Wedge

Public area => The Pub => Off-topic => Topic started by: kimikelku on March 3rd, 2013, 10:13 PM

Title: Spirate
Post by: kimikelku on March 3rd, 2013, 10:13 PM
Some time ago i came across this small community that provides a custom version of smf called Spirate, i still didnt try their version, just wanna show you guys to see what you think about it. They dont have any topic that explains if its a fork or just some mods installed along the normal smf, but they do take really serious if people remove the credits from the footer.
For what i can tell, this smf version is specific for warez related sites.
spirate.net/foro/
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: agent47 on March 3rd, 2013, 10:18 PM
I launched site.
Looked interesting.
As soon as I discovered there was music playing in the background.
I left.
(We're no longer in the damn 90's).
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: kimikelku on March 3rd, 2013, 10:21 PM
Took me almost 10 minutes to find out that the player is in the chat window.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Arantor on March 3rd, 2013, 10:36 PM
I find it both ironic and hilarious how the footer is so completely incorrect (the copyright statement is consistent with SMF 2.0 RC2, not 2.0 final or later)

It would appear to be a fork, but I'm not registering just to download it and find out. It's probably not legitimate to SMF's licence either.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Maxx on March 3rd, 2013, 10:50 PM
+1 was thinking the same thing, but all in all the layout is out of the ordinary!

So even if it was in English and other language,, Who's able to use it here or there,  seems who ever did this has done some real work on it.
I can not lie though I kinda like it! except it's too in your face though!


EDIT found this at the bottom:
Powered by SMF 2.0.2 | SMF © 2006–2009, Simple Machines LLC
XHTML
RSS
WAP2

regards,
Maxx
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Nao on March 4th, 2013, 07:12 AM
Isn't this simply a stock SMF with a modded blocweb theme..?

(What has happened to him again BTW? Last few times I checked, his sites were all down... :sob:)
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Suki on March 4th, 2013, 02:36 PM
They were the pioneers of forking SMF!  they forked it when it years ago when it was illegal to do so :P

Yes is a modified version, mostly theme related modifications and is focused on warez sites (they call it a "sharing links" script) which are pretty common in Latin America because is a fast way to build an active community.

The are pretty good with themes but they aren't that good with source files which leads to some major flaws. But they are pretty enthusiastic about their work.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Maxx on March 4th, 2013, 02:54 PM
Quote from Nao on March 4th, 2013, 07:12 AM
Isn't this simply a stock SMF with a modded blocweb theme..?

(What has happened to him again BTW? Last few times I checked, his sites were all down... :sob:)
Blocweb just up an closed a little while back, I think he just got tired of it all and went with his private life and what he likes to do, Hope all is well with him, and if anyone needs helps with his themes, just let me know (support)!

regards,
Maxx
Posted: March 4th, 2013, 02:49 PM
Quote from Suki on March 4th, 2013, 02:36 PM
They were the pioneers of forking SMF!  they forked it when it years ago when it was illegal to do so :P

Yes is a modified version, mostly theme related modifications and is focused on warez sites (they call it a "sharing links" script) which are pretty common in Latin America because is a fast way to build an active community.

The are pretty good with themes but they aren't that good with source files which leads to some major flaws. But they are pretty enthusiastic about their work.
Yes from the little bit of Spanish I know, I think you are correct here! :)and the title should tell us what to expect!

I thought the Screen they had looked something like this layout here, Kinda:)
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Nao on March 4th, 2013, 04:49 PM
And, err... SMF never did anything against them..? Even though apparently they were aware of this fork's existence..?

@Maxx> I remember you were there a lot. I was also quite interested in Bloc's work (fork and themes), although never really got into its roots. I don't remember him saying anywhere that he was going away. Then again, I'm not surprised, just a bit sad... He's always been very conflicted about his belonging to the SMF universe, after writing pretty much all of the early themes, and then leaving them to other devs.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Arantor on March 4th, 2013, 04:51 PM
As far as I know, no action was ever taken.

And yes, Bloc disappeared. He'll be back eventually.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Nao on March 4th, 2013, 05:08 PM
For the 5th or 6th time..? ;)
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Arantor on March 4th, 2013, 05:14 PM
8th or 9th, more like.

I know us creative types can be tempestuous, it goes with the territory but still...
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Maxx on March 4th, 2013, 05:39 PM
I just hope he comes back with a fresh outlook on things, because I miss his work also, the themes and what he did to make a difference.I always had the impression He thought we all were telling him what to should do, but most just, at least I was was only presenting other out looks from my point of view, and I know I'm hard to understand at times, but I hope he does not take these things to heart, you know! Allot of this stuff takes you far away from your family, even when your in the same room LOL!

I welcome His return anytime!

regards,
maxx
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Nao on March 4th, 2013, 06:09 PM
That's the post... His outlook was already the freshest possible... :^^;:
I was kinda hoping that at some point he'd give me insight into my own skin work and give me clues on how to get better at 'modernizing' it...
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Oracle on March 4th, 2013, 09:48 PM
I was under the impression he offered his services Nao. > I seem to recall saying...."Now there's an invitation" or something along those lines. Just didn't open the door wide enough I guess.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Arantor on March 4th, 2013, 09:49 PM
Part of the problem is that Bloc and I never saw eye to eye about some things, and in particular the fact that what he wants to do isn't really feasible in a wider-scale project, as wonderful as it would be, it just is not practical for us to adopt it.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Oracle on March 4th, 2013, 10:08 PM
Had a feeling there was a background issue but didn't want to pry.

Wedge is your baby and you of all people should know what's best in the overall scheme of things. I feel he was only attempting to relay his input sos to accommodate future theme development from his perspective albeit not in a forceful sense.

Would be good to have a second opinion from theme design standpoint.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Arantor on March 4th, 2013, 10:11 PM
And we listened and we made changes to accommodate it as best we could, but essentially it turned into 'you're not listening to me, bye'.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Maxx on March 4th, 2013, 10:16 PM
Quote from Oracle on March 4th, 2013, 09:48 PM
I was under the impression he offered his services Nao. > I seem to recall saying...."Now there's an invitation" or something along those lines. Just didn't open the door wide enough I guess.
Yes you are correct He Did and so did I and in more than one site, but not much attention was at this but rather the personal project he was working with, and you never know When he has something to present He may come back, I do not know!!

But Has Nao said his ideas were freshest, and still are, How I setup the themes so you could parse any Cat or cats to the Blog and or Gallery, he had a nice Frontpage ad-on and other stuff in the works. Even things I will not repeat, because I said I would not.

And I remember He and Arantor getting in deep in conversation over things, but like I mentioned, I feel he felt he was being Missile'd into others ideas and or directions. Not speaking for him, just my outlook on things!


regards,
maxx
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Arantor on March 4th, 2013, 10:19 PM
Quote
And I remember He and Arantor getting in deep in conversation over things, but like I mentioned, I feel he felt he was being Missile'd into others ideas and or directions.
Oh, we got into a huge conversation. The problem is what he wants to do is viable - right up until the point where other people actually want to use it or write extensions for things. If a theme has total control (as opposed to reasonable control), no-one can ever write an addon without having to write it uniquely for each theme. Which pretty much kills writing addons. Or writing themes for that matter.

For a personal exploration, that's fine. But for a system that is intended for general use, it simply isn't practical. Whether you like that fact or not is pretty much irrelevant, that's the reality of it.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Oracle on March 4th, 2013, 10:20 PM
Oh right each to their own I guess...The fact is you listened and acted which is all one could expect. I'll let you get on with more pressing matters.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Maxx on March 4th, 2013, 10:27 PM
Quote from Arantor on March 4th, 2013, 10:19 PM
Quote
And I remember He and Arantor getting in deep in conversation over things, but like I mentioned, I feel he felt he was being Missile'd into others ideas and or directions.
Oh, we got into a huge conversation. The problem is what he wants to do is viable - right up until the point where other people actually want to use it or write extensions for things. If a theme has total control (as opposed to reasonable control), no-one can ever write an addon without having to write it uniquely for each theme. Which pretty much kills writing addons. Or writing themes for that matter.

For a personal exploration, that's fine. But for a system that is intended for general use, it simply isn't practical. Whether you like that fact or not is pretty much irrelevant, that's the reality of it.
I'm not in any way disagreeing with you! and you know ay more than hope to know about this. Just seeing what I saw and liked, not going either way in the technical end of things. :)

Edit as a matter of fact, ones needs to bend with the ideas to get things working right and that can not be my way or Highway. And there were things he was totally against ( I felt) but something has got to give. I agree!

regards,
maxx
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Nao on March 5th, 2013, 09:33 AM
Maxx, when I say his ideas were fresh, I mean that he doesn't care about the stylistic separation between blog and forum themes. His implementations were classical and logical. Just have a look at my blog (http://nao.noisen.com), it was built with that SMF style between 2005 and 2009, and is close to what I want to do in Wedge.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Maxx on March 5th, 2013, 03:24 PM
Yes +1 totally agreed, and that site is very nice to say the least, :) and I think I may be able to make HTML5 templates like that site, but putting all together PHP -SMF) is another story. Was another great thing about Bloc's work..

But I also agree with Pete that, He had is ways; Kinda Like myself, I'm working with responsive stuff and You guys are working with Flex Stuff, I don't believe the he was too fond of jQuery either, but like Oracle mentioned to each his own, and I'm not one to say, for, I don't know that much except what I see being used day by day> and JQueary is very pop att. And I'm trying to learn what I can.

For what he was doing I could not find anything that compared to it, in the line Themes and the way they work, and he did make some plug-ins that work with SMF... let me say that about that!

I have all of his latest stuff to the pub, And I have Customized many of his themes and offer them out, and Did custom jobs for his members. I did not try to say his work was not fresh, it was, just a fresh outlook on things here and there, I feel he was just getting tired of it all lol!

I could be wrong!

regards,
Maxx

Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Maxx on March 5th, 2013, 05:22 PM
How about something like this?

regards,
maxx
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Nao on March 5th, 2013, 08:50 PM
What for..?
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: kimikelku on March 5th, 2013, 08:57 PM
Maxx that example that you show here is it coded or its just worked in photoshop (or whatever program you use to edit)?
I formated my pc but i had an ideia, and i made something in photoshop, but my knowledge in coding are pretty low so if you could check it out to see if its possible to implement it in the future?
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Maxx on March 5th, 2013, 09:27 PM
@ both, this is just an example of a lay out I drew up in a HTML/WYIWJG then Editor, using HTML5 and CSS3 and as a responsive layout.
This will need to be transformed to the SMF theme to work, can also be made to work with Word Press, and other projects. Just a Template and all things can be changed... so this just a shell.

You can Create this with PS if you like, and I love Graphics, don't get me wrong, but today the coding with tiny images, can replace allot of them. Layout like this can be done also with the Drawplus 4 and 5, I have 4 and it creates nice 3d and victors and page drawings, logos and many other thing to go by or guide you through you process, Drawplus is very cheap compared to PS, I have the CS3 and use it, but find DP4 easier to work with. and they come with get this,  great manuals and stock photo CD.

Sorry I'm get this way off topic!

regards,
maxx
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Kindred on March 8th, 2013, 01:55 PM
Quote from Arantor on March 4th, 2013, 04:51 PM
As far as I know, no action was ever taken.
Actually, we used DCMA and shut them down two years ago... apparently they came back.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Nao on March 8th, 2013, 02:47 PM
Oooh, 'nice of them'... :-/
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Maxx on March 8th, 2013, 03:50 PM
Some countries think they a untouchable, but the US, UK, And other countries are getting together on this stuff, I have seen in the past site that has offered priate version, of Vboard, themes, as well as software and tunes and stuff, but even with their off shore servers, they are getting them closed down! ( they are less and less, or at least hiding!

But for the little, they just need to wait till the big guys get them>! No money lawyers here!
How ever there are ways to report them, or post them!

Small pirate LOL!

regards,
Maxx
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Suki on March 9th, 2013, 05:09 AM
Actually is not like they think they are untouchable, as painful as it is to me, Latin America is way behind on copyrights and software license.  Spirate guys didn't even knew they were doing something illegal.

They are still in illegal ground since their latest version still uses SMF 1.1.x version, their site is using 2.0 but the actual script is still based on 1.1.x.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Arantor on March 9th, 2013, 05:38 AM
Even if they are using 2.0 themselves, their copyright in the footer is actually wrong.

The thing is... they didn't know they were doing something illegal, were served a legal notice, attempted to be closed down - and they came back without fixing the problem! To me that crosses the line of 'didn't know we were doing something wrong' to 'we know we're doing something wrong but are going to do it anyway'.
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Suki on March 9th, 2013, 02:09 PM
Oh yes, the "I didn't know" excuse was a one time valid coupon ;)
Title: Re: Spirate
Post by: Maxx on March 9th, 2013, 02:58 PM
For me if something is already free or open source, why should one decide to try cover up and or  claim the fame of someone's work. that's just not cool,,, hell  I've customized them in way that were almost completely redone and did not even take credit for the work, I did on them, just left the author's name there! others know and I know who did the custom work. But it could not have been done if not for the original author or designer!

Even paid CMS and Forums systems and Accessories, you need to let the copy alone unless you get documented permission, and that may cost a penny or three.

passing the good word of the designers, is the very least one can do to support them!

regards,
Maxx