My site is being shut down.

[Tristin]

Well I have been running a free online gay personals site for a while. But I am shutting it down. Now I'm not shuting it down becuase I can't afford it. It was very popular from the start and grew fast. Problem is the software I was used. I purchased the dating script from datetopia.com. I purchased this software about a year ago. Support was very bad, took days to respond. First off the software comes with a ton of bugs. The software itself is encrypted which makes it nearly impossible to fix the bugs or add new features. Basically you have to code around the bugs and some features are not useable.

The owner of this product says bugs will be fixed in the next release which you have to pay for. And what do you get but new bugs. It took me over six months to fix everything, get the layout just right, and add new features of my own. Then just 2 days ago my software completely locked up. Warning messages appeared all over my site saying "License expired, Please contact for a new License". I'm like WTF?? So after 3 days of waiting for this guy to get back to me while my users went without a working site, he sends me the new License.

The new License turns out to be the entire package encrypted. So in order to upgrade the License and get the site working I have to replace all the site files with old buggy encrypted software. Meaning all the bug fixes and changes I have made over the last 12 months would be lost and have to be coded back in line by line which would take me another 6 months. I just don't have the time or energy to start all over. :cry:

DO NOT buy this software. YOU WILL regret it for the rest of your life. Just wanted to share that with you guys. This product I found out goes under different names including Match Agency, Dating Agent, and Datetopia. Avoid at all costs.

[longboardjim]

most unfortunate! , especially being a "software-issue!

jim

[Dzinerbear]

That really bites. Thanks for warning us. Any chance you can get another script and migrate some of the data?

dzinerbear

[basschick]

i'm sorry to hear this - it really sucks

i'd definitely try and find another script, or have one written for me!

[dirtygeek]

What are you going to do with the database?

[Bec]

Sorry to hear you're having such grief over this!

Not sure if anything listed here would be a solution:

Hotscripts - Dating/Personals

[BDBionic]

Damn, that does blow. Your other sites are gone too eh?

Thanks for givin' us a heads up about those scripts, though. Will be sure to warn people about em whenever I get the chance.

[Datetopia.com]

Many of the things stated by outboy are false :

1.

So after 3 days of waiting for this guy to get back to me while my users went without a working site, he sends me the new License.

The email was sent Thursday, May 19 2005 and the new package was sent Friday May 20, the next day (not after 3 days as you stated).

2.

This product I found out goes under different names including Match Agency, Dating Agent, and Datetopia.

The statements are false again. Datetopia is not a product we sell - Datetopia is the website name :wacko: : Datetopia Dating Scripts and Matchmaking Software .
Dating Agent and Match Agency are 2 products but very different :
Match Agency BiZ is a complex matchmaking script we sell for $499 and Dating Agent BiZ is a personals scripts we sell for $139 (from the same series with the $99 Dating Agent PRO).

The Dating Agent PRO software used by that customer was very old and had a big security problem that had to be fixed – we sent the latest Dating Agent PRO package (with fixes) for FREE and also advised him to upgrade to Dating Agent BiZ or Match Agency BiZ just for the price difference if he needs better features in the future.

All packages expire automatically after about 12 months since the last upgrade (if the website is not upgraded for about 1 year). In that situation, the latest version available for that package is delivered including the latest upgrades, for FREE. That package never expires. This is covered by our End User License Agreement that each buyer must accept before purchase. Webmastes can request the FREE upgrade anytime after 6 months and the software will never expire.

On upgrade, only the protected core scripts need to be updated, not the customization files – webmasters can keep their changed templates, settings, new added scripts, database, images.

I don’t know what customizations/bugfixes did this webmaster lose as long as only the encoded scripts had to be updated (scripts protected from editing with encoding).

All data for our scripts is stored in mysql databases and can be easily imported/exported with a mysql tool like phpmyadmin.

[Tristin]

Frist you fuck me over and then you come here and call me a lier?? You know I was just gonna post this here but now I am goning to go to every webmster board on the internet and expose your buggy crappy software for what it is, total crap.

Ok, don't listen to this guy he is full of shit. Don't take my word for it, go and visit his very own product board here.. http://datetopia.com/productboard/index.php You will see that I'm not making anything up.

When I purchased that package you sent send me a buggy piece of crap. When I complained to you about the bugs you tried to sell me a upgrade. It took me months to fix everything that was wrong with that software package.

All packages expire automatically after about 12 months since the last upgrade (if the website is not upgraded for about 1 year). In that situation, the latest version available for that package is delivered including the latest upgrades, for FREE. That package never expires. This is covered by our End User License Agreement that each buyer must accept before purchase. Webmastes can request the FREE upgrade anytime after 6 months and the software will never expire.

Yes but to upgrade you have to replace ALL the scripts which turns out to be the entire site. The only files that can be kept in tack is the header and footer files. Which i'm sorry, no body puts content in their header, they put it in the body of their site, which had to be compeltly overwriten.

And this new software you sent me is exactly the same as the one you sent me when I purchased it a year ago. All the bugs restored. I would not call this a update.

Dude, you can't just argue your way out of this. All your software users feel as they got ripped off. Look on your site under Live Sites Links, they are all shut down, locked up, or bugged out. Read your own forums, people are steaming pissed. You software is a total rip off.

[Tristin]

That really bites. Thanks for warning us. Any chance you can get another script and migrate some of the data?

i don't know what I'm going to do, I'm to angry to think at the mommet.

What are you going to do with the database?

The database and site is still intact. The site however is locked up with warning messages. Like I said I don't know what I am going to do with it.

Damn, that does blow. Your other sites are gone too eh?

Yes, all my sites are currently off line. I'm getting a lot of supportive letters from my community. They are upset that my site is gone. Maybe when I clam down I can rebuild it with another script, one that don't lock up stupidly for no good reason. Or i my just try to sell the domain, I really don't know at this point.

[Lee]

Maybe when I clam down I can rebuild it with another script, one that don't lock up stupidly for no good reason. Or i my just try to sell the domain, I really don't know at this point.

id speak to allan @ auscoding.com and see if there is anything they might be able to help you with, especially as there are so many GOOD dating scripts available, it could be something as simple as converting your existing database in to a format that cn be read by another script.

As a side note, whatever you do with your database, DO NOT sell it at any price, once its sold to a third party, for all intents and purposes, that database becomes worthless to you.

Regards,

Lee

[gaybucks_chip]

I wouldn't give up. The problem should be solveable. Perhaps put up a kludgy temporary solution, such as buying a copy of VBulletin (under $200, i think) for your members to post messages and keep traffic coming temporarily.

Then, one approach might be to get together with a bunch of other licensees of the software and have an attorney send an immediate demand that the company send you unencrypted software or source, since their software is buggy and they are apparently incapable of fixing the bugs.

This would be an offer to accept source code, along with a permanent license to use it, in lieu of extensive damages for loss and damage to your business goodwill and reputation. I'm no lawyer, but you might also have a claim against the software producer for the implied warranty of merchantability (if you buy a toaster, it will make toast; if you buy a personals site script, it will give you a working personals site.)

The idea being to say "Look, your software is crap, but rather than sue you into oblivion for the sudden losses and damages I've sustained as a result of your inactivating my software and forcing me into older, nonworking versions, I will allow you to simply divorce yourself of supporting me and your crappy script if you'll give me the code so I can get it fixed elsewhere."

If you can get the source, then (assuming it's a reasonably self-documenting language or the code was decently written and documented), a good programmer should be able to figure out what's going on with it and maintain it for you. Particularly if the cost of the programmer is split among a bunch of licensees, the cost shouldn't be tremendous.

One more thing: If the data exists within MySQL, as the coder claimed in his post, you can at least export it and bring it in to some other script. You might also be able, if you have the original, non-encrypted script, to have a programmer figure out a way to bypass the expiration code long enough to look at the data and export everything through the application itself, if it was build to provide that...


Hope that helps!

Chip

[Tristin]

Well the guy is based over seas somewhere, so court is out of the question, not to mention to costly. My main problem being is I run a FREE site. What littel money I did make off partnership programs went right back in to cover hosting costs and such. I mean I make more than server costs but not the ammount to justify buying a new script or paying someone to script something for me. I mean this is allways just been a hobbie for me. I still have the database thou, so if I do decide to rebuild the site I could easily fire off a email to all my users and ivite them back.

As far as selling the database goes Lee, I wouln't do that for the simple fact that the person who buys it could easly take the emails and spam everyone. It would be a abuse of trust and just wrong on so many levels. i don't know, i'm just stressed out, I worked so hard on that site. That guy never said anything in his so called End User License Agreement about having to recode the entire site every year. Updating a license should not require starting over from square one. The fact that he don't see the fundamental problem with this is just sad.

[Soonnow]

I agree with Boyfunk. Don't give up!
- You had a good thing going, It was part of who you are!

Put up something temporary, to let your users stay in touch, like a phpBB board - free and installed in minutes!

Then let them know that you're working on reestablishing the service (NOW!)
But this time, use open software, that you can tweak or redo to fit your needs...

"Encrypted scripts" - bastards!

[AusCoding Allan]

Hi outboy,

Hit me up when you get a chance, it shouldn't be too much trouble to convert your existing database into a format recognisable by a new piece of software.

Alternatively it is possible to code a custom dating site script for you but I would suggest that it would be far simpler in the short term to utilise existing scripts that are out there and work on something customised in the long term to ensure less downtime.

If you have any questions or need an estimate my ICQ is 254248475 or alternatively email me at allan @ auscoding dot com