I think this is interesting and worth discussing enough to make a topic about it ...
I've always been a proponent of people charging for their themes and/or plugins, because really, people have the right to do whatever they want with their creations. In fact, I'm still not against it if that's what people want to do.
However, there's recently been an explosion of paid MyBB sites to the point where there seems to be a lot more paid content than free content. The worst part of it is, people seem to have no concept of what is worth paying for and what isn't. MyBB Central is able to get away with charging a subscription simply because there is so much available there and such consistent development that you can pretty much be assured you'll get your money's worth.
People are charging for subscriptions when they don't really have any content worth selling. Not only is this a poor business decision, it reflects poorly on MyBB to have so many people charging for themes and plugins that are largely free on other software. In the end, people have a right to do what they want, but I can hope that they at least reconsider.
(HarryWx is going to have a field day with this!)
I will quote what i said in another thread because i feel it is probably more relavent here:
Quote:you see what people don't realise when they see MyBB central and think "hey i can make a quick buck by charging $5 to subscribe to my website" is that labrocca has a very long history of making top quality addons and people trust that he will continue to to so. Not to mention that labrocca built his reputation with free plugins and themes. When people see some new site trying to charge $5 for what is now only a handful of themes plus maybe a plugin or two people they don't even bother to visit the site because they know already that it has nothing to offer them.
Your comment was really good and what inspired me to make this thread, actually.
I totally agree with you, I was actually gonna start a thread before saying that MyBB is lacking free theme's because people are too quick too jump on the paid theme's band wagon.
But yea it is upto them if they wanna charge but it just seem's money is more important to people then actually doing stuff for free. ( MyBBCentral is an exception i can understand that because of the amount of work that goes into the plugins/ themes from there).
I've never charged a single dime for anything i have done and i never will because i actually like making theme's and seeing what you can come up with.
Fully agree with you bey brad
But whats sad with mybbcentral is that an subscription lasts 1 year and cost 5 dollar. and if don't have added an debit/credit card to paypal you can't subscribe and then it cost 10dollar. but either way in 1 hours you have manage to download every plugin anyway.
And probably will just pay 5 dollar more the next year anyways.
Further to what i said, i have no problem with paid themes and plugins but usually people are just shooting themselves in the foot because they need to start by building a popular and succesful website and you don't do that by making people pay to access the content before there is even any proof that the content is worth while.
I understand that sometimes websites need a bit of money to get off the ground so can i suggest adding a paypal donate button, these are available to copy and paste from the paypal website and you just put it in the header template. I am sure if you put a little note saying we are raising money for a domain and some other things people will donate and further to that people will start using your content because it is free and you will start to get a reputation because of the quality of your products.
I've managed to successfully start bringing money into my website, but I think if I'd opened it that way I never would've seen any success. Furthermore, the services I'm offering in exchange for that money are actually worth what they cost.
Well, I see what you mean by that, and as you can see, I've released most of themes free thusfar.
But, since Taddy also decided to work with me, and hosting is getting more and more expensive, I need some extra funding in order to keep running it.
Anyhow, I understand this, and it is quite annoying that people offer low quality plugins and/or themes for outrageous prices.
But not all paid plugins are horrible, MyBB Central is a great example, and MyBB Source has a great model as well.
Infranight, I'm not saying that people shouldn't charge at all, just that they should consider it carefully. You produce some great themes ...
How much are you paying for hosting? Mine doesn't really cost me that much and I get a decent amount of traffic.
I completely agree with you about the charging; just that some people charge for graphics whipped up in paint.
As for my themes, they aren't even close to what Lunty and you can do, and much of the rest of the MyBB community as well.
As for my hosting, it's nearing $100/year, it isn't much at all, but I can't work
so it is pretty expensive; I also have a few other costs to handle.