Important Information Regarding Widget Laboratory

[Athena]

This morning we removed WidgetLaboratory, a third party application developer, from the Ning Platform for violating Ning’s Terms of Service. WidgetLaboratory provided independently developed applications that could be added to a social network on the Ning Platform by a Network Creator. While we try to be as transparent as possible, it’s our long standing policy not to comment on specific cases where we remove networks or third party developers from the Ning Platform so we will not be providing any additional details publicly.

Third party widgets and applications are entirely separate from Ning and we strongly encourage Network Creators and members to use judgment and caution when working with external companies because we cannot be responsible for them nor guarantee that they will continue to abide by our Terms of Service and therefore be available. Additionally, we have a set of guidelines Network Creators and members should use when considering adding features to their networks provided by people other than Ning.

Please funnel all help requests or questions through the Ning Help Center as we will not troubleshoot issues related to WidgetLaboratory here on Developer.

Update: We have a bit more written about this topic on Network Creators from Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

[cpln90805]

You have got to be kidding me...those were great apps. Well guess we are just out $$$$$.

[Greg Russo]

I used Widget Laboratory for a lot of great features. Is Ning possibly considering developing any of them on their own?

I am also using Scripts4Ning currently. Is there any immediate danger of this happennig to them as well? With their deployment of a point system, we could have some real liabilities if they suddenly disappear without notice. We're using points to incentivize activity, and are rolling out a prize program too as a reward. I can only imagine what would happen if that suddenly disappeared.

[Brother Richard]

I have spent hundreds of dollars and several hours developing my site. Widget Laboratory offered several wonderful features, none of which Ning provides. The fact that this was done without warning to them, or anyone else is inexcusable. I have nearly 4000 members who now have many of their favorite features and information is now lost.

Because of the great products that they offered, I have resisted the recommendations of many of my members to leave the Ning Network altogether. Unless, their items or restored or Ning provides any replacements, I may be forced to do so.

Ning offers NO chat features, NO easy way to make drop down tabs, NO easy way to add new pages, etc.

[Jincey]

Fine if you want to remove a 3rd party app developer, but can you at least provide an alternate for the widgets? The users on my site really loved WhoIM and Advanced Member Search- both great products from Widget Lab.

The members on my site are really going to miss the ability to easily find each other via Advanced Member Search, but more than that- it will be very hard for them to accept that they will no longer be able to IM each other.

[Bill Peabody]

You have got to be kidding me!!

We began our premium subscription with NING and Widget Laboratory based on the widgets we can get for ning that allowed us to customize the "site". It was a choice to buy over build.

We were set to Beta next week. We have 10's if not 100's of hours in to this effort.

I guess it is time to re-evaluate our choice.

[Rob Hunter]

When I first read the policy that Ning does not comment on the removal of networks, I got right behind the logic that there's no reason to unnecessarily out someone on the forums, and that's not really a discussion you'd like to have in public. Generally, these wouldn't be matters of public interest, as no one really needs to know about most of the sites taken down.

That being said, it does seem like some details on this would be helpful for the community. As a Network Creator, my concerns primarily revolve around the safety of my network; what did they do to violate the Terms of Service? Did Ning properly warn them, or rather, would Ning warn me if I was on the wrong side of the line, so that I could fix whatever was wrong before my network is removed?

I was mostly unfamiliar with WidgetLaboratory, so maybe what they were doing wrong was obvious - and maybe Ning did everything they could to help them fix whatever it was that got them booted. But I think that we need to hear about that - because we all invest a lot in Ning to risk having it taken down without warning.

[The Business Shrink]

None of the apps we were using violated the terms of service. Why should WE have to suffer?? We're out a lot of money for things that were NOT in violation. You just screwed over a LOT of networks and putting us in a spot and putting yourself in a VERY bad light. How do you just take down a service WITHOUT notice that affects so many people. And you know it does! Poor judgment on your part. At the VERY LEAST, give us some time to come up with alternative resources or design work. You just left us out there to dry. Up until now, I thought this platform would be awesome. I have 4 companies I've designed sites for over here and you've just screwed up what I've been working on for the past 2 months in one stupid swoop. Thanks!

[The Business Shrink]

Good work?? They just caused massive headaches for hundreds, if not thousands of people! Not to mention the numerous custom pages that were built using the WL widget MediaNow.

[archibot]

I honestly feel that you just stumbled into this discussion and have absolutely no understanding of WL products or who they even are (or were...)
Sincerely,
Mark

[doone]

It was great work! What is the matter with numerous custom pages that were built using WL's Medianow? You are blaming them for having an outstanding feature?

[The Business Shrink]

My "good work??" comment was addressed to Wizard saying that Ning was doing a great job. NOT to WL. I know what I'm talking about, thanks, Archibot. Ning's discussion string put it in the wrong spot.

[The Business Shrink]

WL has their own blog post about this. You can make up your own mind. I think Ning just screwed over a lot of people, including WL:
http://widgetlaboratory.blogspot.com/2008/08/ning-has-unilaterally-...