Question about uploading add-ons

[Malsomnus]

I tried to upload a slightly modified version of an existing add-on from another website, including a link to the original and credit to the author, and apparently it wasn't approved. What exactly is the rule on such things?

[Haleth]

I'm not sure if there were any other issues here (I can check, if you like), but generally the policy is that unless the addon has a license which explicitly mentions that you are free to redistribute it in any way you want, you need actual permission from the author.

Also, this:

http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=23667

[Dridzt]

That's something to post under this category
http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/f...splay.php?f=18
or maybe PM a moderator about, not much other authors will be able to tell you except common sense stuff.

Maybe the addon has a restrictive license that doesn't permit forks?
Maybe it has an active maintainer? etc
Fan updates are tolerated under some circumstances afaik, but not really supported because it can get out of hand rather easily: fan fan fan's update

[Malsomnus]

Well, the add-on's license is MIT, and I honestly don't know what that means. It only had one version, 8 months ago, and does not appear to be maintained (I posted there a week ago regarding the changes I wanted to make and got no reply).
Shame, it's a pretty nice add-on, and it could use both my slight modification and the extra publicity :P

[Haleth]

If it's an MIT license then that's alright, basically you're allowed to redistribute as long as you include the license and copyright notice.

Did you check the rest of the rules? Maybe there was a problem there. If there wasn't, then feel free to re-upload it and I'll take a look.

[Malsomnus]

I went through the rules and I can't find any that this add-on was breaking. Maybe someone didn't like that I stuck my standard "Have you seen my other add-ons?" self advertisement at the bottom? Should I have mentioned the license specifically in some way?
I think I'll wait with trying to resubmit it, instead of bothering whoever approves those things with my apparently unlawful behaviour, and see if I can contact the author directly somehow. Thanks for the replies though.

[Dolby]

What was the name of the Title you gave it? Maybe the upload failed?

The only deletions I see in our log for the past few days are a few compilation UI's and some uploads from a user testing things.

[Malsomnus]

It was named World Trade Channel and I saw it in my list of add-ons as Pending, so I assumed that that part was successful... weird...

[Dolby]

Oh I see it now. Let me contact the admin that deleted it. 1 sec

[Cairenn]

I apologize for the confusion. I saw your "I didn't write this addon, it belongs to x other person" and I didn't look any further. If it is released with the MIT license, then yes, it is perfectly acceptable for you to re-upload it and it will be approved. Sorry about that.

[Malsomnus]

I'll try to write a better description then. Thanks

[Cairenn]

Giving the other, original, author his due as having created it was the right thing to do. You just need to also include the fact that it is MIT licensed.

[Phanx]

If the original addon is truly abandoned (author hasn't logged onto the site in months and hasn't responded to your messages in a reasonable amount of time) it would probably be better just to transfer ownership of the existing download page. That way, people who already favorite-d the original addon will see your update, and there won't be a useless old duplicate page for the addon.

[Malsomnus]

The original add-on is on Curse, so it's not exactly a duplicate page this way.
Anyway, after the comment on its page went unanswered I now decided to email the author directly. We'll see what he thinks about it, I suppose.