WARNING Before you buy Social Engine!!

Hi All,

Social Engine looks like a nice script to me.
A problem is the insane high price.
Pricing starts with $250 for a "nude" basic script.
If you want essential plugins (blog, video, music, etc.) the total costs are $540 per license.

Before i buy a license i want to ensure that im able after for example 6 or 8 months, if i want to sell my license, that its allowed.
So i contact the Social Engine staff, and this is their reply:

Hi there,

Thanks for your interest in SocialEngine!
No, you may not sell a license of SocialEngine. If you want to sell your SE-powered site, the buyer must simply purchase a new license ($250 US). No re-installation would be necessary.

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Best Regards,
Alex Benzer
SocialEngine.net


How ridiculous can it be???
I buy a license, and after several months (or even years) i want to sell my OWN license, but the Social Engine staff doesnt allow that.
Thats the behave of moneyhunters.
When i buy third party plugins the total costs are over $1000!!!
For me this seems its not worth at all to take that risk.

I prefer Handshakes instead. (see my signature)

Handshakes and PHPFox does allow license transfers (of course, its your OWN license you can do with it whatever you want, what the hack!!).
The Social Engine staff make a big mistake with this for sure.

Youre warned, if someone try to sell his Social Engine license to you, its NOT allowed!!!

 

I growed up in the world of hacking,warez and cracking.. These things seems a joke to me

 

Yeah i known the rules.
They not allow you to transfer the license to other people to prevent their business loss
If they allow it,they will suffer a huge economy loss

 

Its just moneyhunting.
There is no other social/dating network script that doesnt allow it.
Its ridiculous, specially because we talk about a huge amount.

Also stupid is the basic plugins.
You buy the script for $250, but then you still have nothing.


Photo Albums Plugin ($40)
This plugin gives your users their own personal photo albums. These albums can be configured to store photos, videos, or any other file types you choose to allow. Users can interact by commenting on each others photos and viewing their friends' recent updates.

Blogs Plugin ($40)
This plugin gives each of your users their own personal blog. This is a great way to encourage content generation and personal expression. Blogs are also an excellent way to improve the search engine visibility of your social network.

Groups Plugin ($40)
This plugin lets your users create their own groups. These groups encourage interactivity between users based on mutual interests and characteristics. Users can become leaders, create private groups, invite members, browse each other's memberships, and much more.

Events Plugin ($40)
This plugin lets your users create events. Each user is given their own personal calendar with which they can plan events and invite other users to join. When users receive invitations to events, they can specify an RSVP. Each event has its own main page where users can post comments and interact.

Chat Plugin ($30)
This plugin installs a live chatroom on your social network. Adding chat is a great way to encourage users to interact and create new connections with one another.

Classifieds Plugin ($40)
This plugin allows your users to post classified listings. As the admin, you create the categories (like "For Sale", "Jobs", "Personals", etc.) and your users can post relevant listings. Your users will also be able to search for other listings via a "browse marketplace" area, and each users' listings will appear on their profile.

Polls Plugin ($30)
This plugin allows your users to create and share polls. This adds another fun and useful activity to your social network. Your users will also be able to search for polls via a "browse polls" area, and each users' own polls will appear on their profile and recent activity feed.

Music Plugin ($30)
This plugin allows your users to upload music, create a playlist, and show a skinnable Flash music player on their profile. This is a great way to encourage profile customization and personal expression on your social network.

Professional Installation Service ($30)
Let us install SocialEngine on your server. Installations are usually completed within 12-48 hours. Note that installation instructions are included with the software if you prefer to do it yourself.


As you see, simple photoalbums, blogs, etc.
These are BASIC things of a social/dating script and should be integrated STANDARD.
Now they try to catch anyone with "the script license cost $250".
Its so stupid.
PHPFox and Handshakes (see my signature) are complete scripts when you buy them (with or without plugins).
Plus they allow license transfers.

 

wow, that's highway robbery. There really needs to be an open source social CMS to get companies like that off of their high horse. I wish Boonex would step up their pace.

 

They wrote the software, they write the rules.

If you want to make your own rules, write your own software. Or buy something else. ;-)

 

What a useless reply
Youre bored today???

 

Yes it is...
But i hear many people complain Boonex for many bugs in their script.
Boonex looks nice as well, but i heard their multimediaserver (needed for videochats etc.) is down many times, because all people use that server.
If Boonex wasnt that buggy, i should pay just $99 for it
I email Boonex ask them to implement a payment system, they charged me $500 AUS!!
Just to make a bridge from Dolphin to that payment system

 

Social Engine is very good software with very little bugs, great support etc. It is completely no match for Boonex which is very primitive and buggy; it looks great until you *really* try to use it or make a site with it.

As I do agree you should be able to *transfer* your license, 540$ is not that high for quality. Not all programmers work for nothing and deliver total crap. Good programmers cost > $80/hour and deliver solidly architected software instead of that half-baked Boonex stuff. And yes I used all of them including Ning, PHPfox, some high brow J2EE stuff (going for > $20k/cpu!), Boonex , SE and more. If you want quality , you pay; if you want crap, read DP

 

Well, i am willing to pay $1000 for Social Engine (and some third party mods included in that price), but i want to be able to sell that stuff when i want (after 3 months of course, due to fraudulent people).
The risk to lose $1000 is too big in this case.

Its strange that you cant sell a license that you OWN actually.
Its your license, but you may not sell it.
Its weird!

 

Yeah I agree. It should be plainly obvious that this is the case from the start. And if not the license is yours and you should be able to sell it, give it away, whatever.

 

I use Boonex Dolphin and it you are not use to rolling up your sleeves and doing some php and mods then you might want to try something else.

I've created several Dolphin sites and have had good success with it. It isn't the only social engine script I've used but it's the one that works for me.

I've got a personal project that helps to clean up the bugs. There are definitely fewer bugs than before but then again every script has bugs. The latest version of Dolphin has several updates and is getting better and better.

 

The best post I've seen today. I completely 100% agree with you sockmoney! If you don't like the software's price, buy something less reliable. Remember, you want something good, you pay high for it!

 

I haven't exactly heard rave reviews about Socialengine..... that was back when I was looking for social networking software, about a year ago.

 

I am looking to upgrade a site I have that runs bloghoster script. I stumbled upon social engine and thought wow, then realised it's the same company that created bloghoster, then abandoned it and sold it off in the end. Makes me wonder if they will do the same again?

 

use http://www.ELGG.ORG

Its FREE

 

I agree too. Beside if you no programming skills how the heck are you going to run such a big site anyways.

 

I've been using the Boonex Dolphin Script for a while now. It's not 100% perfect, but what script is. It is a little pricey if you purchase all the extras and 3rd party modifications. If you just want to remove the Boonex Ads then you can become a contributor and save yourself a lot of money. It's not for everyone but I really like it.

 

not really. I tend to agree with him. Their software, their rules.

Btw such licenses are not unusual. Try to send a Windows OEM license

 

Oh Pitagora.
Thats the guy who sold a phpfox license, but communication with you is really terrible slow.