Following a discussion here http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread.php?t=35399 I would like to ask an opinion from an expert here about this http://www.frostyforums.com/ No PHPBB original copyright to be seen anywhere and those people pretend likes they create the forum software from scratch.
I think i saw the template they use before too. Dont know about the script, but its too similar to phpbb Anyway he forgot to replace this page - http://www.frostyforums.com/forums/faq.php#36 where its clearly written that its a phpbb software and no one can remove the credits. You should post the same thing in phpbb.com too
he he he i just had a look at their code... For example index.php /*************************************************************************** * index.php * ------------------- * begin : April 28, 2006 * copyright : Chill Entertainment (C) 2006 * email : alexhaas@cfl.rr.com * ***************************************************************************/ PHP: They defenetely changed the copyright but the vars. .... say phpbb.... define('IN_PHPBB', true); $phpbb_root_path = './'; include($phpbb_root_path . 'extension.inc'); include($phpbb_root_path . 'common.'.$phpEx); PHP:
Yup, you did. It's a phpBB template and they just removed the copyright. If you rip a forum software at least attempt to hide the fact that you did. And ripping phpBB is NOT smart, because if you rip one of the most popular free forums people are going to notice >_>. Why would they buy a domain name for this? I bet they don't even know php... The GPL allows the phpBB copyright to be removed and any phpBB template on phpbb.com is GPL too, but you must leave the copyrights in the actual files (like at the top of index.php) and not say you originally created the software.
phpBB is GPL. You can redistribute GPL software with changes (of which removing credits and chaning code comments would be two) if you do so as open source. Frosty Forums say they are open source as well. Slimy? yes. Illegal? No.
I just downloaded Frosty Forums and it looks like they cleaned up the code a little bit. The phpbb copyrights are back up. I wonder if the people at Frosty Forums saw this thread. Try downloading it again and see what I'm talkin about. I think it's... http://www.frostyforums.com/download.html
They have this statement at the bottom of the forum page, and many other pages: Seems like they missed the homepage and a few others though.
for your info, people behind frosty forum is 15 years old kid and they had ripped few works too before likes forum skin.
I leave it on there for respect on my forums, i have the phpbb copyright at the bottom. I just love the power of opensource and i want it to grow!
Yea, me too. I own a phpbb board and I just love what new stuff those open-source guys can throw at you. To me, it looks like Frosty Forums is only a phpbb package with a couple of mods already installed. I'm gonna set up a Frosty Forums board and see how it works.