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[IMPORTANT!] READ THIS before posting programs in here!


Nekone

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I'll be brief. Due to the constant and ever-increasing threat of viruses and other malicious entities (ransomware comes to mind, especially), we have decided to set new ground rules for this forum regarding the sharing and posting of programs.

 

These rules are extremely important and zero-tolerance - no exceptions will be made for new posts going forward.

 

The rules are as follows:

  1. All programs you want to share with the community must be open-source. This means the entire source code to the program must be made public, free-of-charge. No closed-source or proprietary/paid programs will be accepted.
  2. If the program is intended to and/or can run on Windows, then the source code repository you use (such as GitHub or similar) must include a release download to the actual program, contained within a ZIP file or similar compressed archive format. If it's Linux-only, ensure you have a source code release download available in a tarball-type format (like *.tar.gz and some such). DO NOT DIRECT-LINK EXECUTABLES (.exe) FILES ANYWHERE! LINK THE SOURCE CODE PAGE INSTEAD!
  3. Regarding the above: Do not host files anywhere that isn't trusted. Filesharing hosts are NOT considered trusted. You must host on a source code repository service such as GitHub or similar.
  4. FOR WINDOWS PROGRAMS: You MUST include BOTH a CRC32 *AND* an MD5 hash for the .exe file itself with your post, and these hashes MUST match those of the .exe file contained within the release download archive from the source code repository.

 

If any of these rules are violated, then at the very least the post is likely to be removed and the user who posted it may very possibly be warned.

 

We are taking this stance to better protect our users from potentially malicious programs. We appreciate your cooperation. If you have any suggestions or concerns, please feel free to post here.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just curious I have a few questions surrounding this, what considers linking software? for example if I link a reddit or other forum like page that may also contain a software download is this a violation of the rules? (this is a question both if the intention is to direct the user to download a program and if not and its coincidental that software links also reside on the linked page) also are we still allowed to recommend and reference the use of software that doesn't meet the conditions above if we cannot directly link it? I can give a few examples if need be. Should also note furthering the first questions can I in anyway give the destination or how to find software that does not meet the above criteria on this forum?

 

Also is linking an official page i.e the company who made the software considered reputable?

E: @IkarosBD 

Edited by Ryutai
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you mean every program? or just programs a certain person creates and promotes in here?

 

can a program be mentioned without linking it? ( though i can see this might be even more dangerous for some people:P)

 

also are programs from filehippo/ softpedia/ majorgeeks  or from other reputable sites considered safe?

 

if it applies on every program, tbh they are usually some MBs small, so virustotal seems the most convenient and safe way without limitations.

Edited by sfaxt
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On 1/24/2018 at 6:11 AM, Ryutai said:

Just curious I have a few questions surrounding this, what considers linking software? for example if I link a reddit or other forum like page that may also contain a software download is this a violation of the rules? (this is a question both if the intention is to direct the user to download a program and if not and its coincidental that software links also reside on the linked page)

@Ryutai this is sort of a gray area, I realize. In most cases it's probably OK, but do realize the whole "trusted site" thing is still going to come into play here. If the source code for a piece of software isn't available, we might draw exceptions if you link to the company's website who made the program in question, or if a link is found on, say, Reddit, we might draw an exception if it came with a report from an online scanner. You could for example include a report from VirusTotal showing a completely clean file. I've not yet made any determination on whether to actually include that language. The key thing we're trying to avoid is directly linking the download links.  Very good question, thank you.

 

On 1/24/2018 at 6:11 AM, Ryutai said:

also are we still allowed to recommend and reference the use of software that doesn't meet the conditions above if we cannot directly link it? I can give a few examples if need be. Should also note furthering the first questions can I in anyway give the destination or how to find software that does not meet the above criteria on this forum?

 

Also is linking an official page i.e the company who made the software considered reputable?

E: @IkarosBD 

@Ryutai I'll probably expand upon that in a later revision, but the idea I'm probably going to go with is if we know the program you're recommending/referencing + we know the company/people who made it + we know the site you can OFFICIALLY get it from, then we'll ease the restrictions for it. It'll probably be a case-by-case thing if we do that. Remember these rules were more geared towards members who choose to write their own programs, than just software downloads in general.

 

On 1/24/2018 at 7:03 AM, sfaxt said:

you mean every program? or just programs a certain person creates and promotes in here?

 

can a program be mentioned without linking it? ( though i can see this might be even more dangerous for some people:P)

 

also are programs from filehippo/ softpedia/ majorgeeks  or from other reputable sites considered safe?

 

if it applies on every program, tbh they are usually some MBs small, so virustotal seems the most convenient and safe way without limitations.

 

@sfaxt the rules are more geared towards programs made by members here, but in general we'd prefer software be available as open-source anyway regardless of who made it. As for sites like Filehippo, Softpedia, Majorgeeks...I could say these would be acceptable so long as the software in question is actually linked there by the company who made it - as in, their "official" download host is one of those types of sites - but otherwise if just directly linked there, not allowed. And yes, I might be willing to add an exclusion for those programs that have a 100% clean VirusTotal report attached. Thanks for the question.

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