Why not use the "Official DC" hub list?

[Spifficus]

I easily got the "Official DC" hub list by senting a "fake" HTTP GET request to the "Official DC" hub list server neo-modus.he.net.

All I had to do was set up a packet sniffer (i.e. windump) to sniff the packets sent to and from neo-modus.he.net on port 80.

Here's a GET request that doesn't work.
----
GET /PublicHubList.config HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: DC++ v0.241
Host: neo-modus.he.net
Cache-Control: no-cache

----

Here's the GET request that DC uses and does work.
----
GET /PublicHubList.config HTTP/1.1
Accept: image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, */*
User-Agent: Microsoft URL Control - 6.00.8862
Host: www.neo-modus.com
Cache-Control: no-cache

----

Now why not just change the GET request that DC++ sends or have a radio button that sets the option to use the "Official DC" hub list instead of, or as well as, the public hub lists you enter in DC++?

Are there leagal issues? Explain to me why this simple feature has not been added?

[BSOD2600]

The reason not to use the "official dc list" is because it will only list ~500 on a download and randomly cycles through which ones you get. Its best to use other lists which have more hubs and remain consistant. Good site with good lists:
http://www.hublist.org/?p=hublists

[Spifficus]

Thx. Good answer.
Screw the DC hub list in that case

[GargoyleMT]

Now why not just change the GET request that DC++ sends or have a radio button that sets the option to use the "Official DC" hub list instead of, or as well as, the public hub lists you enter in DC++?

Are there leagal issues? Explain to me why this simple feature has not been added?

Are there technical difficulties in adding the NMDC Hub list to DC++? I never tried using its URL.

The fact that it was never added might have to do, also, with the fact that DC++ is a competitor, in many senses, to the Neo-Modus client. Making DC++ depend on the charity of Neo-Modus (in serving public hub lists) would be pretty awkward... don't you think so?

[Nazo]

Well, it looks like it only checks the user agent string. If one did want to check from that server, it seems as if all they'd really have to do is fake the user agent. That's no different from the way Opera can be set to pretend to be one of several Mozilla versions or IE 6 and Netscape can pretend to be IE as well all because some really stupid sites are made to target specific browsers rather than just following the standards. Though none of those sites will refuse a connection based on which browser you use, it's clear that they could if only it weren't for the fact that then they'd be flooded with complaints from users as well as the makers of the browsers. (Of course, sites like MSN.com just compensate by sending you really screwed up non-standard stuff on purpose so that you are discouraged from using the other browser set to admit what it really is.) Probably if such a thing were to be used it would be preferable to be able to enter whatever the user wanted into that user-agent string but default to whatever the current NMDC string is so that when NM makes a newer version with a different string and decides to deny access to those of a certain age, the user could just make a few minor changes and get back in.

[GargoyleMT]

Well, it looks like it only checks the user agent string.

That's useful to know, thank you.