Regarding Rainmeter.cn

[callmee]

What kind of affiliation does it have with rainmeter.net?

I read and speak Chinese fluently and I went on it and tried to registered an account yet it requries an invitation code and if you don't have an invitation code, you need to purchase it which costs 3 RMB.
Register link :http://bbs.rainmeter.cn/member.php?mod=register
(The first field 邀請碼 means invitiation code and it is mandatory, directly below the input field contains a link to purchase the invitiation code)
Exact link to purchase invitation code here: http://bbs.rainmeter.cn/misc.php?mod=buyinvitecode

There are also subforums for illegal movie and music download:

http://bbs.rainmeter.cn/forum-172-1.html
http://bbs.rainmeter.cn/forum-173-1.html

Example of illegal movie downloads:
Lust Caution: http://bbs.rainmeter.cn/thread-98491-1-1.html
Mission Impossible 4: http://bbs.rainmeter.cn/thread-82288-1-1.html

The sub forum is full of these, the above are just a few examples.

[Kaelri]

We have no formal relationship with the operators of the Chinese-language Rainmeter website. We have had contact with their administrator, and since he's always acted in good faith in his dealings with us, we were willing to endorse his site in an unofficial way and link to it from our homepage. But we don't support or supervise their operations in any way.

One of the conditions for that endorsement was that registration on their forum be made free and open to all users, which it was at the time. If that is no longer the case, we will review the situation and take action if we feel it is necessary. Evidence of illegal activity will also be taken into account.

Thanks very much for bringing this to our attention.

[callmee]

We have no formal relationship with the operators of the Chinese-language Rainmeter website. We have had contact with their administrator, joky, and since he's always acted in good faith in his dealings with us, we were willing to endorse his site in an unofficial way and link to it from our homepage. But we don't support or supervise their operations in any way.

One of the conditions for that endorsement was that registration on their forum be made free and open to all users, which it was at the time. If that is no longer the case, we will review the situation and take action if we feel it is necessary. Evidence of illegal activity will also be taken into account.

Thanks very much for bringing this to our attention.

I also took a look into the Founder of rainmeter.cn weibo(Chinese twitter):
http://weibo.com/311488805
Found on stick thread about "how to get invitation code":
http://bbs.rainmeter.cn/thread-95463-1-1.html

He seems a bit "shady" it contains retweets of buying and selling gadgets in a illegal way. ie gadgets that transported from Hong Kong to china without paying taxes (Very commonly done in China)

And I had a look and his "tweets":
剛有個倒騰域名的人找到我，想賣給我一個三拼的域名，開口就是1W，我很誠懇的說請找別家吧，你這域名真不值這些個錢

It means "someone tried to sell me a domain name, and asked for 10,000 RMB opening bid of a domain that is not worth it."

So my first impression is he is a domain flipper.

I am happy to be of service if there is any kind of language issue. I speak Cantonese, Mandarin and English Fluently.

I want to add that the only free way to get the invitation code for free is that the administrator and founder will issue invitation in a "irregular basis" (their words) on their weibo. So basically they are asking for followers on their weibo. And each time they releases only 5 of such invitation code.

Last releases of such code is on 13th Dec and 11th Dec and 10th Dec. So 15 invitation codes for free in 3 days.

EDIT:

Kaelri you mentioned joky, his website is linked in the footer in the rainmeter.cn front page.
His site: http://www.pcjoky.com/

His latest post is about a crack realease of photoshop cs6 and contains download links.
The thread itself: http://www.pcjoky.com/photoshop-cs6/

Of course what they do outside rainmeter is their own business, but just want to let you know a link contains in rainmeter.cn front page links to these stuff is err... you get the picture.

[jsmorley]

As Kaelri mentioned, we will certainly look into this an take appropriate action. Thanks for the report.