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Posted by Atikson via PM:
I can think of at least three types of affiliate, End User, Commercial and Developer.
End Users are those that simply use XOOPS as their CMS.
Commercial are those that seek to gain commercial advantage from XOOPS by perhaps selling themes, support, hosting or development expertise to the XOOPS community.
Developers are those that create modules for Xoops.
In each case a different type of affiliation can exist but the inherent principle of my suggestion is that they have to register their usage. This can be simply done by a self registering routine (I have a simple one developed for my own modules that can act as a template.) The idea is that when XOOPS is installed, unistalled or upgraded, it registers that fact with Xoops. Similarly for a module. I know from a developer point of view that I would like to know where my mods are installed so I can tailor my support site to the audience and offer, in time, appropriate modifications, enhancements and support (perhaps even on a commercial basis). From a XOOPS point of view this data could be invaluable for spotting trends and providing input into kernel and marketing development.
For Commercial user, affiliation should involve a financial transaction in favour of XOOPS and some form of accreditation, (we already have Friends of XOOPS so I guess there is no major impediment to this.) I don't see any reason why a commercial arrangement cannot exist alongside the "free to everyone" approach (Redhat Enterprise with Fedora, Smoothwall firewalls with their free and commercial products both spring to mind as good examples.)
For the Developer affiliate, affiliation could provide a registered 'tag' for their modules. For instance I use 'XBS' as a prefix for my directory and table names. This is unique to me as long as no-one else uses it but I cannot guarantee it. By registering as a Developer affiliate, I could register my tag on the basis that no-one else can use the same one. This offers the real benefit that the likelihood of someone elses's module clashing with mine is significantly reduced (you cannot police unregistered developers.)