Hi all,

Launched a new version of the jobs aggregator, beyond a long overdue redesign, i also migrated to a new responsive framework.
The modern new design was carefully crafted by LagosLabs Web Agency - (http://www.lagoslabs.com)
We are listening to feedback and will be making ongoing tweaks.
Now is also a great time to subscribe for our blog articles.

subset:


Once again, I'm grateful to everyone that has shown interest in this thread.

@ pak, I appreciate your manner of approach on this issue.

Now Note this;

This website was developed using ExpressionEngine which is a CMS to the best of my knowledge and it comes with bunch of plugins and Addons.
That stated;
There were some instances, where I asked lincolnpix to modify certain part of this website and after working around it, his response will be " the system is configured to be that way" which means he can't change this part of the website to my taste. Now, this is a site that was built from scratch as he claimed and this is also the developer that is hammering "my codes"

That aside;

Have you ever wondered why Lincoln has chosen to ignore all my questions, more especially the point I raised about his code as stated in the agreement "licensed to use only for this project" and everyother question raised so far.

This is simply because, Lincoln knows that, all I have stated so far are facts.

Lincoln has resorted to calling names to people that does not support his claim, this is just to tell you his own definition of "integrity" and the kind of man he is.

If anything else is remaining of all this story, lincolnpix would have stated so, but he is simply a con man and does not have any point to prove himself innocent from all the allegations laid on him.

This is a link to the site: http://buytecnophones.com hosted under nexcess.net

For the records..

emmatok:


WHOIS for buytechnophones is showing-Parktel Int'l Ltd and this https:// parktelonlineDOTcom/bank-details.html

It means that Parktel Int'l Ltd owns both websites.

Infact, he doesn't even know that the domain name was registered on his boss company's name. As of today he has never asked me to change the admin email attached to that domain.

He asked via skype and i used the infos

subset:


Once again, I'm grateful to everyone that has shown interest in this thread.

@ pak, I appreciate your manner of approach on this issue.

Now Note this;

This website was developed using ExpressionEngine and this is a CMS to the best of my knowledge, which comes with bunch of plugins and Addons.
That stated;
There were some instances, where I asked lincolnpix to modify certain part of this website and after working around it, his response will be " the system is configured to be that way" which means he can't change this part of the website to my taste. Now, this is a site that was built from scratch as he claimed and this is also the developer that is hammering "my codes"

That aside;

Have you ever wondered why Lincoln has chosen to ignore all my questions, more especially the point I raised about his code what is stated in the agreement "licensed to

Phenomenon Paschal, now that you've cried foul as you can see i'm here to defend my job and stand by my words.

emmatok:
@OP is this the site parktelonlinedotcom/about-us.html

No, link: http://www.buytecnophones.com/

pak:
@ lincolnpix
Please stop antagonizing those you feel are not in your support. It's in bad taste and gives a very bad impression.

You are a businessman and even if you are perfect, there are people who would still criticise your work, It part and parcel of the deal.
Wisdom is being able to separate constructive criticism and empty ones.

Customer relations is probably 50% of your job and in this field, everybody is a potential customer

Pak, u're right, everyone has an opinion not all opinions are equal. I don't want to continue this pointless communication.The customer has been proved to be a known crackpot.

GreatSoul:
@lincolnpix

It is obvious that your arrogance is stemming from the fact that you inserted
one ambiguous clause in the signed agreement but if you know enough about
law you will know that even signed contracts can be easily overturned in a court of law
under certain circumstances which I can enumerate for you if you like.
It is clear that your intentions from onset were dishonourable. You spotted the gap
in subset's knowledge and planned to fully exploit it to your shame.

Repeatedly, @Subset has stated that monthly maintenance was not part of this signed
agreement and yet you have not refuted this even once. You have set aside the original
contract you are relying upon by not appending this act of extortion by means of a monthly
charge to the original signed contract. In other words, you no longer have a 'locus standi' to
withhold any codes. You were smart but not smart enough so hide your greed by just
handing over his code to him and moving on to something else.

Failing this, i will encourage subset to take legal action against you. He will surely win.

For those asking what is subset's biz with the codes, it is clear that having seen the extortionist
tendencies in lincolnpix, he wants to move away from him. Which biz minded person will still ask why?

@Pak - Subset only took the decision to call someone else after lincolnpix turned mercenary.
You do not wait for permission from your enemy to defend yourself

Assist him with the legal fee.

aristosoft:
There's only one thing I would say:

Science without Conscience leads to human destruction.

@lincolnpix

You ain't fair. Good Developers don't hold clients to ransom except for the fear of not being paid initial fees. What's so spectacular about your code or ERD that nobody ever wrote. If you are reasonable enough, you would be more concerned about your clients' ROI with which your bill would never be an headache cos no one starves the goose that lays the golden egg.

I don't mind spoiling P on my phone for this. The existence of your service should be your priority and not robbing ignorant minds.

Paschal, if you owe him any initial payment, please pay up cos Na your site he used learn work. 7 months no be small thing.

Let this people off the hook joor else I will show and give him access to the database since the client get cpanel access.

Mschew!!!

aristosoft the pro developer, kudos

Closedoor:
@OP, you can go after him in court and you will surely win. This lincolnpixel feels he is smart but like I have always told people I come in contact with, perfection can never be achieved.

He wants you to be scared but be a Man. In the terms of condition, number 2 he stated he owns the xhtml,css and codes and license it to you to use on this project alone. So OP this code belongs to you as long as you don't use it anywhere else. Lincolnpix is a stupid scammer who expects you to stop paying for your hosting so he can sell it to someone else. Stupid lincoln give him full access to his asset. If I were the one I will come after you, because I got igbo brothers everywhere in the world and your full name now. I hate scammers.

will be expecting u and ur brothers, olodo!

callmenow:


Ignorance is bliss. Most starter web hosting like fasthosts.co.uk come with one 'cpanel' which can hosts up to 500 sites. It appears that this Lincolnpix is a small operator. He should come clean and allow this subset to move his site to another hosts. Subset should be ready to forfeit the balance of his 'hosting plan'. To Lincolnpix, your 'contract' is unenforceable in any jurisdiction, so is unreliable. You are opening yourself to a lawsuit for recklessness. The website is bespoke (in the sense, that he commissioned you to do this for him,mor them anyway), so should not be treated as software as a service (saas), such as templates producers. Move this client to another host and move on.

We had a similar case, and the client won substantial damages as well as costs.

callmenow pseudo lawyer of NL.

callmenow:


Ignorance is bliss. Most starter web hosting like fasthosts.co.uk come with one 'cpanel' which can hosts up to 500 sites. It appears that this Lincolnpix is a small operator. He should come clean and allow this subset to move his site to another hosts. Subset should be ready to forfeit the balance of his 'hosting plan'. To Lincolnpix, your 'contract' is unenforceable in any jurisdiction, so is unreliable. You are opening yourself to a lawsuit for recklessness. The website is bespoke (in the sense, that he commissioned you to do this for him,mor them anyway), so should not be treated as software as a service (saas), such as templates producers. Move this client to another host and move on.

We had a similar case, and the client won substantial damages as well as costs.

callmenow pseudo lawyer of NL

GuiltySpark343:
(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

Thanks a lot GuiltySpark343, you've nailed it better than me.

once again..
I'M NOT ASKING FOR A PENNY, the site is fully functional since the past 13 months, no issues.
Subset has access to the Admin control of the website.
He has access to the main features of the Hosting control panel only the Database is locked.

Closedoor:



Give him full access to his site, he owns it not you. You are a scammer! He owns the code,xhtml and css as long as he doesn't use it elsewhere and he hasn't used it elsewhere so give him full access.

Closedoor,
u're not not on point, u're just barking like a dog.

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?

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?

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

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!

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

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

Imanuelle:
lincolnpix


Whatever it is you're doing, he must not pay you monthly,

And you have no right to shutdown the site because of payment, I hope you know that?

Hi Imanuelle,
sure you've went through this thread?

elohorayodele:


Hi Lincoln,
truth is you know he won't have agreed to the contract if he saw/understood those clauses, can't blame you as its a contract though

No no, contract accepted 5 months prior to site launch a year ago.

olyivy:

Mr., if you were very explicit about what you mean about who owns the codes, there's no way in the world he will agree to it.

Meanwhile, that contract still has a lot of holes that is not in your favor, its just that stress of following it through might not be worth it for OP at the end of the day.

Licensing something to somebody doesn't mean the person can't posess it.

Now you say you are only keeping the DB, is that a source code too? I thought you are concerned about people copying your codes. Why not be plain that you want to hold him Ransome.

Thanks for ur contribution, i disagree with your conclusions.

ghettodreamz:


You have a very unrepentant personality, and you make it seem as if you have done or doing the right thing. Something tells me you are nothing but an average software developer. So, why has the client paid you, if you would be confiscating all the necessary resources which were supposed to the the project's deliverable? Of what essence if them paying you?

I'm sure you are holding onto the fact that all your terms of service were spelt out in an ambiguous manner as contained in the bogus contractual agreement you lured your client to sign, whom out of sheer friendship had banked so much on your honesty, reliability and professionalism to deliver a great job upon the project's completion date, despite several schedule slips which is a failure from your own side as the project's developer.

The fact remains, you took advantage of your client's naivety and trust, which is a dent to your image as a human, how much more a professional as you'd rightly called yourself.

Hello ghettodreamz,
thanks for the kind words... infact i'm an average developer.
A question, can you read simple ABC? Go back and go through my replies.

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 my 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.


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.

Thanks, we're on the same boat.

inikamoze:
Did I see right? Is the contract sum ONE HUNDRED & FIFTY MILLION NAIRA? (N150,000,000)??

There was a typo

emmatok:


What do you mean by the bold.

Is the site a Sub-domain ?

Did you select the hosting company for the Job?

I know most hosting company will mail you the Cpanel details even before the site is fully propagated.

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

elohorayodele:
goodwill from a client can get you tens of other jobs, ethics might allow your action but always do biz with a good heart. after all he gave you the job as a friend!

Hello elohorayodele,
he's not really my friend, but i got what you mean. This is my first time experiencing such a cowardice.

emmatok:


Your are wrong, if the Database is in the Paschal CP, then everything in the Cpanel belongs to Paschal.

Hello emmatok,
The hosting company control panel section is not based on the famous Cpanel, it's an alternative.

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.

Thanks Rumin8 for the constructive words.
I disagree with the fact that some of the posters have insisted that i'm in wrong, simply because they aren't on point, check the contract and tell me what's wrong.

wethebest:
Broda, the truth is that no developer will give you access to cpanel cox he wrote those codes himself unlike just installing wordpress and the rest. he is not duping u but just protecting his hardwork except you are willing to buy the script from him. so relax and enjoy your website. you that is not a web developer, what are you doing on the database, can you write sql or mysql codes? so let the guy be.

Thank you. Really the situation is very clear, why do you need access to the DB?
I've given him access to all other sections of the Cpanel apart the Database page.

southwestngr:


WHY ARE YOU SO PAINED? on top another person matter. blame the OP not the developer abeg, WHY I GO AGREE TO WETIN I NO UNDERSTAND?

@lincolnpix this your term get as he be oh. as a professional developer you should find a way to keep your code safe from others not this method you are using. e.g developing your own framework that only you can understand, encryption, hosted css on your side e.t.c

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.

javadoctor:


if that is the case ,give him access to his database, what do you need it for? Oponu

Thought i was engaging with matured guys...