[General Topics] MikeChannon:
There is no single issue that plagues the mods and admins on XDA more than the question of how much control developers should have over their open source work that is posted to the site. This topic encompasses many questions:

- Should developers be able to moderate their own threads?

- How should moderators deal with "annoying" users? What should they do when individual developers don't think we're doing enough to control a problem?

- Should we allow donation requests? In what form?

- Should we require a developer to get permission before using another developer's work? What happens when one developer is unhappy about the use of his work by another developer?

That last one is the toughest, and it has historically caused all sort of arguments, anger, and even rage-quitting by devs-- who think we don't respect their work-- and even mods who feel like they are trying their best but are never appreciated.

What we want to do is publicly reset the discussion. For now, let's ignore the current rules of XDA (including the oft-argued-about rule 12) and try to discuss what our rules *should* be. Hopefully everyone will see that there are two very legitimate sides of this argument where reasonable people can disagree. What's worse-- each and every situation-- each accusation of kanging or code stealing or donation stealing-- is unique. Do we have the ability to investigate and police each one?

Let's start with some apologies on our end: our rules can be confusing, and they can be sometimes inconsistently applied. We are sorry for that. The only excuse we have for those failings is a) this is a difficult and confusing topic and b) we have a small army of volunteer mods—they won’t all interpret rules the same way every time. The good news about having a volunteer mod team is that there are no ulterior motives; they want to do what's right-- for the site, for the developers, and for the broader community.

But still, as the moderators discuss these issues, considering individual grievances by developers and the prospect of completely rewriting our rules, there is no clear "right" answer. We know that the developers are the lifeblood of XDA. We want to respect them and respect their work. That's not always so easy.

Here's a simple hypothetical: a user (dev 2) recompiles the ROM of an original developer (dev 1) with no changes and posts it as a new thread on XDA. Dev 1 complains.

Argument 1: Dev 2 is stealing code. What's more, we want to keep Dev 1 happy-- because he brings so much to XDA. We should remove the thread and infract Dev 2.

Argument 2: Wait a minute! This is open source code built on the backs of other open source developers over years and decades. The licenses permit all sorts of redistribution and modification. Why should XDA take down code that is *legally* used just because Dev 1 complains? This is how open source works! We want Dev 2 to grow as a developer. Maybe that starts as kanging or small tweaks but eventually turns into true original development.

Ok, so I'm not sure which side of this you came out on. But let's add a few complications.

- What if Dev 2 made some small tweaks to the code?

- What if Dev 2 made some big tweaks?

- What if Dev 2 acted as if the code was his and aggressively solicited donations?

- What if Dev 2 gave proper credit, but still solicited donations?

- What if Dev 2 posted buggy, in-process code that Dev 1 wasn't ready to release?

- What if Dev 2 changed the name of the ROM?

- What if Dev 1 has previously given verbal permission but now wants to revoke that permission?

And that's just a single set of 8 or 9 very similar circumstances. We could come up with these hypotheticals all day.

The good news is that there are all sorts of legal ways for developers to control their code, and XDA will comply with all legitimate legal notices. Because AOSP was released under the Apache Software License 2.0 (rather than a copyleft license), ROM developers often have significant leeway to restrict use of their original code through licensing. Trademarks are another legitimate way to ensure that a developer's brand is not harmed by another dev re-releasing their code. Given the complexities of the above questions, some moderators believe that following copyrights and trademarks should be our *only* rule related to this topic. These moderators want to educate developers, working with them to ensure their work is properly protected.

But the reality is that certain devs don't want to be bothered with licenses, which is a perfectly legitimate stance for people who are largely doing this work for fun and for the benefit of the community. And so problems and arguments arise constantly. The arguments are not just among devs and mods but also among mods and other mods who want to handle these complaints differently. Sometimes things get personal and public.

Our initial answer has been to create a new Developer Relations team made up of senior mods and experienced developers. This provides a consolidated place for developers to make their voices heard. The team works directly with site admins and owners to get easy-to-address concerns addressed quickly. But not all concerns are easy to address.

Ok, so let's talk. What should XDA's policy be regarding sharing of code? Our only desire is to come up with a common sense solution that respects all side and (hopefully) honors the open source ethos. We are one community, and we are in this together.

Thanks,

The XDA Mod Team