(2011-05-13, 08:55 PM)Scoutie44 Wrote: [ -> ]Not really, something like this would have to be moderated such as ShopMyBB does; a team of individuals who have time to go over each submission with a fine-tooth comb and either give it a suggested price or, what I think might be a better idea, give each submission an honest rating so users will be able to charge what they think is fair but there will still be a "professional" opinion readily available. This, imo, should be treated with organization rather than a free for all run by the community. There needs to be a dedicated team in charge, or it just won't work.
But that's it, there is no real fair system to set the price of a plugin. A useful plugin that is quite simple will probably be priced lower than a complex plugin that is as useful as the simple one. The complex (probably more powerful) plugin will have less attention than the simple plugin because the simple one is cheaper.
Also this means that the moderator or management team has even more work because they will need to test a plugin more thoroughly than they already have to do right now. This means that a submission will even take longer to be validated and means more frustration with the plugin authors. That, apart from not being able to post paid plugins, is the other main reason why people are releasing plugins on their own websites.
(2011-05-13, 08:55 PM)Scoutie44 Wrote: [ -> ]Quote:Lets say someone requests a certain plugin, it will turn into a race to finish the plugin first to be the first to get the money.
That could already happen, but I don't recall seeing such a situation yet anyways. Really most of these are situations that can already occur here and I don't think a change to the mods site would increase that.
Sure, this already happens today but when you trow money in the game this will only get worse.
(2011-05-13, 09:22 PM)Firestryke31 Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe MyBB could have stuff for sale on the Mods site, and take a small cut of the sale price. It would definitely help with the operating costs, give users a central place to find more or less all of the plugins and whatnot, and give authors a high traffic market to sell their stuff. I would be thrilled to sell my stuff here if MyBB got a cut of it. Plus, if MyBB generated enough to "profit" off of the marketplace, they could put that money towards advertising.
If MyBB wanted to a profit, they would have made MyBB paid software. But they didn't.
I hate the idea of "paid plugin system" in MyBB.com.
Consider if you pay for a plugin with some attractive description thinking that it would be good. Once you find its not so good, and if you can't get the cash back, you will probably post around web stating you were "scammed" in MyBB. If free plugins got some issue, they won't make a big scene. but if a paid one goes wrong, since money is involved, MyBB will have an issue of loosing reputation.
Also, i agree with Conor's idea of making a site which "index" all 3rd party plugin sites and make searching for a plugin easy. Best idea i see in this topic.
Paid things will happen. No sense in stopping it. I think MyBB is fine the way it is right now.
(2011-05-24, 02:41 PM)Aristotle Wrote: [ -> ]Paid things will happen. No sense in stopping it. I think MyBB is fine the way it is right now.
Paid things aren't going to stop. the discussion is whether we should include paid ones in MyBB.com mods site.
(2011-05-24, 02:41 PM)Aristotle Wrote: [ -> ]Paid things will happen. No sense in stopping it. I think MyBB is fine the way it is right now.
Sure it will happen, and you can't stop it but that doesn't mean that it should be the default. Enabling any author to offer their paid plugins on the mod site will be more inviting for all kinds of plugin authors (good and bad) to make their plugins paid which would maybe otherwise offer their plugins for free. Adding this option is not only rewarding authors that DON'T want to share their plugins for free with the community but actually punishing authors that DO.
(2011-05-24, 02:41 PM)Aristotle Wrote: [ -> ]Paid things will happen. No sense in stopping it. I think MyBB is fine the way it is right now.
(2011-05-24, 03:34 PM)Aries-Belgium Wrote: [ -> ] (2011-05-24, 02:41 PM)Aristotle Wrote: [ -> ]Paid things will happen. No sense in stopping it. I think MyBB is fine the way it is right now.
Sure it will happen, and you can't stop it but that doesn't mean that it should be the default. Enabling any author to offer their paid plugins on the mod site will be more inviting for all kinds of plugin authors (good and bad) to make their plugins paid which would maybe otherwise offer their plugins for free. Adding this option is not only rewarding authors that DON'T want to share their plugins for free with the community but actually punishing authors that DO.
I think you both should read past my first sentence...
(2011-05-13, 10:31 PM)Aries-Belgium Wrote: [ -> ]But that's it, there is no real fair system to set the price of a plugin. A useful plugin that is quite simple will probably be priced lower than a complex plugin that is as useful as the simple one. The complex (probably more powerful) plugin will have less attention than the simple plugin because the simple one is cheaper.
Okay, so the author needs to bite the bullet, simplify his/her plugin, and lower the cost. If there's a benefit to using one over the other, even if price is a factor, then people will choose that ones and that's it. I don't think authors should have no control over the price but what we all want to avoid is one-liners being priced at anything higher than $0.00.
Quote:Also this means that the moderator or management team has even more work because they will need to test a plugin more thoroughly than they already have to do right now. This means that a submission will even take longer to be validated and means more frustration with the plugin authors.
No, mods take a long time because there isn't a dedicated team, and the ones with access are busy with their other more important tasks (developing, support, etc.). I don't exactly remember who but I believe Tim even stated that mods aren't usually checked for malicious/poor code, so the only possible deduction is that there's a lack of manpower involved. I think a dedicated team would solve this. That being said, they shouldn't have to audit the code, rather inspect it based on a few key criteria.
Quote:Sure, this already happens today but when you trow money in the game this will only get worse.
There can already be money involved; there's no limitations on people saying "hey I can do this for $10, drop me a PM" currently. I realize that this may make it easier, but people who don't want to pay aren't going to pay.
Quote:If MyBB wanted to a profit, they would have made MyBB paid software. But they didn't.
The proposal was so that MyBB can help pay the bills. For all we know, Chris has been paying out of pocket for whatever costs involved; I don't think this would be a bad idea and it helps contribute to things like security audits. A steady income towards operating costs is never a bad thing, really, as long as it's put to that use of course.
(2011-05-25, 05:08 AM)Scoutie44 Wrote: [ -> ]The proposal was so that MyBB can help pay the bills. For all we know, Chris has been paying out of pocket for whatever costs involved; I don't think this would be a bad idea and it helps contribute to things like security audits. A steady income towards operating costs is never a bad thing, really, as long as it's put to that use of course.
If a paid plugins system was introduced in Mods site, do you think MyBB would get anything from it? Unless they require a part of money as transaction fee, or the plugin author decide to donate some?
I doubt they would. However if they ever do host paid plugins I would hope they take a little bit to cover costs
.
(2011-05-11, 09:40 PM)Aries-Belgium Wrote: [ -> ] (2011-05-11, 08:06 PM)Uncontrol Wrote: [ -> ]I think if MyBB had an official system for selling paid plugins and getting the developers paid, onsite demos etc, you'd see a lot less of these offshoot developer sites. I for one wouldn't mind being able to pay for plugins via Paypal through a MyBB "App Store."
Then another problem will rise. The step for releasing paid plugins is much smaller so more and more people will start doing it. After a while the paid plugins will outnumber the free plugins and eventually take over the mod site. This is rewarding the wrong authors. MyBB should only promote and offer free plugins in my opinion.
(2011-05-11, 09:48 PM)euantor Wrote: [ -> ]Also, if anybody could effectively charge, there'd have to be much stricter regulations and mimimum requirements in place I reckon - charging for a tiny little plugin to preform a single function isn't right for instance.
If there was a way to add paid plugins to the Mods site, you wouldn't be able to just upload anything and everything as a paid mod. You would have to be a 'trusted member' sort of thing, where we know you're a regular and not going to disappear, and you wouldn't be allowed to sell little 50 line plugins either like some people do, they'd have to be substantial; if you wanted to sell little plugins you would still be allowed to on your own site etc. I'm sure that free plugins would also take precedence, showing up above paid plugins in search results etc. That was what we discussed last time this was bought up anyway, whether it actually gets implemented at all, I don't know.