I think Lincoln can settle this issue with his client offline by tagging the DB credentials with a price if he is not ready to give it out.

lincolnpix:



The contract not only addresses the copyright issue, but makes it extremely clear who has which type of rights to what. It boils down to this:

You (the client) retain copyright to content you provide to me for use on the web site (text, images, graphics, logos, etc.)

I retain copyright to the overall web design (which I define as layout, color palette, font selection, etc.) and to the underlying HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, and any other code.

I had an unfortunate situation a few years ago when a client stole my design and code before paying me. It was partly my fault because
1) I didn't have a written contract in place,
2) He was savvy enough to know how to grab the source code.


I have legal rights to my work product. As long as i made it clear to the clients how that works.

Yes you have rights to your work product but really not to the extent of extorting money from your client and withholding access to those areas he should normally have access to.

Fortunately, this is a lesson for everybody to sideways read through agreements and to bed wary of developers.

ghettodreamz:


I want to believe he was being paid to work on the project ground-up, which means it wasn't agreed upon for him to deliver the project as a service (meaning, client subscribe to using the service, with monthly/annual payment). If he had developed the application by himself before his client had approached him for the same, it's a different thing. That way, he can sell the developed app to them at whatever agreeable fee between them; and as such he has the right to withdraw or terminate such service if the same client failed to respect the agreement between them or defaults.

An e-commerce app is a DB-driven software application, and without the DB, the website is useless. For an e-comm web app, DB is as important as the mitochondria which is the 'powerhouse' of the cell.

Thanks

ghettodreamz:


I want to believe he was being paid to work on the project ground-up, which means it wasn't agreed upon for him to deliver the project as a service (meaning, client subscribe to using the service, with monthly/annual payment). If he had developed the application by himself before his client had approached him for the same, it's a different thing. That way, he can sell the developed app to them at whatever agreeable fee between them; and as such he has the right to withdraw or terminate such service if the same client failed to respect the agreement between them or defaults.

An e-commerce app is a DB-driven software application, and without the DB, the website is useless. For an e-comm web app, DB is as important as the mitochondria which is the 'powerhouse' of the cell.

DB of every website is important but I said what I said because the guy is now trying to make it look like he is trying told his client to Ransome.

Crieff:


Yes you have rights to your work product but really not to the extent of extorting money from your client and withholding access to those areas he should normally have access to.

Fortunately, this is a lesson for everybody to sideways read through agreements and to bed wary of developers.

Hi,
i'm not extorting a kobo from the client, please try to be on point. I'M NOT ASKING FOR ANY SORT OF PAYMENT

olyivy:

DB of every website is important but I said what I said because the guy is now trying to make it look like he is trying told his client to Ransome.

No ransome...issue on ground... i'm not giving him access to the DB.. SIMPLE!

Well,
I've done my best by reacting quickly on this issue facing negative word of mouth, shown empathy, communicated in a friendly tone, not getting into a fight, explained my own side of the story, keeping the conversation open.
I've dedicated a couple of hours to respond to comments, i've also supplied the contract stipulated for all to see.

So, with due respects, need to move on with my job, thanks all for sharing your time, sure i've learnt something new from this experience.

Cheers & Ciao

Here is my advice.

The database developer has legitimate fears and wants to protect his/her biz. while the clients needs to have full information to the database table.
The developer must allow the client access to the database by allowing the download of the database via CSV export that can be accessible via excel sheets or a format that can be viewed by the clients.
The downloadable section should be pass-worded by the developer to allow limited access to the database ( ile only the database ) . it should be read or export only and should be without the codes.

That is what i do to my clients to achieve a win win situation
Cheers

prince3009:
For a second, when i saw this topic on FP, i thought the OP was referring to me until i clicked on the thread to realize that it wasn't me cos i and a client i developed a website for is undergoing the same problem right now just that my client is a woman.

She happens to be the wife of a friend who said she wanted a website and we reached some terms, she paid and i got to work but while i was on it, wahala started...

1. She started making outrageous demands like wanting to have a chat interface on the website (we never talked about that when before i started o) which means extra work for me...but due to the cordial relationship i had with her husband, i obliged.

2. I was making use of Wordpress in developing her website and each time i use a theme, she would complain she did not want it and i would have to change only for her to complain about the color which i would change and then she would complain about something else again. ( i ended up using about 6 different themes in the end)

3. Finally after 3 torturing months, i finished the site complete with a forum using Simple Machines (the type that powers Nairaland) and everything was working perfectly well until she started making demands for the admin Username and Password. I as a developer do not under any circumstances give those credentials to the client because of professional reasons so i decided to just give her the Wordpress Super Admin access instead though i created an account on Wordpress which allowed her to post articles as the owner but she was not contented with it.

Giving her the Super Admin for the site was my greatest undoing because just days later, she defaced the site, the logo which was neatly positioned by the left corner became bloated and covered one-third of the website and the worst...THE FORUM DISAPPEARED!

She kept calling me and pestering me to do something about it and by then, i had gotten a contract that saw me developing like 4 other major websites and that became a problem because i had less time to rectify the mess she made on the site. I tried in my spare time to fix it but discovered that the whole plugins were no longer functional and whenever i tried to deploy any script, it gave me a Database Error with Depreciated PHP values.

I had to kill the Wordpress on her account and start the job all over again and came up with something better but left the site with the usual "Hello Dolly" post and told her to kindly start reposting the posts that were previously there and she went beserk insisting i should give her the C-Panel rights to the website.

(Note: the domain and hosting expired last month and i had to renew it for her just to calm her down) but she still insisted that she wants the C-Panel which i made her understand that i could not release it to her because her domain is not the only one being hosted on my account (i make use of DreamHost) but she would hear none of it.

So when she sent me an SMS just this morning, i politely reminded her that i renewed the hosting for her out of my benevolence but if she insists she wants the C Panel Admin rights, then she should pay me first for the renewal before i move the hosting to another company and furnish her with the credentials.


So you see OP, don't blame the developer because these are the kind of problems we encounter. I wonder why you want the access to the database while you are not a developer yourself.

You guys are really getting me confused. Did she pay for hosting initially and did you order for a new hosting account for her or you just created an addon domain cos i don't understand how a hosting account will have other websites in it.

lincolnpix:


Thanks

Stop thanking me. Be a gentle man and the truly passionate and professional you acclaimed yourself to be. Try and sort out the differences between you and your client. Be a pragmatic professional.

DualCore1:
There is www.freelancer.com
You set your terms, you only get to release the funds to the developer after you get results and the same Nigerian "developers" (more like web extortioners, CMS installers and plugin/themes downloaders) playing god here are there too but they hardly get any jobs awarded to them because they really cannot deal with the world of a professional web developer.

GOD WILL ABUNDANTLY BLESS YOU FOR YOUR COMMENT AND THAT LINK!

THE OP IS EXPERIENCING WHAT MAJORITY OF US HAVE EXPERIENCED IN THE HAND OF OUR COPY AND PASTE WEB DEVELOPERS! ASIDE FROM NOT ONLY STEALING YOUR BUSINESS MODEL, THEY WILL HOLD YOU TO RANSOM AND MILK YOUR BALLS TILL YOU GET FRUSTRATED AND ABANDON THE PROJECT!

I HAVE LOTS OF GENUINE BUSINESSES TO BUILD ONLINE BUT I HAVE DECIDED TO WAIT TILL AM VERY GOOD AT CODING MYSELF CAUSE I DON'T WANT TO BE A SLAVE TO ANY OTHER STVPID SO-CALLED NAIJA DEVELOPERS!

once more, thanks for that link

Sorry

Hi Nairalanders, can anybody provides the URL of this so called N150Million eCommerce Website?

Perhaps www.buytecnophones.com

lincolnpix:


Thought i was engaging with matured guys...

The truth be said, u really need to act mature. Have gone through all the comments and replies and I rule out you not been fair to subset. U plied on his ignorance jst to achieve your aim. If subset who met u online can trust u to the level of giving u a job, then I see no reason why you should not reciprocate the gesture. The aim of every bussiness man is to grow and make profit but u can actually make profit without growing but remember, what keeps u in business is the satisfaction of the customers.

There's an important lesson here to both parties. To the client, before you accept any contract, read it comprehensively! To the developer, you my friend are one greedy person! Your lack of professionalism will keep you from making it big in your profession. If you keep adding clauses which clearly preys on the ignorance of unsuspecting clients, you'll eventually build yourself a market database of negative feedback. I also develop websites for clients and have also been a client myself to private web development companies and individual freelancers, one thing that I make sure is that I control the Cpanel, I use a web host which gives dual administrative rights to both the developer and the host. If a developer is not willing to work on such terms then we reach an agreement that all work be done on the developer's servers and files released after payment. If you are going to be big in this industry, you've got to be flexible. Stop treating your clients as criminals otherwise you risk going bankrupt!

herald9:


For the fact that he doubted the dude's credibility made him open the thread in the first place. Should he wait to confirm his fears before he takes the necessary action?

Ok. Cool. What's your advice for him then?

No No No, don't sound like this, it's not professional. Some clients can be really nasty. This is not a case of fraud just simple case of communication gap, misunderstanding or bridge of agreement.

Op is yet to tell us all the story, its either Op is trying to play a smart one on the developer. I have worked as a graphics artist, a UI developer and now a backend developer. I can tell you that some clients are very nasty especially the ones that are quick to report, they knw nothing about IT but they'll claim to have an idea.

Sunset, you have a good case against the developer. I have read the contract and will agree that you made a mistake by appending your signature without contractual exegesis of the contract, but you can have a claim in court because:

It was not in the contract that you are to pay him monthly.
Asking you to pay him monthly and your compliance have rendered the previous contract, invalid.
He should have asked for a new contract with the monthly payment to render it valid.
You cannot change the terms of an existing contract.

I will advise that you get a good lawyer and make a claim.
People should not be allowed to prey on the naivety of others.


Good day all.

I paid a developer to build and host a website for my company. The website was hosted with the developers name, which was the initial agreement, after which, he will transfer the account to my name.

Right now he is the only person that has full access to the hosting and has refused to give me full access to the account. His reasons, he said, were because of the database and codes he used in building the website.
This, I don't have any interest in 'cos I'm not a developer. Even If I'm one, I have made the complete payment for the website.

The access I have to the account only enables me to pay the hosting fee from my end.

This is a summary of everything that happened before we got to this point.

I brought this to Nairaland because, I contacted the developer here and he is a Nairalander. I haven't seen him before though. He is a Nigerian but doesn't reside in Nigeria.

Pls advice.

[/quote]

lincolnpix:


DualCore1 why offending and why the aggressive tone? don't get emotional on this.
i've explained with facts my own side of the story. I've nothing to hide and can supply tons of Skype chats and e-mail correspondence to further defend my case. Kindly go through the contract link embedded in my response to the OP.
I respond in a positive light, even when it's a bad situation.

Get it right, i'm not the type of dev u're referring to here.

Thanks for your time.

YOU ARE A BLOODY THIEF AND FUKING MOFO! YOU ARE HAPPY THAT YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE GUYS IGNORANCE AND YOU ARE FEELING FLY! IMBECILES LIKE YOU IS ACTUALLY THE REASON WHY MANY OF YOU ARE JOBLESS BECAUSE YOU DISCOURAGE LOTS OF NIGERIANS FROM TAKING THEIR BUSINESSES ONLINE!

IN A COUNTRY OF AT LEAST 500 MILLION BUSINESS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ONLINE WE ONLY HAVE 5% OF THAT FIGURE ONLINE BC VERY FEW ARE WILLING TO TAKE THE SHIT BEING DISHED OUT BY STVPID A55HOLES LIKE YOU - COPY&PASTE WANABE DEVELOPER - LOOKING FOR WHOM TO MILK DRY!! AND RESULT IS: ALL THE NAIJA DEVELOPERS WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE AMONG THE RICH GUYS OF TODAY ARE ALL GOING HUNGRY!

CAN YOU IMAGINE YOUR ARROGANCE!

IF AM THIS OP, I WILL QUIETLY SEND YOUR DETAIL TO THE POLICE IN THE COUNTRY YOU ARE RESIDING AND HINT THEM THAT YOU ARE POSSIBLY A SCAMMER AND THAT THEY SHOULD WATCH YOU. THEY ARE NOT LIKE NIGERIAN POLICE SO U WILL BE UNDER SURVEILLANCE FOR A WHOLE YEAR AND AM CONFIDENT THAT YOU WILL BE CAUGHT DOING SOMETHING WRONG CAUSE YOU ARE CRIMINALLY MINDED!

BLOODY 1D1OT!

nwaanambra1:


YOU ARE A BLOODY THIEF AND FUKING MOFO! YOU ARE HAPPY THAT YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE GUYS IGNORANCE AND YOU ARE FEELING FLY! IMBECILES LIKE YOU IS ACTUALLY THE REASON WHY MANY OF YOU ARE JOBLESS BECAUSE YOU DISCOURAGE LOTS OF NIGERIANS FROM TAKING THEIR BUSINESSES ONLINE!

IN A COUNTRY OF AT LEAST 500 MILLION BUSINESS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ONLINE WE ONLY HAVE 5% OF THAT FIGURE ONLINE BC VERY FEW ARE WILLING TO TAKE THE SHIT BEING DISHED OUT BY STVPID A55HOLES LIKE YOU - COPY&PASTE WANABE DEVELOPER - LOOKING FOR WHOM TO MILK DRY!! AND RESULT IS: ALL THE NAIJA DEVELOPERS WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE AMONG THE RICH GUYS OF TODAY ARE ALL GOING HUNGRY!

CAN YOU IMAGINE YOUR ARROGANCE!

IF AM THIS OP, I WILL QUIETLY SEND YOUR DETAIL TO THE POLICE IN THE COUNTRY YOU ARE RESIDING AND HINT THEM THAT YOU ARE POSSIBLY A SCAMMER AND THAT THEY SHOULD WATCH YOU. THEY ARE NOT LIKE NIGERIAN POLICE SO U WILL BE UNDER SURVEILLANCE FOR A WHOLE YEAR AND AM CONFIDENT THAT YOU WILL BE CAUGHT DOING SOMETHING WRONG CAUSE YOU ARE CRIMINALLY MINDED!

BLOODY 1D1OT!

Ciao nwaanambra1,
oooooh, calm down.
Just read what you've just posted, are u sick?

Afam4eva:

You guys are really getting me confused. Did she pay for hosting initially and did you order for a new hosting account for her or you just created an addon domain cos i don't understand how a hosting account will have other websites in it.

When a client meets me for a job, i charge for both Domain Registration and Hosting. I have an account with Dreamhost which allows me to purchase a domain name of my choice except .com.ng TLDs and then host the domain there on my account depending on my choice. if i want to host under DH, i simply add the domain i just purchased to host. If i want to host elsewhere, i have the option host in let's say Syskay for instance but must point the nameservers to Dreamhost since i purchased the domain name under Dreamhost.

But i preferably purchase and host under Dreamhost because they give everything from Bandwidth, Space, Emails, Sub Domains etc UNLIMITED compared to some other foreign and Nigerian hosting companies.

So lets say i log in to my dreamhost account on panel.dreamhost.com and put in my username and password...

you will see that i have like www.abcd.com, www.efgh.org, www.ijkl.net and etc. all under that account which were purchased there and is all hosted there. But in a case where you see www.mnop.com.ng in my dreamhost account, then it means i purchased that domain under let's say www.syskay.com or www.registeram.ng but hosted it under dreamhost and pointing dreamhost's nameserver (ns1.dreamhost.com and ns2.dreamhost.com etc) to the domain under Syskay or Registeram's panel

I hope this explanation helps.

lincolnpix:



Ciao nwaanambra1,
oooooh, calm down.
Just read what you've just posted, are u sick?

NO SIR - YOU ARE ACTUALLY THE ONE WHO IS SICK AND BLOATED WITH GREED!

lincolnpix:


emmatok ,
Cpanel is the most popular, but there are other free alternatives or home made solutions too.

So what you gave your client is not the standard Cpanel hosting but the free alternative.

but you said this.

My answer to the OP is very simple..
I'm not giving him access to the Hosting cpanel because i don't want him to copy my codes, the site is not a ready made script, i designed and developed from scratch and this aspect was previously addressed in the contract.

Bros, the job you collected is a contract without retainer-ship, every code and effort has been paid for by our client.

Website is not a standard software neither is it a licensed Oracle Database, stop telling us about your codes and Database hosted on another mans domain.

Any good hacker/Programmer can RIP the site, and get all the information out.

Abeg settle with Client .

I greatly thank everyone that has dropped one or more comments on this thread.

I will simply go ahead and reply Lincolnpix's first post.

lincolnpix:
Morning all,

Hi, Paschal, i hear you.

thanks to all contribuitors on this thread @adewasco2k, @Dmayor7, @Afam4evCraigston, @spikesC

Relationships with clients are always tricky, neither of you are mind readers, so what you come up with and what the client sees in their head may not always be the same thing. And then comes the feedback.

I’m a very trusting person with a huge heart, and over the years I’ve been stiffed out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Not to mention all the time and energy I lost beating myself up for being naive or trying to get people to just honour their agreements and pay for what they received.

What exactly are you insinuating? Trusting you was the biggest mistake I made in 2014. You used my faith against me and my company. The idea and structure you initially developed for the website's homepage was a total flop, what the website runs on now was my idea...so where exactly did you put in the energy and time you are talking about? Despite all the delay the project suffered because of you, we still paid you, your complete fee without a single hesitation/delay.

lincolnpix:

No matter what you sell or what industry you’re in, you’re going to experience negative word of mouth (this post is my first experience) it just happens.
Would try to use this negative word of mouth as an opportunity.

Subset is talking complete and utter nonsense.

In this case, there is no single good deed you did. All you worked for on this project was paid for in a timely manner.
Probably this is the first time, someone knows his right enough to expose all the crappy structures you've setup up to extort money from innocent individuals.
Most developers strife for long term relationship with clients,but what you are interested in is the money. This was the first project I gave you...Look at how you messed yourself up.

lincolnpix:

My answer to the OP is very simple..
I'm not giving him access to the Hosting cpanel because i dont want him to copy my codes, the site is not a ready made script, i designed and developed from scratch and this aspect was previously addressed in the contract.

Guys, to explain my own side of the story attached is a screenshot of the copyright section on the contract with with Paschal's company.


Full contract link: http://d.pr/f/15hf1

I might not know much about legal matters, but your terms were;

"You(the client) also own text content, photographs and other data you provided, unless someone else owns them. We(developer) own the XHTML markup, CSS and other code and we(the developer) license it to you for use on only this project"

By my understanding of simple English, you implied that, you own the codes but you've given us authority to use the codes just for this project.
I'm wondering why I don't have access to the code that I have been licensed to use and how it extents to denying me access to the database /codes.

Nevertheless, I hope you do remember when you violated one of our agreement the moment we stopped paying you the maintenance fee. You went ahead to insert your company's link on the website. Maintenance was never part of the agreement, however we both agreed that, you shouldn't put any link on the website. Yet you went ahead to put the link without my consent all because you have control of the cpanel.
All the emails I sent to you that period, you never replied any, because you knew what you did was wrong.

You said I should be honest? But you blindly avoided everything I said about you.
kindly point out the ones that were wrong. You think you are smart enough?

lincolnpix:

My one cent Nairalanders.... I ask that everyone reserve judgement until all the facts have come to light. No need ruining a someone's name by jumping to conclusions.

Paschal, try once in your life to be honest.

Cheers,
Lincoln Gbenga Olagbaju (armed with integrity and passion)

You are already afraid of your reputation.

you said "all the facts". I'm waiting to read the remaining facts...

Because we are not done yet.

Wow what a case. This post got me reading for an hour or so.

To be honest both sides are faulty, this was clearly misunderstanding of agreement and it is something that should have been settled amicably.

Over the years has a Developer and working with different companies and clients. To be honest I really don't put source codes clause to my work.

But I do let the client know if there is such clause in my contract and I make sure they understand it clearly.

So to both parties involved my advice is for you to correct the issue offline. Let both parties be free.

Its something that could be settled so do so and let's know if you did.
and these will serve as lessons to people who find it hard to read a contract.

Thanks

Mr developer habi wetin you call your self?
Pls try and settle this whole thing for peace sake.
Beside this issue at hand could prevent you at the long run from getting good business from members of this forum, if you fails to come to terms with your client.

Am sure this job has being putting food on your table? Remember also that client should be treated like king.

subset:
I greatly thank everyone that has dropped one or more comments on this thread.

I will simply go ahead and reply Lincolnpix's first post.



What exactly are you insinuating? Trusting you was the biggest mistake I made in 2014. You used my faith against me and my company. The idea and structure you initially developed for the website's homepage was a total flop, what the website runs on now was my idea...so where exactly did you put in the energy and time you are talking about? Despite all the delay the project suffered because of you, we still paid you, your complete fee without a single hesitation/delay.



In this case, there is no single good deed you did. All you worked for on this project was paid for in a timely manner.
Probably this is the first time, someone knows his right enough to expose all the crappy structures you've setup up to extort money from innocent individuals.
Most developers strife for long term relationship with clients,but what you are interested in is the money. This was the first project I gave you...Look at how you messed yourself up.




I might not know much about legal matters, but your terms were;

"You(the client) also own text content, photographs and other data you provided, unless someone else owns them. We(developer) own the XHTML markup, CSS and other code and we(the developer) license it to you for use on only this project"

By my understanding of simple English, you implied that, you own the codes but you've given us authority to use the codes just for this project.
I'm wondering why I don't have access to the code that I have been licensed to use and how it extents to denying me access to the database /codes.

Nevertheless, I hope you do remember when you violated one of our agreement the moment we stopped paying you the maintenance fee. You went ahead to insert your company's link on the website. Maintenance was never part of the agreement, however we both agreed that, you shouldn't put any link on the website. Yet you went ahead to put the link without my consent all because you have control of the cpanel.
All the emails I sent to you that period, you never replied any, because you knew what you did was wrong.

You said I should be honest? But you blindly avoided everything I said about you.
kindly point out the ones that were wrong. You think you are smart enough?



You are already afraid of your reputation.

you said "all the facts". I'm waiting to read the remaining facts...

Because we are not done yet.

Perfect,
Question... didn't your uncle (Boss) slapped you and sent you home for some days because youd lied to have payed the domain renewal?

@ lincon..., if your worry is your IP (code et al) , you agreement should have been a non-disclosure at most.

tell you client they cant share, divulge, reveal, whatever grammar fits and let em have access to cpanel

imaging the creator of the SW u used in creating the ecomerce site had a condition like "once its executable or once u upload site, you loose access to your native code and can only get it for a fee!" why ? cos they intend to protect their programming paradigm.

please look at it from d bizness perspective of the client.

i however do not blame you for wanting to protect your "particular codes"

BekBek:
Wow what a case. This post got me reading for an hour or so.

To be honest both sides are faulty, this was clearly misunderstanding of agreement and it is something that should have been settled amicably.

Over the years has a Developer and working with different companies and clients. To be honest I really don't put source codes clause to my work.

But I do let the client know if there is such clause in my contract and I make sure they understand it clearly.

So to both parties involved my advice is for you to correct the issue offline. Let both parties be free.

Its something that could be settled so do so and let's know if you did.
and these will serve as lessons to people who find it hard to read a contract.

Thanks

Telling a client about the code/s you use on his site is totally unnecessary.
He want the site done and your deliver, hes paid you to use your code and everything.

If you find another person using your code(if you can prove it) go after that person, not your client.

lincolnpix:


DualCore1 why offending and why the aggressive tone? don't get emotional on this.
i've explained with facts my own side of the story. I've nothing to hide and can supply tons of Skype chats and e-mail correspondence to further defend my case. Kindly go through the contract link embedded in my response to the OP.
I respond in a positive light, even when it's a bad situation.

Get it right, i'm not the type of dev u're referring to here.

Thanks for your time.

These codes that you are worshiping and haurding can be developed by a 6yrs old in some countries. I can bet that you are using cms and open source database app. Real hardcore coding is born out of passion and not money. Now you have emphasized on this code and the clients now know the codes are your lifeline they will study it. But if you gave out the c panel access without the database access...they would not have suspected that your code can download dollars from US federal Reserve. Foolishness is an English word.

lincolnpix:


Perfect,
Question... didn't your uncle (Boss) slapped you and sent you home for some days because youd lied to have payed the domain renewal?

Firstly, nothing of such ever happened.
All the payments I make online is linked to my boss credit card. He gets alert of every transaction I make with his card, so there is no reason to lie about that.
My boss is currently viewing this thread as a guest.

I'm sure you will find it had to believe that I'm a student working part time. So if at all I was not available at any moment, that will be because of my school activities - which is very rare.

Secondly,
I don't understand how this question is related to all the questions I asked or are you simply creating another diversion?
Where are the remaining facts you said you will share?

You've not made any attempt to defend yourself of all the "claim allegations" and you even denied of being my friend...I don't know what to use to describe the kind of person you are Lincoln Gbenga.

Did you violate our agreement or not after we stopped paying you the maintenance fee?

By licensed? What do you mean?

Rumin8:
Licolnpix, quite clearly you seem intent on running yourself out of business with this I WILL SEIZE DATABASE OR CPANEL mindset. You do not have the right to withhold access to the database of a website you built for a client. Absolutely not. Building a website for a client is not the same as running software as a service.

Besides, what 'codes' are in the database? Databases hold no codes. They hold data. You instead write codes to insert, modify, delete or pull data from a database. Codes are not stored in databases. You can tell that to your clients, not in a forum where there are other web professionals.

If your codes are so important to you, build a platform where the client can have access to the complete database records, along with the means to modify and export the data. With a highly functional CMS, no client will have the need to access phpMyAdmin on a remote server. Unless he or she wants to modify database structure (which surely would mean having a qualified staff).

I have been in the business of website development since 1999 and have had no need to restrict clients from accessing CPanel, regardless of scope or complexity of work done. I have worked with clients in the manufacturing, health, sports and engineering industries, with very demanding projects and have not, nor will ever restrict CPanel access.

I do not want to go into the request, or demand for monthly retainers as that is another unprofessional conduct that underscores your lack of experience, expertise and wisdom but I'd leave it to your client to decide how to progress on that front.

In closing, if majority of the posters here, including web design professionals have insisted that your action is wrong, forget the contract grammar, then it is. If you choose not to deal with your client on a friendly and helpful basis, on a basis that shows goodwill, regardless of your need for money, then you should not be in the business altogether.

It is quite interesting to know that you would have handled the situation differently but you can not decide for others how to run their business, there is signed contract which I regard as best practice.


You will agree with me that if the client doesn't come in agreement with the contract terms he wouldn't have signed the contract. You can not blame the developer for any misconduct or been unprofessional .

(clears throat)...let me introduce myself

First degree: Electrical/Electronics and Computer Engineering
PgD: Strategic Business Information technology
Msc: computing with IT management
Certification: Oracle certified Associate Java Programmer

Before I contribute in anyway @wethebest,@wallie and @zeking have spoken justly ( with is appropriate in this case)

Now...It is evident that subset does no much about E-commerce which also has to do with using websites to carry out transaction, what you did wrong was not to have consulted an expert to tell you ALL that is entailed, if you didnt have money for consultancy(which is my most of us run to NL in the first place), you should have asked of help by posting in the programming section of NL, and you would have gotten 70percent of the work done, you would have known what Website for e-commerce entails, and all knowing NLers would be happy to assit you.what you did was to look for a contractor on NL, and what you are experiencing now you would have experienced it with some other person

Now, weather contract or no contract this is the entitlement and responsibility of parties involved

Linonpix
Develop and deploy website according to customer specification and ensure the safety and predictability of this code if he has sence
Charge a little stipend for maintenance, means that the client can shout on him if the website is non responsive, so he wont hesitate/ decline refreshing things
Must sell source code, remember i said must(the client must ensure this is possible initially)

The client subset
Pay for webhosting and increase payment when higher storage and bandwidth is need to cope with increase in sales
(that is as much as I can remember for now..oh wait)
Own all customer details contained in the website

Subnet lincolnpix is not as bad as you make him to be...Let me give you a scenario, what if the ownership of your domain name is ascribed to him, it means you have to re-register a new company name(what a night mare)...people literally register domain names that the think will sell and wait for people to come and buy it off from them

lincolnpix gave you some right which is a good gesture from him and now you are asking for ascess to the database(I dont know if you are a programmer), the content is yours even without a written contract!!!!!!!!!!!, I advice you to tell him what you what to do...see the stages involved in software develpment are
1 finding out of requirement - means the programmer finds out what the client wants
2 the design - the programmer designs stuff, flowcharting and algorithim conception
3 implementation, translate client requirement and specification to codes(
4 .verification(Which you didnt do- the client verifies that software is designed to specification and can scale appropriately, lets leave scaling for now
5. maintenance - involving paying fees for website up keep


Also you are not clear about that you want the website to do, you dont need any access what so ever since you are not a web developer
, further more little tweaking can be ofset by maintenance fees

we are a family in NL and miss understanding should be settled amicable, unless the person is a scammer.

To help you I also want you to get to know the NL with moniker @avosoft, I was thinking he has the person you are talking about, men this guy is an all- rounder,hell-of-a-guy, he was ment to tweak my programme but I ended us solving by myself,his number is on his profile page, give him a call

What you should do are
1. ensure your domain name is owned and registered to you and you have sole right over it
2. use a company not an individual, (a small one for lower cost)... so your business doesn't come to an end if the person falls of the planet
3. agree on how you will be charge if you what to make addition to your website, afterall you previous you state your requirement and have been billed

Remain blessed
A Nler that has your interest at hand