I hate to post this, but too many people are (or may be) affected, so this whole thing has to go public.
Account of AndrewP (aka Aramis) has just been suspended until Monday. On Monday we're pulling all "points" from that account.
Additionally, I have to say that in the beginning of June AndreyP has been dismissed as a BoonEx employee.
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Here's why:
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1. Dismissal from BoonEx. We have grown unhappy with quality of code and programming approach of AndreyP and gradually removed him from developing any significant parts of Dolphin. The largest part of planned 7.1 refactoring consists of removing all modules and code produced by AndreyP (i.e. blogs, ads, nav-menu, uploaders, and some others). The last few months of his work in BoonEx only included quick bug-fixes of his modules, while we were waiting until we could work on 7.1. The last "drop" was the #2...
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2. Suspension of Aramis account. In the beginning of June we have received a report suggesting that one of the Aramis' mods was using large pieces of another Unity member's product. Unfortunately, we verified this report as true. AndreyP has been fired immediately and his Aramis account was suspended. He received the following statement on June 2nd:
======================================================
Andrew Boon
Director
BoonEx Pty Ltd
Community Software Experts
http://www.boonex.com
======================================================
Since that day, AndrewP created a new account and replied with a promise to only sell products based on his own code.
3. Suspension of AndrewP account. Today, I have come across a new product submitted by AndrewP - a "chatroulette clone", which was advertised as his own, but descriptions, screenshots and obviously the product itself were copied from http://www.camchatscript.com/. I have huge respect to people creating their own products and have zero tolerance to those using them without permission. AndrewP explained this as an "integration", but it's not how it was presented. At first I have suspended his account permanently, but after discussion with AndrewP and his new promises decided that we will go with a softer penalty again, for the last one time.
The main reason for softening the penalty, however, is that there are many Unity Members that use his products and rely on their support. And this is also the reason for making this case public. Buyer discretion strongly advised.
I hope that this would serve as a good lesson for both AndrewP and anyone who may think about selling products based on on illegal use of copyrighted materials here on Unity. I also hope that AndrewP would continue supporting his customers and providing Dolphin extensions without breaking rules ever again, but I may not advice that anyone should rely on it, so be careful.
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Sorry for posting this not-so-positive piece on Friday, but I really had to. We build BoonEx as a "different" company, a better company. We make mistakes and sometimes fail to deliver what our customer expect, but we always try hard and always stick to our core values, one of which is honesty. So, I decided that we should neither cover it up, nor just warn him and "let it slide".
A very relevant quote: And I thought about that and I decided that Apple can't afford to change its core values and simply let it slide. (Steve Jobs, at AllThingsDigital).
Please tell me that his 'Group Scheduler' module and 'Group Albums' module do no fall into any undesirable categories. I had a little bit of input on those as far as what features were necessary. In a PM, he mentioned that he was interested in developing a mod that integrated a chat roulette clone. I tried to talk him out of wasting his time on it.... that type of system is famous for really seedy users, and will turn any site it's used on, into a sleazy porn site. I guess he see more
I can believe this happen to AndrewP or Aramis he is my favorite developer here on Boonex like Deano
I thought for sure he would know better...more than anyone else on here.
Sometimes ones who work on the team or with the company are ones you need to pay closer attention to cause some feel it's ok to break the rules.
It's good to see that EVERYONE is being rewarded/punished fairly based on their actions.
It's a shame to hear it but greatful to know that there are no favorites and i think that was proven.
Thanks see more
AndrewP, please look positive into the future, I trust you, so please keep up the positive work!
We all will get over it and and you definitive need to get a second chance!
Peace, Love & Understanding. Trust & Respect comes within!
Thanks Andrew Boon, such issues need to be known to all of us!
Appreciate your honest admission that at least 1 developer has been designing mods based on members' requests instead of building them into the Dolphin core. It has renewed my faith in your vision and administration.
Many wonderful features, like allowing for recurring payments, were lost from D6 to D7, and these need to be reincorporated. Numerous members have posted their frustrations to no avail, wondering if anyone was listening. Other features are sorely needed. It seems see more
Thanks AndrewP for your work.
now if it is matter of boonex politics, or how boonex works i cant say anything.
I just want to ask :
if someone like AndrewP just want to sale his mods why he cant ?
to still a piece of code or using it better to say is normal happens everywhere and always,
I have seen this happening with Andrew mods too.
Boonex did not copied one line of code from anywhere.??? Not even by googling for anything?? If yes that is strange.....
And even if did copy somebody else's code, even if we were dishonest, that wouldn't change anything in this situation.
@dddolphin: There's a difference between utilizing properly licensed code (e.g., GPL, CC, PD, etc.) and stealing code from others without their permission.
I wish Andrey good luck and hope we wouldn't have to raise this subject ever again.
@ Andrew Boon .... I will agree that AndrewP's product descriptions don't always credit the Open Source code that he integrates, but I also know that English is not his primary language. Perhaps it's not an intent to deceive, rather a language see more
I hear a lot of positive feedback about the way Andrey supports his products, and that's why he's still allowed to stay.
this is sad news indeed, however, this is also not something that is really news to the members of Unity. There have been others who reported the same and were left ignored. I am speaking of the whole ordeal here, the bad coding practices, the perusing trac and developing mods to sell in the market rather than fix the issue in the core of the application. There are others doing the same, and I think a full and complete inventory of the entire development staff would produce others who are see more
Your post is a little confusing thought. It says he was suspended and is going with a lesser penalty now. Is that what I understand? see more
And yes, he's now unsuspended, because we agreed with him that he would have his points removed and this post would be published instead of permanent suspension.
Regarding the conflict of interest with Boonex employee's selling paid for mods, I and others have raised this concern before. It is obvious to some of us that D7 is missing some core features, some that were in D6 such as recurring billing and CCBill.
AndrewP crossed the line by neglecting his duties as a Boonex see more
As pointed out before by some members, Boonex staff members sell mods instead of working at the core problems. For those who cannot afford to buy them all, the script will never run as it should.
I'm writing this again because I stripped off the script to the basic modules because the majority of see more
I would try to get some stable developers to release constant updates towards Dolphin products, As annabel stated "Version 7.0.3 is still only at 50% of its development ... will it ever arrive at 100% ? Since months we don't see improvements see more
i have some shady coders on my team , but in the end they make me money so i keep on board. i rather have them working with me then against me. especially if they see more
I have covered this once, and warned him. Second time, I suspended him permanently, but he asked to stay and this post is a compromise.
Everyone takes code in some form of fasion or makes a copy of something that is already popular these things happen!
I have also taken alook at the website that he took the code from "http://www.camchatscript.com" did you know that these guy's took code from other sources? Open source apps then made it their own.
I would post the source i got this from however i will keep it private for the well being of their company.
Best Regards,
Lee
Work at a bank and put some stolen money in your pay check and see what happens... same concept here.
Sure AndrewP a.k.a aramis might be a great guy but what he did was wrong plain and simple. So i say to you thefetishsocial see more
The world of today is a very wary place.
If anything goes wrong it's legal, legal, legal all the way. People should just accept the fact and get on with life haha :)
I will still stand by my point though.
Best Regards,
Lee
@DosDawg
I agree with you DosDawg that this should have been handled internally not a public flogging and how legal is this to put this information on a public forum that anyone can and does read. Its not my place to comment on what happened. I have been working with Andrey this year on projects and I have always found him to be a good man and consistent with the support he has always given myself.
@Houstonlively
Yes the language barrier see more
I am not suggesting anyone to brake friendship with Andrey or anything like that. He's certainly good to many members here, but we have to do the right thing here.
We do not "allow" anyone get away with breaking rules. We may not notice it, or may be unable to verify, or else, but if we do know, we would react.
I also agree with DosDawg.
It is NOT DONE to publish real names in a public forum or blog. Why do we use nicknames anyway ? It should have been enough to mention his nickname and this matter should have been handled privately.
Imagine every business publishing the names of their sacked employees see more
IL JETTE AUX CHIENS ARAMIS !
Il publie son vrai nom ( Google... ) et soutient des allégations graves qui ternissent sa réputation et LUI INTERDIT TOUTE TRIBUNE CONTRADICTOIRE en suspendant son compte !!!
Ce lynchage sent aussi mauvais que les chemises brunes des pires régimes totalitaires : (((((((
7 notes dans la musique,
26 lettres dans l'alphabet (le mien..),
3 couleurs see more
If I didn't notice this product early, I could have received a notice from the "camchatscript" holding BoonEx responsible.
open source - has a definition, the last application that was expressed as being stolen, chatroulette actually provides an API, this kinda see more
Politically correct statements about the situation would be the right way if it wasn't for the second time and if it wasn't chosen by Andrey as an alternative to a permanent suspension.
he help me a lot like other developers I hope to see hem back who care wat he dit people do stuff for reason
but that's not my problem or any one problem the thing is is a good developer and he help me a lot never ignored my pm etc like other developers or agent
they ignored my pm all the times
If they would have had communications with our global customers, see more
AndreyP profile is now Active again, points taken, reviews still there. I hope that this situation would only teach Andrey to be more honest in his choices.
Yes, I had only 1 alternative, or public explanation post or nothing. I choose first. Yes, the current story kamchatstsript played a bad joke to me. This was integration of paid product. But, someone`s just ask about this, same as about vBulletin, IPB, Osticket etc. Now I can confirm that don`t going to do this anymore. Also can confirm that all currently public my products not break any laws and rules. So don`t worry about see more
you must think that there is always the possibility ,
if 1-2-3 good coders go away they can create a parallel market ,
that it will be out of control of boonex and this is the worst for my opinion
The law is very strict about employees and how their information is passed around the internet etc....
You announced his dismissal over the internet this could do lots of damage, i would suggest thinking next time before you do this again. You could end up with more problems than good.
If you would like me to, i could post you a massive document over email that proves this.
Best Regards,
Lee
Read this:
by Andrew Boon
We still keep it anonymous, using only the information he posted in his Unity profile. We have to inform about association of BoonEx and that profile and many thought that he was still a BoonEx employee. This post is his own choice anyway.
There is nothing against the law about it. He agreed to have the information posted.
Welcome Back Andrew!
i care for the results only, is my site ok ? does it works ok ? i care,
the rest is loss of time and philosophic conversation so please,
dont ask me if i am with thiefs or police ;)
For me time and results only count
if you want to play detectives and if you create a game mod you are welcome i will buy it
(even if it is copy of Mafia :) )
I did not see anyone mention this on what you have posted. Have you ever heard of praising in public and punishing in private? Simply blocking the account and firing him would have sufficed. All of us are interested in your finished product. What happens internally is none of our business. No matter what this guy did, I feel bad for him now. You have disgraced the guy in front of all his peers.
Yes, he got caught using someones code. You hear every day that the big corporations see more
What did you guys do to the coders who straight ripped Boonex customers off? This was the normal discussion in Expertzzz. I have never bought anything from Aramis and have never dealt with him. But, I did hear a lot of good things about the guy. What happened with all of the idiots that straight up robbed a lot of your users? One was the knucklehead that sold the YouTube video mod. Someone like me who had bought it, paid the guy to install it, and then nothing.
Here is another see more