy websites to cut back on repeat reports..? That would be a pretty bad idea, IPS would be telling everyone where they can get pirated versions of IP.Board for free.

If not, can you please re-summarize what you're suggesting in short, to prevent language barrier confusion?

[BomAleold]

if for ips publish reported warez site is problem, so it must leave API to permise developer to access and run request... this is useful for future importer system, because if check fail it could report board as warez site automatically!
type of request:

http://invisionpower.com/files/check.php?file=ID&key="GeneratedOnDownload"&other...

[Makoto]

Ahh, I think I see what you're saying.

Sadly, a check like this would just be edited out when the software is "nulled," as >mentioned above.

It's not an inherently bad idea, you just have to remember that IP.Board is viewable source. Anyone can view the source code and easily remove any checks like this that are programmed into it.

[BomAleold]

yes i know it... but that go downloaded is a encoded file to check only... you put into importer and importer download hook or app file from marketplace without download original file from marketplace directly.
it must use into ips(not garantly) 4.1 how brandon tell me before.

[rct2·com]

Let's just go back to the days when it WAS free. :)

[opentype]

Point proven.

Sorry, it doesn't prove anything. That person could have bought a license right from the start – or use the demo for testing purposes. He was later forced to become a paying customer, but that does not prove that software piracy increases sales. Just because that one sale came later, doesn't mean that IPS has gained a customer, it wouldn't have without the software piracy. In fact, they actually had to invest time and money to find that user and force him to pay.

In addition, what about all those users who users of nulled copies who never become paying customers? A certain percentage of them would probably bought the software, if they didn't have access to nulled copies. Those are lost sales and one also needs to count them in, when claiming that piracy creates sales.

[Rheddy]

Not necessarily. Nulled software is simply software that has callback and other licensing code removed from it. While I don't use anything nulled from those sites, many of those sites do have a technical support mechanism where their users help others with developer related problems ... what I mean, is that these nulled sites help other users in finding fixes for code related problems that aren't found here on the IPS support forums. While I'm not active with the nulled community, I have found answers to problems I've run into in regards to the code related to IP.Board and IP.Content, after not finding what I was looking for on here.

While I would rather find solutions on the IPS Support forums to problems that I run into, regarding the code, the majority of the time, inquiries either go answered or completely ignored. The Support Forums here aren't exactly helpful. Quite a few fixes that I've found for my own forums have come from these sites. I'm not saying go out and actively support these sites but it would be simpler if the Support Forums here were more helpful than not.

Some of the others know what I'm referring to. How many times has someone here posted a new topic asking for help, and the topic is ignored and that it's almost a miracle if someone replies. The 3th Party devs are reluctant to respond because they don't to become IPS Support (something I've gone into in depth with a few). Sure the forums here are helpful, but only to a degree, and trying to find a tutorial to better explain how to modify IP.Board, fix something or to use IP.Content is damn near impossible. Many of those articles haven't been updated since 2010.

While I don't deal with those sites anymore, I think the lack of support on the forums here creates a need for those other sites. When you don't offer support or help others that need assistance, you force your own users to find other sources where they can find solutions to the problems they are running into.

[Izaya Orihara]

I kind of agree...not about the benefits of Nulled software helping IPS(that's just unrealistic positive thinking)

I do think the support forums could use a little more work. I used to use XF and as fanatical as a good portion that community is(and trust me, they are quite fanatical to the point it is annoying), the tight-knit feel of the community and fast answers to threads is something I do miss from XF. Often times with IPB, I do get my answers answered, it just takes awhile and then sometimes they may go unanswered.

While I am not a member of any nulled forums, I have found answers ironically to questions I have about the software simply by a google search on these warez forums.

Not necessarily. Nulled software is simply software that has callback and other licensing code removed from it. While I don't use anything nulled from those sites, many of those sites do have a technical support mechanism where their users help others with developer related problems ... what I mean, is that these nulled sites help other users in finding fixes for code related problems that aren't found here on the IPS support forums. While I'm not active with the nulled community, I have found answers to problems I've run into in regards to the code related to IP.Board and IP.Content, after not finding what I was looking for on here.

While I would rather find solutions on the IPS Support forums to problems that I run into, regarding the code, the majority of the time, inquiries either go answered or completely ignored. The Support Forums here aren't exactly helpful. Quite a few fixes that I've found for my own forums have come from these sites. I'm not saying go out and actively support these sites but it would be simpler if the Support Forums here were more helpful than not.

Some of the others know what I'm referring to. How many times has someone here posted a new topic asking for help, and the topic is ignored and that it's almost a miracle if someone replies. The 3th Party devs are reluctant to respond because they don't to become IPS Support (something I've gone into in depth with a few). Sure the forums here are helpful, but only to a degree, and trying to find a tutorial to better explain how to modify IP.Board, fix something or to use IP.Content is damn near impossible. Many of those articles haven't been updated since 2010.

While I don't deal with those sites anymore, I think the lack of support on the forums here creates a need for those other sites. When you don't offer support or help others that need assistance, you force your own users to find other sources where they can find solutions to the problems they are running into.

[Rheddy]

You're right. The only reason why I say some of these nulled sites help is because of the possible resource that they offer in regards to tutorials, coding support and help and community articles that they rpoduce via their own sites. I would never suggest that the downloads they offer help because it just harms IPS and the develops who depend on that revenue to make a living. But, I've found such sites to be beneficial from a legitimate point of view. There are about a dozen of these sites that I do browse (thank heavens you don't need an account to gain access to those tutorials they offer), but in some aspect, they do offer the kind of support that's lacking on the support forums here.

I'm not saying that the forums here aren't helpful, but that you could lose patience trying to find help or trying to get someone to help you. It's only recently that I've focusing my questions to specific questions I might have, like the statistics code for an IP.Content Database where you want it to display in the footer of an IP.Content page. Most of the time, it's downright frustrating for many of us. While a lot of those sites have closed down, there are about 2-3 of them left, there is some benefit with them.

But, it's funny that you said that the support forums here could use a little more work because it's lacking in a major way. I still run into thick walls, trying to figure this stuff out but that there's no support mechanism among those of us here who are actually trying to learn this stuff. With the exception of Sinistra posting his tutorial on Database, I don't think I've ever seen a tutorial that went through the process is explaining how databases work and how to create one, and that's just one aspect of it.

There isn't any tutorials on database templates, article templates, blocks, feeds or anything like that. I just think there should be more effort on expanding the support mechanism here on the peer support forums.

[opentype]

There isn't any tutorials on database templates, article templates, blocks, feeds or anything like that. I just think there should be more effort on expanding the support mechanism here on the peer support forums.

Like how?

I am writing tutorials on my own site all the time. It usually takes 2 to 3 full days to put it together and often I prepare the concept and structure in my head 2 weeks in advance. Hardly anyone can spend this much time here for a tutorial – unless one would get paid for it.

Another problem concerning IP.Content that has been mention several times already: Since you can do so much with it, any tutorial will always be “wrong” for a lot of people who just want to achieve very different things. I could explain how I used IP.Content to set up my advertising banner rotation, but will that help you setting up a Yelp-like site? Probably not so much.

[Rheddy]

The closest thing comes to mind is the tutorial that Sinistra posted on creating databases. Elaborate tutorials wouldn't be necessary, just a primer. The one way that I learn from coding is from tutorials and examples and then I just use that as a guideline and march ahead. It's how I've been able to figure out different functions of forum skins and what certain parts of the code do what. While forum skins for me are far off in the distance, I'm actually just starting with IP.Content.

[Mur]

I kind of agree...not about the benefits of Nulled software helping IPS(that's just unrealistic positive thinking)

I do think the support forums could use a little more work. I used to use XF and as fanatical as a good portion that community is(and trust me, they are quite fanatical to the point it is annoying), the tight-knit feel of the community and fast answers to threads is something I do miss from XF. Often times with IPB, I do get my answers answered, it just takes awhile and then sometimes they may go unanswered.

While I am not a member of any nulled forums, I have found answers ironically to questions I have about the software simply by a google search on these warez forums.

This is exactly it. The Support for IPS isn't awful on the forums, but it's not active enough to gain immediate traffic to a post when help is needed. If we had an IPS guru like bfarber who could answer the questions immediately and with precision accuracy that would be awesome; but the reality of it is no one man can do everything (not taking away the fantastic job he already does).

But the community seems very divided, support seems to be best on Warez sites, shamefully - I admit I have a good chunk of hours spent on warez sites but have since moved on. The support there, always seemed far more elaborate or detailed because that was the only line of support, where as clients of IPS are encouraged to use the specific support functions of Nexus.

Now, personally speaking. I love the idea of having software that just handles it for you and does a good job at that, but at the same time, the way it currently is, shadows us from seeing the positive outcomes of the support IPS provides, and then we are reliant on the successful explanations of users who may never have even experienced the issue at hand, just making a suggestion at best.

I think one of the best things IPS could do, is use their very own answers feature in a support forum. So we can really expand on the questions answered, BUT ensure it's only visible to clients because at the end of the day; only they 'should' have access to run any version of IPS products.

IPS is releasing 4.0 soon*-ish and at that this gives them a paramount opportunity to adjust how things are being handled and push support to a much higher standard from a public perspective. As aforementioned, I haven't had much of a chance to really see how their responses compare to those found on warez sites. But that's ultimately one of the huge grey areas that warez sites seems to excel. Some users just don't want to pay for the software, and that's how it will always be. But if with your purchase, you gain access to a community that get's well recognized for the outstanding, in-depth, and friendly support from design, to development, to compatibility; it would really turn the tables in favour of IPS and help combat against nulled scripts.

[Rheddy]

Murilirum, thanks for pointing that out. That seems to be the problem. I don't expect IPS staff to handle things like that but that if some of the marketplace devs could share their knowledge and create some tutorials, it definitely would help ... it wouldn't hurt, at any rate. There's a lot of potential with the peer support here on the forums, and the extent of their participation seems to go along the way of linking to support topics that are outdated, documentation that was last created in 2010 and no updated information to help the novices who actually want to learn.

Like myself, I learn by looking at examples of code and seeing how it's put together. It's rudimentary, but it does help. There are a lot of experienced devs here on the forums and I think the only thing being asked is to share some of that knowledge. While it sounds like a broken record, create something like Sinistra's tutorial, get the rest of the IP.Content users going in the right direction and turn the IP.Content support forums into a truly helpful resource.

:lol: :thumbsup:

[Aiwa]

There are quite a few MP devs that answer the majority of the topics here, at least that I see. If anyone ever has a topic that's gone un-answered, send me a PM with the link and I'll do my best to get you a reply.

You also need to look at the reason a topic may go un-answered. Is the user competent enough to be able to take an answer and run with it, or is the user expecting someone, anyone, to write them a full blown app for free and install and configure it for them? Like opentype, you can't expect someone to put dozens of hours into something for free unless you've worked that out with them. Most of us responding to topics are expecting the client to have enough knowledge about what they're wanting to do that they can execute per basic instructions.

It's been asked many times for a greater support presence on these forums. But at the end of the day, you need to understand that a greater support presence in the forums would require additional staff. Additional staff means higher prices. Also, see this post from Lindy about this a while back.

We've had dedicated staff to the community forums in the past and there's a reason we don't do so now. Most actual issues result in a ticket anyway for one reason or another -- access details, more detailed information, etc. It's frankly just a waste of time to handle the same issue twice in two mediums.

We find the peer to peer model for general information and tips works well. For actual technical support, the preferred medium is ticket support.

If your question is related to a built in feature of the software, submit a ticket. That's why you're paying for support!

If your question is in regards to customizing your board, the community forums here are your best bet.

[HeadStand]

I don't expect IPS staff to handle things like that but that if some of the marketplace devs could share their knowledge and create some tutorials, it definitely would help ... it wouldn't hurt, at any rate.

Speaking as an MP dev, I'm wondering why you don't expect IPS staff - who are getting paid to work here - to do this, but you expect 3rd-party contributors to do it for free? I'm all for sharing knowledge, but I flat out don't have the time to put together tutorials. Ask me a specific question, and I'll answer it if I can. But I just don't see myself investing the time and effort in creating documentation. Half the people won't read it anyway, even if they are pointed to it, another 25% won't understand it and will expect me to answer 579 more questions, and everyone will expect me to keep it up to date with each release of the IPS products.

Perhaps it was not your intention, but this statement makes it sound like our time is less valuable than IPS staff. Just because I am not on the payroll does not mean I should work for free.

[Soniceffect]

........ and will expect me to answer 579 more questions.....

Thats a rather accurate number .... Have you done some before? LOL

[Amerrrr]

This thread is turning into an essay :/..

[Makoto]

This thread is turning into an essay :/..

What do you mean?

[Amerrrr]

What do you mean?

So many words.

[Makoto]

So many words.

Well, this is a forum, not twitter.

[Rheddy]

I don't know, Headstand. I've received help from IPS Staff on helping with issues relating to IP.Board code and IP.Content code and their assistance has been great. I guess I was just under the impression that, mostly, IPS Staff concentrates on matters related to the installation of the software or byugs and glitches.

Don't get me wrong, much of the help that I've received has mainly been from support tickets but that I do get help on the peer forums from everyone from bfarber to Rikki. Their help has all been helpful at figuring out problems to solutions that I've run into. I wasn't trying to imply that it wasn't their area, only that I know how deep into the development of IPS 4 they currently are. :tongue:

[HeadStand]

I don't know, Headstand. I've received help from IPS Staff on helping with issues relating to IP.Board code and IP.Content code and their assistance has been great. I guess I was just under the impression that, mostly, IPS Staff concentrates on matters related to the installation of the software or byugs and glitches.

Don't get me wrong, much of the help that I've received has mainly been from support tickets but that I do get help on the peer forums from everyone from bfarber to Rikki. Their help has all been helpful at figuring out problems to solutions that I've run into. I wasn't trying to imply that it wasn't their area, only that I know how deep into the development of IPS 4 they currently are. :tongue:

We're not talking about whether it's their area or not. My question was why you (collective you, not JUST you) think it's expected for MP developers to write tutorials and articles and share their knowledge. IPS developers are deep into development of IPS 4, that's true. Do you think I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs? Isn't it likely that I'm deep in the development of something for someone?

I think there is an overall misconception here that the 3rd party contributors do this for fun and because we have nothing better to do. That's why people think we're horrible for charging more than $5 for marketplace mods, that's why people get upset when they see renewal fees, and that's why people get angry when we don't answer support questions within 10 seconds after they are posted. News flash, people: some of us, myself included, do this for a living. This is how I put food on my table and keep a roof over my head. This is how I support my family. So yes, I'm going to charge money for my marketplace mods, and yes, I'm going to charge AGAIN when I release mods for 4.0, and no, I will not answer your questions the very minute they are posted. This dismissive attitude toward contributors needs to change. </rant>

Note: Again, this is not directed specifically toward you. You just happened to be the lucky person who triggered my built up wrath.

[Aiwa]

.....

What 'he' said. :wub: :tongue:

[opentype]

I guess I was just under the impression that, mostly, IPS Staff concentrates on matters related to the installation of the software or bugs and glitches.

Exactly! because that is what support is about. Everything else is not software support, but customization and that is something IPS can’t deliver as a free forum service. It just cannot work. Sure, the IPS staff are experts regarding their own software, but if they would offer free customization support in the forums, they would be flooded with requests and dozens of newly hired staff members would have to write hooks and CSS/template changes around the clock for free. Because if you offer that as a free service, where should you even try to draw a line? Which request should be too much?