Whoa... I step away from the forum and the game for awhile and all hell breaks loose!
Honestly, I understand why HB thought this was a good idea, but at the same time, I think the change is 100% a bad idea and will HUGELY hurt the HB product. Most developers will simply not put hundreds or thousands of hours into creating their CC, plugin or even profile when someone could then change ONE line and say 'thanks to so-and-so for some of the code'... I mean really... who would?
It would be great for HB if they could get a bunch of devs to agree with it but it looks like much of the current talent is gone, packing their bags or just not putting the priority into their work that they did - after all, if they do someone could just take it and rename it and give them a 'thanks'. And when someone then 'borrows' the code from that 2nd person - who will get named as the author? If that 3rd person did their research, they would 'thank both', but honestly... how many will just name the 2nd person who did a few minor edits?
In the end, I can only see this working if HB can attract a new batch of good developers. Ones that weren't here when the old rules were in effect and accept the new ways. It's a shame too cause there appears to be a loss of many talented folks.
Just my .02 worth... feel free to ignore.