Originally Posted by Tristanian
If you created something, only to discover it being distributed (directly or indirectly) by someone that wasn't even gracious enough to ask if its ok, then perhaps it did not upset you. Do not presume however that this logic applies to everyone. WM is just taking advantage of a technicality to avoid copyright infringement, by masking distribution as "linking". It is not legally wrong, but it is morally. Surprisingly enough, some do care.
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I'm not certain it is morally wrong. The people who feel they have been wronged surely do. I've created many things in the past that have been included in outright commercial products (Doom and Quake map pack disks in particular). I was, personally, honored to have been noticed and distributed. Perhaps mildly annoyed that I wasn't getting a cut, but a thousand wad authors makes for very shallow dividends.
The practice was commonplace. People'd FTP to cdrom.com/pub/doom/wads, pick stuff at random and stuff it on a disk. Most people included license text plainly visible as a separate .txt/file_id.diz file that explained redistribution rights - I waived mine. I still can't tell what most addons here say on the matter without downloading them. You get into weird territory with copyright in that area.
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As for who makes money out of it, it's not my primary concern either, however I can see how it can be a concern and given the option, I'd much rather have the people who are gracious enough to host the addons, benefit from it financially than anyone else. Why ? Because they make authors lives easier, they provide tools, repository system, packagers, the works. I hope that it is now crystal clear on why some of us have this "misplaced desire to control every aspect of our project". Misplaced desire, rofl. Really, now.
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Indeed, I understand completely the desire of WOWI/Curse to control access to their site, and to direct downloads of files from their servers. I've made that as clear as possible.
You've partially answered the question regarding why people want their addons to only be distributed through these sites, but I still fail to understand why they're willing to go to such great lengths as to spawn arguments wherever they roam regarding it. It's WOWI/Curse's burden, not the interface author's, and again, I can't understand why interface authors feel that further distribution of the product they release free of charge to anyone who cares to click on a download link is upset by further distribution.
The argument continually switches between finances, author's rights, morality, but they never meet up in one cohesive, convincing argument.
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Here, you are just rambling. There are no "questionable stages of quality" in the repository. The vast majority of authors using it, are actively doing so. Most of the addons are very much usable and search can perform miracles, if you are patient and know what you are looking for. Hint : 'Favorites' are your friend.
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Favorites are your friend until such a time as that favorite is no longer associated with the project. I see on the FuBar page, at some point, the author opted to no longer maintain FuBar on WOWI. Not sure why, but if I were using favorites, I'd likely see a lack of updates and move on. Then, it breaks. I check WOWI for updates for it. Still no update. I uninstall it and install TitanPanel instead because the author wanted to keep a tight handle on distribution of his addon for whatever reason.
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All in all, if you are unfamiliar with the site, you can just as well seek help in a reasonable and polite manner. If you are here to stir trouble or vent your frustration due to your precious updater being broken on a patch day, then, as the moderators will probably confirm, you picked the wrong site.
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You might notice I've been a registered user for quite some time, but with no posts to my name. This was back when WOWI required you to be a registered user to search (or perhaps download, I forget). I'm being boisterous and aggressive, but in no way am I stirring trouble or venting fustration. I'm providing a counter-point to the backpatting taking place here, from the perspective of an enduser inconvenienced for the luxury of the addon authors and WOWI.
There's another post after I started writing this reply, which I'll reply to here.
Because we DO have a stake in WoWInterface and Curse. Not financial, of course, but in support and hosting. Curse and WoWI have fully supported the addon community, with hosting, tools, forums, advice, and even in getting the mod authors into beta to make sure the addons are working come release time. It is in OUR BEST INTEREST to keep WoWinterface and Curse up and running. Heck, it is in the END USER'S best interest to keep them up as well, because without them, there's no distribution site.
Why did they pick today? It's obvious, they wanted to unveil this defense on the day they needed it the most. If WoWMatrix were working, this site would probably be crushed under the weight of hundreds of thousands of people spamming the update button, and their bandwidth usage would be astronomical. If they had released this last week, it would have given WM time to get around it.
When someone is stealing from your house, you add new locks.
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I didn't ask why they chose today. I actually explained why they chose today.
The argument of 'bandwith usage' is moot, though, after just a moment's thought. More bandwidth will be used by forcing the UI elements of every page to load, the PHP of every search to execute, the text of every futile search for each individual addon for each individual user than will be used by people clicking an update button. The average addon is relatively small - The largest addon I have installed is QuestHelper at 22MB.
Server load, moreso than bandwidth concerns, come into play during patch day due to searching, PHP code rendering (I'm pretty sure there's no backend caching taking place, but I haven't looked that closely), and user activity.
Out of curiosity, how many addon authors that state ad revenue for WOWI/Curse as their cause for concern visit these sites with AdBlockPlus or the like?
Edit for a gem:
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Then let them find replacements. This is not a popularity contest and the Earth will keep spinning if users in that category don't use our addons. I will even go on a limb and state that said users do not deserve any kind of support in my eyes. I would suspect that others may feel the same way.
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It's this hostility toward users that utterly baffles me. If you want a working addon, and a convenient way of acquiring said addon, you deserve no support?