Posted by Quizikl_tech on June 6, 2010, at 15:07:43
A recent New York Times report on this site says Dr. Robert Hsiung "developed his own elegant message-board software and founded Psycho-Babble in 1998. The FAQ for this site states otherwise.
Under the heading "Where can I get the scripts for this?" the FAQ states "The original WWWBoard scripts were written in Perl by Matt Wright and are available for free at Matt's Script Archive. Other additions were adapted from WWWBoard Add-Ons and JavaScript Tip of the Week. Other changes I've made myself."
Matt's WWWBoard contains the following license statement: "COPYRIGHT NOTICE:Copyright 1995 - 2002 Matthew M. Wright All Rights Reserved.
WWWBoard may be used and modified free of charge by anyone so long as this copyright notice and the comments above remain intact. By using this code you agree to indemnify Matthew M. Wright from any liability that might arise from its use.
Selling the code for this program without prior written consent is expressly forbidden. In other words, please ask first before you try and make money off of my program.
Obtain permission before redistributing this software over the Internet or in any other medium. In all cases copyright and header must remain intact. "The NYTimes indicates the software is an "elegant" software - a term that conveys a genera meaning among technical circles, where elegance is considered a brief, direct and effective solution for a technical requirement. However Matt's WWWBoard states that rather bluntly, in reference to security, "WWWBoard doesn't have the tightest security."
In fact, use of Matt's WWWBoard on this site has been a factor in some security issues over the years. Was user information exposed as a result of using a solution some might not agree is an elegant solution for handling personal information in discussions of personal medical concerns?
How did the New York Times reach the conclusion that a site apparently driven by Matts WWWBoard is otherwise driven by software Dr. Hsuing developed before launching the site in 1998?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18fob-Medium-t.html
poster:Quizikl_tech
thread:950134
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20100321/msgs/950134.html