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I see that FaLang has been unpublished from the JED for the following reason:

UR9-Violation - Licensing Restrictions

The description of this reason code is:

"This extension developer restricts the license granted in a way that is incompatible with the JED Guidelines and/or the GPL License. We recommend you review the agreement you made with the developer when purchasing this extension to ensure your rights are protected".

Does anyone know what exactly the problem is, and whether it can, or will, be fixed?

Ok, I just got a reply from the developer:

In the free version i put an encrypted link it's not allowed (i didn't know it).
I have a license key to pass to a free version to a basic or standard version , it's seem that is not allowed too.
I make yesterday a new version v1.1.4 with this 2 items solved, i'm waiting now from the 2 jed member.

So it seems like he is fixing the problem as fast as he can.
Phew!

Yes,

You're right.
I make a backlink in the free version (like other extensions) but i make it encrypted, i didn't know it was not allowed.
I remove it in the last version available v1.1.4
I remove the licence key in params too , it's seem it's not allowed too.

I know there are rules i need to follow, but i don't know why they don't tell me to change this before unpublishing the Falang extension.
If akeeba the best extension for me make something not allowed in the JED (without know it) , I think they don't have to unpublish it but write to the dev to change it quickly.

Best regards,
Stéphane

I agree, it seems a bit heavy handed to me. An email would have been a much better approach. Any JED admins care to comment?

Yes but it's like this.
It's write in the terms of joomla JED

Stéphane

while not a jed admin or editor, there are plenty of discussions and reasons on this forum why an email is not sent to developer pre-unpublishing. there is actually a topic entitled about "unpublishing without notice" or similar.
biirc has already admitted they did something against the rules, a publisher acknowledges the fact that their extension may be unpublished without notice (iirc its in the submission page) and as ignorance is no defence...

_________________
HU2HY- Poor questions = Poor answer
Un requested Help PM's will be added to the foe list and possibly just deleted
{Community.Connect Administrator }{ Showcase & Security Moderator}

to assist , at the bottom of the entry form is a box

and the link http://extensions.joomla.org/tos
Additional informations to entries

You are solely responsible for all content submitted to the Joomla! Extensions Directory. All developers must ensure that their listings are accurate and review or update their listing at least annually. We reserve the right to remove any content that we believe is out of date.
Extension listings that infringe upon one or more of the criteria listed above will not be considered for inclusion in the Joomla! Extension Directory. In such cases the Joomla! Extensions Directory team may choose but is not obligated to inform the developer as to the reason for rejection.
Rejected listings will be removed from the directory after a period of 14 days.
Inclusion in the Joomla! Extensions Directory is a privilege, not a right and is at the sole discretion of the Joomla! Extensions Directory team and Open Source Matters. Any listing can be removed at any time at the discretion of the Joomla! Extensions Directory team without notice.

_________________
HU2HY- Poor questions = Poor answer
Un requested Help PM's will be added to the foe list and possibly just deleted
{Community.Connect Administrator }{ Showcase & Security Moderator}

Yes, there are lots of similar threads about extensions unpublished due to unintentional departures from the rules. Doesn't that indicate that there is a problem here? Is it really too much to ask for an email warning before unpublishing?

while you are not the affected party here, perhaps my post above with the images helped explain the situation to you? (i am sure that i have read the items below before)
It is up to the developer to ensure they read and understand the rules
If a developer was sent a notice of "unitentional" rule breaking how long woruld YOU give them to respond and then the jed team, and then the developer and then....... etc
can you decide/clarify what is unintentional and what is intentional

the main problem is apparently that people dont read the rules, or ask when they dont understand, and those who have abused the system before have ruined it for all those who try to be in the good of the jed.
perhaps a jed editor could say how many people break the rules out of the number of listings

_________________
HU2HY- Poor questions = Poor answer
Un requested Help PM's will be added to the foe list and possibly just deleted
{Community.Connect Administrator }{ Showcase & Security Moderator}

I really think I should just save a copy of this response as it gets repeated every time someone gets upset for being unpublished, but I digress (plus the forum search is currently having issues, so maybe people can't find the information easily.) Here's how it works:

An issue is found with a listing either through a report, an odd review or through random editor extension reviews/investigations.
The listing is marked as unpublished with the corresponding error codes (which have documentation linked to them)
An email is automatically sent as soon as the listing is unpbulished that fully explains what the next steps are for the developer.
The developer then has to enter a support ticket to get the listing republished.

The whole process can take an hour or 3 weeks+ depending on how long it takes the developer to bring the listing into compliance. On the ticket support system, it clearly says the turn time that can be expected for receiving an initial response from an editor.

However, if we (the team) had to send an email to the developer to try to fix the issue prior to unpublishing and give a grace period of X days, we would have to change quite a few turn times as that would take up most of the volunteer's time. For example, listing submission review would change from 21 days to around 60 or 90 days. Review approval would change from an average of 5 days to around 3 weeks. When the directory was much smaller, we did send emails (though that was mainly because there was no automated notifications back then) and there were some team members who had their email accounts blocked for periods of time because of so many emails sent back and forth.

While this system may not be the best option that we will ever have, it's substantially better than what we had before.

As to the specific case stated above (I'm not sure if any of the previous posters on this thread are the dev or not), we do not disclose information about any listing or case.

I will say, however, that the JED Terms of Service is very clear that extensions may not include call-homes or put any additional restrictions on top of the GPL. (That includes any type of encryption.)

This is to protect the users that show good faith in download/purchasing an extension that, by a listing being in the JED, complies with Joomla's license and protects their rights to do with it as they wish. If we didn't do this, then (a guess here) most of the commercial extensions in the JED would likely be only usable on a single domain, etc as that is a business model that would be pretty popular.

_________________
~Matt Lipscomb
http://www.USAFreelancers.org
Professional Joomla! Services and Web Development based in the USA

And this is what I think has happened, some fake malicious report is made about something wrong, the editors rush and unpublish the extension, damaging the developer's business, the extension's reputation and damaging the end user's Joomla experience, and the report itself may be about non-existent issue, but because of the editor's task load, they couldn't investigate it well

I suggest that if the editor is not 100% sure that there is a violation then there should be some kind of warning or notice email to the developer, then they can unpublish the extension after the 2nd report of the same issue ?

And actually what happens when the extension is unpublished ? the developer will try to do fixes or will try to ask questions about how to fix, still many support messages will be made eating editors' time.

You could also add something like the "Editor's note", instead call it "Editor's warning" in red, and write your thoughts, and allow the developer to reply or comment, that would warn users, warn the developer, but wouldn't do big damages, and both parties can have their time to fix the issue.

_________________
Max
ChronoForms For all your Joomla forms needs, ChronoConnectivity for Data Management tasks, ChronoForums is the Joomla version of phpBB:
http://www.ChronoEngine.com

@sheva77: All reports are investigated prior to any unpublishing. We don't simply take a reporter's word for it. IF we did, competitors would start reporting each other and causing havoc.

_________________
~Matt Lipscomb
http://www.USAFreelancers.org
Professional Joomla! Services and Web Development based in the USA

Hi Matt,

Sure, but I mean that they may not be investigated carefully in all situations, because for this to happen, you may have to open many files and check thousands of lines of code in some cases, and unless this is done, some errors may occur.

So, in such cases, I suggest a warning message or a warning editor's note, until the issue is verified by multiple users, a challenge is made by the developer or until the editors have enough time to check it carefully.

_________________
Max
ChronoForms For all your Joomla forms needs, ChronoConnectivity for Data Management tasks, ChronoForums is the Joomla version of phpBB:
http://www.ChronoEngine.com

Hi,

I will reply to because we are on the Falang thread , the component unpublised.

@mandvill : you say "and as ignorance is no defence..." I'm not agree with that , people can't read all terms of service of all site. (Joomla is différent because i publish on it) But did you read , google , yahoo, live , facebook twitter, ...... Terms of service. I'm registerd to a lot of site i can't pass 3hours by day only to read TOS, I'm not a lawer too , i didn't understand everything.
The TOS change too, It's possible to be informed of notification ? The Falang component was published 6 month ago , i didn't change anything in the TOS point of views.

@mlipscomb :
1) i have see in other thread that the JED accept bad reviews that didn't follow the TOS rules. The developpers write to the JED but they make nothing for bad reviews.
2)"The whole process can take an hour or 3 weeks"
I don't know how it's can be fixed in one hours. Fist the extension is unpublished without information. I write back to have more info in less than one hours. I receive the response 1-2 days later.

Why they don't give more information of the violation ? it's less tickets in this case , the JED can save times.

With the response with the TOS violation link i receive , i dind't understand why i'm in violation. But i don't want to argue about it.
I make the change they ask for me. And now i'm waiting.

For the chronoforms component, it's a well know extension (not like Falang), there are rules to follow but there must be a little of flexibility in the rules.

Have a nice day.
Stéphane