But I guess they did contact the respective authors prior to hosting them.
No, they didn't contact anyone. They originally scraped about 150 addons from Curse, and then removed all the ones that weren't licensed for redistribution after receiving a bunch of complaints from the authors whose copyrights they were infringing (me included). They're basically just a slightly less s**theaded clone of TenTonHammer's failed World of Addons. They still don't even credit the authors of any addons except tiny (it's his site).
Their site is also totally worthless for addon authors -- you can't even manage your own addon page, upload updates, etc.-- and as of a week or so ago they had no estimate to offer on when any such features would be developed. If they weren't already established as The One And Only Source For The Special Unique Snowflake That Is OQueue (oh, the irony of the tantrum tiny would throw if someone uploaded his addon to Curse without his permission!) I'd bet on them failing within a month. As it is, I expect they'll either give up on this poorly thought-out experiment soon, or just go the Wowmatrix route of scraping and rehosting GPL addons with no respect for the authors.
alladdon.com
No contact information on website. Administrative contact for the domain name is s3lhli@gmail.com. Very similar to the contact for the old hotwow.com website listed below. Most likely the same person(s) are behind this one. Also, the website is hosted by EraNet, who can be contacted at support@eranet.com or by other means listed on their website at www.eranet.com/customer/contact.net
World of Addons is operated by Ten Ton Hammer, who have been around long enough that they should know better. Either they're really stupid, or just douchebags.
Additionally, they are currently using Razer gaming peripherals to promote their new addon site and its massive copyright infringement. Obviously Razer is not responsible for, or probably even aware of, this misuse of their brand and products, but if you want to let them know about it, you can contact them at cult@razerzone.com to tell them how sad you are to see their awesome products being used this way.
They aren't hosting anything I hold the copyright for, so I didn't use their contact form, but I did report their illegal redistribution of computer software to their web host, here:
Well, I did use the "Scary Official Legal Notice" when I emailed them, rather than the informal "hey guys" message I use for individual compliation uploaders on WoWI. Maybe that had something to do with it?
How are you! I am really sorry for the troble we've made for you. I am Tracy, PR Manager from MMOsite.com. I have asked our editor to remove from our website page now. But due to we had uploaded your addon information to our server, we need time to clear it up. I would guarantee it should be done before next monday. Is it all right for you?
Anyway I would like to thank you for such fantastic addon. Our website is really interested in promoting your content to our 2,000,000 users. I will be great honor if i have chance to ask for your permission and let our users have chance to read. Or if you have any request, please let me know. I will see what our website could do for you.
Yours sincerely ,
Tracy
PR Manager http://www.mmosite.com/
MMOsite.com-No.1 Professional MMO Game Portal!
They do not have a contact form, but after emailing every address I could find on their website, I got a very prompt response. I've updated the first post with the address.
It appears they are not only hosting addons, but charging for access to them. If you are the author of one of the addons they're hosting, you should definitely have a word with them.
The Curse guys may also want to talk to them about their use of the Curse.com "flame" icon.
If they're not actually hosting the files, there's not much you can do about them. You could probably make a technical claim that it's illegal for them to use your description... but you'd have a hard time getting anything done, especially when the description is no longer in the original language.
My personal view on foreign-language sites that don't host the files is that they're providing something I can't. I don't understand German, Chinese, (much) Russian, or whatever language the site is in, so I can't write a description for my addon in that language, and even if someone else provides me with a description to post on Curse, I can't provide support in that language.
Either way, they aren't hosting the file, and they can't hotlink to the file, so Curse still gets traffic and ad impressions. Complaining that the German site also gets ad impressions strikes me as not much different than complaining that Google gets ad impressions on a search results page that links to Curse.
Either that guy is really too stupid to set up DNS correctly, or he's just a troll, because actually trying to visit "deathmods.com" leads me to an error page indicating that no DNS record for the domain could be found. If a real site appears there, I'll add it to the list in this thread.
Yeah, I'm on the same page as Torhal with regard to wowui.cn. They're actively contributing to the community by providing translations for a LOT of addons, and most of the authors of those addons don't read or write Chinese and thus are unlikely to post those addons on sites frequented by Chinese WoW players, so I have no problem with them mirroring my addons on a Chinese site.
If you don't want them hosting your stuff, though, they probably have a contact form or contact info on their site.
1) Don't post links. Post URLs, and uncheck the "Automatically parse links in text" option below the posting form. This option is not available from the "Quick Reply" form while viewing the topic; you actually have to press the "Post Reply" button and use the full posting page.
2) Don't use this thread to post about sites that appear to host addons, but actually just try to trick you into installing keyloggers and other malware. Personally, I think anyone foolish enough to be tricked into downloading and running a malicious executable in such an obvious fashion deserves whatever they get from it, but regardless of your feelings on the topic, these sites aren't actually hosting anything, and as such are outside the scope of this thread.
What about the "foreign" (aka asian) sites that host addons which cater to the zh* and koKR communities?
Do we consider those "bad"?
Depends on the site. Personally, I've given permission for several people who've provided Chinese or Korean translations for my addons to post those addons on Chinese or Korean addon sites, as long as there is a link to my (English) download page. However, if I see an addon posted on one of those sites that nobody's sent me zh/tw translations for, I will absolutely request it be removed.
For the purposes of this thread, I wouldn't consider a Chinese equivalent of WoWInterface (for example) to be "bad". If someone posts your addon there, it's no different than if they posted it on WoWInterface or Curse or IncGamers. If you want to post information on who to contact to request the removal of addons from those sites though, feel free.
However, if the site appears to be distributing the addons itself (as opposed to individuals uploading each addon) then yes, it would be "bad".
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No, they didn't contact anyone. They originally scraped about 150 addons from Curse, and then removed all the ones that weren't licensed for redistribution after receiving a bunch of complaints from the authors whose copyrights they were infringing (me included). They're basically just a slightly less s**theaded clone of TenTonHammer's failed World of Addons. They still don't even credit the authors of any addons except tiny (it's his site).
Their site is also totally worthless for addon authors -- you can't even manage your own addon page, upload updates, etc.-- and as of a week or so ago they had no estimate to offer on when any such features would be developed. If they weren't already established as The One And Only Source For The Special Unique Snowflake That Is OQueue (oh, the irony of the tantrum tiny would throw if someone uploaded his addon to Curse without his permission!) I'd bet on them failing within a month. As it is, I expect they'll either give up on this poorly thought-out experiment soon, or just go the Wowmatrix route of scraping and rehosting GPL addons with no respect for the authors.
http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43892
alladdon.com
No contact information on website. Administrative contact for the domain name is s3lhli@gmail.com. Very similar to the contact for the old hotwow.com website listed below. Most likely the same person(s) are behind this one. Also, the website is hosted by EraNet, who can be contacted at support@eranet.com or by other means listed on their website at www.eranet.com/customer/contact.net
worldofaddons.com
A number of email addresses are listed on their "About Us" page at www.tentonhammer.com/aboutus. You can also contact them through their "Claim An Addon" page at www.worldofaddons.com/claim.
World of Addons is operated by Ten Ton Hammer, who have been around long enough that they should know better. Either they're really stupid, or just douchebags.
Additionally, they are currently using Razer gaming peripherals to promote their new addon site and its massive copyright infringement. Obviously Razer is not responsible for, or probably even aware of, this misuse of their brand and products, but if you want to let them know about it, you can contact them at cult@razerzone.com to tell them how sad you are to see their awesome products being used this way.
They aren't hosting anything I hold the copyright for, so I didn't use their contact form, but I did report their illegal redistribution of computer software to their web host, here:
http://www.bplaced.net/?location=report
Also added to the first post.
It appears they are not only hosting addons, but charging for access to them. If you are the author of one of the addons they're hosting, you should definitely have a word with them.
The Curse guys may also want to talk to them about their use of the Curse.com "flame" icon.
Edit: Updated first post.
My personal view on foreign-language sites that don't host the files is that they're providing something I can't. I don't understand German, Chinese, (much) Russian, or whatever language the site is in, so I can't write a description for my addon in that language, and even if someone else provides me with a description to post on Curse, I can't provide support in that language.
Either way, they aren't hosting the file, and they can't hotlink to the file, so Curse still gets traffic and ad impressions. Complaining that the German site also gets ad impressions strikes me as not much different than complaining that Google gets ad impressions on a search results page that links to Curse.
If you don't want them hosting your stuff, though, they probably have a contact form or contact info on their site.
2) Don't use this thread to post about sites that appear to host addons, but actually just try to trick you into installing keyloggers and other malware. Personally, I think anyone foolish enough to be tricked into downloading and running a malicious executable in such an obvious fashion deserves whatever they get from it, but regardless of your feelings on the topic, these sites aren't actually hosting anything, and as such are outside the scope of this thread.
Depends on the site. Personally, I've given permission for several people who've provided Chinese or Korean translations for my addons to post those addons on Chinese or Korean addon sites, as long as there is a link to my (English) download page. However, if I see an addon posted on one of those sites that nobody's sent me zh/tw translations for, I will absolutely request it be removed.
For the purposes of this thread, I wouldn't consider a Chinese equivalent of WoWInterface (for example) to be "bad". If someone posts your addon there, it's no different than if they posted it on WoWInterface or Curse or IncGamers. If you want to post information on who to contact to request the removal of addons from those sites though, feel free.
However, if the site appears to be distributing the addons itself (as opposed to individuals uploading each addon) then yes, it would be "bad".