What mods have you refused to install?

Have you ever had to refuse to install a mod that your members wanted, for the good of the forum?

 

I evaluated some of the "Made by Mary" mods for possible installation on one community but ultimately didn't install them. There were too many issues with them both in the coding and security of the addons. Haven't looked at her recent ones though so maybe they are better.

 

The vBulletin Blogs MOD. Creating a new forum where you limit everyone to 1 topic with limited bumping privilages as well gives you the same results.

 

none so far

 

There have been a couple that I have refused to install - but there is not enough space here to list them all so will just go with the basic easy to know ones.

FantasyF1 - created by vb-hacks.com - do not get me wrong this guy is an absolute legend (who codes them) he is a paralympian who has battled cancer etc on numerous occassions, and then turned his focus to coding. But this hack was rushed together is not very secure has many bugs and he has not started work on improving it.

Although vb-hacks.com has some great hacks this one isn't their best.

I refuse to install vbMA (vBulletin Members Area) as the guys whose site sold the PRO version is nothing but a scammer - he hired the guy from vb-hacks.com to code it and the guy was meant to get like 50% of all sales - but the first guy sold about 20 copies (at $50 a pop) and didn't pay the guy who really coded it.

And finally I don't install the things like log into user account, or admin read pm's stuff.

 

The login to user account hack is good, but you have to use it responsibly. Obviously, stay the hell away from private messages. For example:
I have a mod who would rather I upload his pictures (for his album) for him from his trips, or concerts. Since he's right here, or in the same town, usually I'll grab them from his camera, upload them, and bam, it's done.

It's also very, very good for debugging user issues. I've run across a number of them, and hate saying "try now" repeatedly, so usually I will login to their account fix the issue and then tell 'em it's fixed.

Have I run across mods I won't install? No.
Have I run across mods I remove instantly, then refuse to reinstall anything else by the author? Absolutely. A couple of prime examples of those would be the IMDB info mod, and the translate mod, both of which are very poorly done, and the authors as cocky as anything, insisting it's always the user's fault the mod goes wrong. Authors like that are a dime a dozen

 

The arcade modification for MyBB along with the blogs modification.

 

Anything gaming-related (i.e. the arcade) is automatically crossed off of my list. I simply have always felt that due to the nature and subject matter of my communities, installing and managing an arcade (or something similar) would direct a large percentage of the activity away from the actual "discussion".

 

I have only really refused to install modifications that are encrypted; I'd rather not rely on the mod author and their crappy website to keep my forum working thanks very much. I have uninstalled quite a few I disliked though, like the [you] code and the video directory (latter because it's massive server kill, not for any faults).

 

Amusingly, installing an arcade actually increased the amount of activity on my forums. Need to do that again...

 

Guess it can work either way, then. :lol:

I think it really does depend on a) the niche of your forum and b) the crowd that is attracted. I can see how installing an arcade could benefit a general discussion community (the very thought of gaming is interchangeable with the term 'general'), yet I can also see how installing such an item could consume mass amounts of the activity on a discussion forum based around the topic of web development.

And then, of course, we have to factor in the average age of the memberbase.

 

My forum members dont demand anything

 

I wouldn't put an arcade on every site, but I do add one whenever possible (if I can find games to match the theme of the site). It's only become particularly popular on one forum though.

 

I have members who spend a third of their lives on my forum, I think it works to keep them from drifting away even more >_>

 

the mod that allows you to read pm's is one that i would never use, cause i think that my members have a right to privacy, and to be able to talk about things in private without anyone else reading it (even though i am very nosey, thats going too far).

the arcade mod is good though, although the members are very competitive about who gets the top spot

 

Ditto

 

I have actually seen people forge PM reports. It's borderline insane.

 

Good job most decent software has a report PM function then I guess?

 

No, while Bioboards was still mostly phpbb2, someone forged the pm report function against me, and the mods were both surprised and initially pissed at me.

It was quite a moment.