Copyright Jelsoft, question !

[feldon23]

and you don't need to edit PHP files to change any of the wording or images that appear anywhere on the forum. Everything is in the Language system which is accessible from the control panel.

[Wheels]

So, to confirm what's being said (hope I got it right).

1.) Buy the forum (£91).
2.) Change whatever you want (images, text etc.)
3.) You MUST keep "vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2006, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd." in the footer of the forum for legal reasons.

Everything can change except for the copywrite (which is totally understandable and acceptable). Of course, if you're new to this then you don't wanna' go editting the php files

That's true. If you do edit and not know what you're doing, your forum's going to look funny!

[Mr_Butter]

You can add stuff to it though. Like powered by vbulletin 3.5.3 bling bling edition :P

[RagnarokDensetsu]

People see the vBulletin logos and buttons and vBulletin written all over their forums and they think they have to pay to change the name to what they want. In fact, Branding Free only affects the Copyright notice.

I am proud that I am running a vBulletin forum. It suggests quality. I don't want to hide it.

I 2nd that !!

Thirded. ^^

In all seriousness, I can't see any reason why anyone would want the branding free option. I've seen some sites that have it but I can't figure out why they'd bother spending $130 to remove a line they should be proud of having.

You can add stuff to it though. Like powered by vbulletin 3.5.3 bling bling edition :P]

There's a fun idea

[007]

I agree RagnarokDensetsu. I've seen boards that have the branding free option (or at least helped themselves to the delete key..) but either way, every board I have seen so far is INSTANTLY recognizeable as a vB.

It's one thing if you totally change every template, but if you are going to leave the look and feel of vB, branding free is absolutely pointless. Even if you DID change every template to make it look like a totally different board, you still have the showthread.php, forumdisplay.php, etc. Still easily identified as a vB.

Last of all, if you were using some sort of URL rewriting to cover up the default URLS, on top of totally changing your templates, I would be MORE impressed to see that it was a vB, since I would automatically know that tons of work was put into it. Otherwise I would just think it was some non vB inferior forum that happened to look good.

[RattleSnake]

Also, if you want the truth, it isnt worth removing that for 135 dollars. Thats almost another owned license for me. Dont know why i purchased it exactly.

[Quillz]

Thirded. ^^

In all seriousness, I can't see any reason why anyone would want the branding free option. I've seen some sites that have it but I can't figure out why they'd bother spending $130 to remove a line they should be proud of having.


There's a fun idea

I believe Wayne Luke said a few months ago that this option really wasn't meant for the end user to purchase. It's really targeted towards companies who, for whatever reason, would require the copyrights to be removed.

In all honestly, it's pretty much a waste of money. Just save the $120 and keep the two lines of text.

[youradultworld]

To clarify for some of you expressing confusion.
Although there are numerous reasons to want to remove the branding, one may be this. I've heard a lot of people say that they spend a lot of time and money customizing their script. In some cases people have managed to make it more difficult to distinguish as a Jelsoft product. At this point you may not want your users to look down and say, oh vBulletin, I can buy a copy and start my own site.

Maybe Jelsoft wants people to say this lol but if you don't want to increase your competition, you may not want to advertise your script name. I technically would rather not have the Copyright notice, just for the reasons above. I get a lot of users who are curious to start their own website but they don't know where to start. They then see vbulletin and go buy their own copy. It may not help much by removing the copyright but I'm sure it helps a little by making it so not 100% of visitors know what script your site is powered by.

Also to clarify why people are asking what can and can't be removed. I for one came into this thread to see because I don't like displaying the version number. I feel the only thing that does is allow problem users to see which version I am running so they know which files and vulnerabilities my site has. I don't like that idea. It may not remove the vulnerabilities, but atleast it doesn't say I'm outdated 3.0 hello hack me. I don't know enough about that sort of thing but I feel a little safer removing the version number.

[Mr_Butter]

Also to clarify why people are asking what can and can't be removed. I for one came into this thread to see because I don't like displaying the version number. I feel the only thing that does is allow problem users to see which version I am running so they know which files and vulnerabilities my site has. I don't like that idea. It may not remove the vulnerabilities, but atleast it doesn't say I'm outdated 3.0 hello hack me. I don't know enough about that sort of thing but I feel a little safer removing the version number.

But you cant do that without a branding free license :\

As floris said, you may only add to the tree, not remove [unless you have paid for it].

[whitetigergrowl]

i don't understand why people have so many questions about this.You are legally requirerd to leave this alone unless you paid for the branding free option "powered by vbulletin version 3.5.3 copyright © - 2006 Jelsoft enterprises Ltd" it doesn't butter me

So...what does butter you?!

ROFLMAO!!

[feldon23]

Also to clarify why people are asking what can and can't be removed. I for one came into this thread to see because I don't like displaying the version number. I feel the only thing that does is allow problem users to see which version I am running so they know which files and vulnerabilities my site has. I don't like that idea. It may not remove the vulnerabilities, but atleast it doesn't say I'm outdated 3.0 hello hack me. I don't know enough about that sort of thing but I feel a little safer removing the version number.

But you cant do that without a branding free license :\

As floris said, you may only add to the tree, not remove [unless you have paid for it].

i don't understand why people have so many questions about this.You are legally requirerd to leave this alone unless you paid for the branding free option "powered by vbulletin version 3.5.3 copyright © - 2006 Jelsoft enterprises Ltd" it doesn't butter me

Can you please provide a quote from a Jelsoft employee indicating that the version number cannot be removed? I have never heard of this.

[feldon23]

In fact, a brief search found exactly the opposite from 2 different Jelsoft employees.

The branding free license is also not a license to remove the version number, but rather to remove the copyright text in your footer.
The version number can be removed without a branding free licenses.
(Aug 4th, 2005)

Just to confirm what Vile posted, the minimum requirement for the copyright is:

vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2004, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.

You do not need to display the version number.
(May 3rd, 2004)

the minimum acceptable copyright notivce:

vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2003, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
(Nov 16th, 2003)

[Colin F]

The most up to date version is this:
vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2006, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

That's the minimum text that has to be displayed, removing any part of this requires a branding free license.

[Floris]

But you cant do that without a branding free license :\

As floris said, you may only add to the tree, not remove [unless you have paid for it].

What? Where? Quote me please

[IamLoBAS]

and you don't need to edit PHP files to change any of the wording or images that appear anywhere on the forum. Everything is in the Language system which is accessible from the control panel.

Thanks feldon23