2015-03-19, 15:51
Well, that of course sounds reasonable. It surely would avoid a lot of the questions as to a release date if a developer would only come up with a posting when his project is at least in alpha or beta stage. And it also would surely help if the developer would - maby in the beginning of his thread - inform about the current status ("on hold" or "updates comming soon" etc.). But I still would not like to see a rule stating that it MUST be like that. Everybody should feel free to just post any idea he has or - like butchabay currently does - inform regulary about the current status of his skin "equilibrium" even though clearly stating that he will not release something until he thinks the skin has reached a certain stage of maturity. In return he has to live with the fact that people every once in a while may beg him for releasing something soon. But I think he can live with that. However, I have to admit that I prefer if developers are sharing their work as early as possible and not "teasing" people all too long - like e.g. jurialmunkey himself did it with Arctic Zephyr. But that should be up to the developer. All I am saying is: Developers may do as they like but users may also ask what they like as long as they both stay friendly. Nobody needs to raise a question, but nobady shall be prohibited from doing so - and nobody shall be obligated to reply, if he does not want to, but may live with the speculations that may result from not answering. Finally It is all only a matter of politeness and respect.
As to the problem of the current status of a project: Sometimes I find myself looking for an answer to a certain problem or looking for a tool, addon, plugin etc. as a solution to something. And then - after spending hours of searching - I maybe find something that seem to match the requirements or at least looks interesting for trying. But the tread maybe has 100 pages of postings (mostly regarding aspects that are of no concern to me or have already been solved again three pages further on). The last post suddenly ends in 2013 and I find myself stuck with the question: Is this project still alive? Does the lates release still work in my current environment (e.g. Helix instead of Gotham)? Does it make sense to install and begin using it, or does it mean riding a dead horse? Therefore I need to be allowed to raise questions in this respect. And if not the developer, then hopefully someone else may provide an answer to me or I will - of course - start speculating that its dead.
I think you may rightfully ban all posts that are trying to push the developer to do or release something - especially if it is done in a rude way. But a polite question like "When will you come up with a release?" or "Will we see an update for Helix?" shall defenitly be allowed. Same applies to the answer to such question. And if the developer does not have the time to continue with his project or simply does not want to do it anymore, it would be best if he clearly states it in his post. And with respect to the so-called "W.I.P"-section those projects should then be moved to some other subforum (like: "work on hold" or "old versions"). That would surely minimize any questions regarding updates on the status of the project or requests for further releases.
Once again I want to make clear, that I really, really appreciate all the good stuff you developers are creating and are openly sharing with us. I never did and never will claim anything from you besides the fact that you, too, have to be respectful and friendly, even to the "non-developers". Unfortunately not everybody has the time to improve his abilities in programming (I once was really good in Basic, Pascal and Assembler - but that is long ago). That does not necessarily mean that people are too lazy to do it, but they may have different occupations or their interests may also concern other (technical or non-technical) hobbies where they are also expected to develop some kind of knowledge in. If my car is broken I need a mechanic though I - of course - could have learned how to fix it myself.
There is so many different things where you could or even are supposed to develop some skills, but you simply cannot meet that claim everywhere. So we all end up concentrating on different things and developing different strengthes and weaknesses. That's why you might find yourself being the "noob" and "loser" in one forum or one discussion, and the "crack" or "expert" in the other.
Brgds,
FantasticN
Edit: Oooops. So many postings meanwhile. This was meant as a reply to Nessus' post no.24. Should have quoted it. But my statement already has become way to long and I apologize for that.
As to the problem of the current status of a project: Sometimes I find myself looking for an answer to a certain problem or looking for a tool, addon, plugin etc. as a solution to something. And then - after spending hours of searching - I maybe find something that seem to match the requirements or at least looks interesting for trying. But the tread maybe has 100 pages of postings (mostly regarding aspects that are of no concern to me or have already been solved again three pages further on). The last post suddenly ends in 2013 and I find myself stuck with the question: Is this project still alive? Does the lates release still work in my current environment (e.g. Helix instead of Gotham)? Does it make sense to install and begin using it, or does it mean riding a dead horse? Therefore I need to be allowed to raise questions in this respect. And if not the developer, then hopefully someone else may provide an answer to me or I will - of course - start speculating that its dead.
I think you may rightfully ban all posts that are trying to push the developer to do or release something - especially if it is done in a rude way. But a polite question like "When will you come up with a release?" or "Will we see an update for Helix?" shall defenitly be allowed. Same applies to the answer to such question. And if the developer does not have the time to continue with his project or simply does not want to do it anymore, it would be best if he clearly states it in his post. And with respect to the so-called "W.I.P"-section those projects should then be moved to some other subforum (like: "work on hold" or "old versions"). That would surely minimize any questions regarding updates on the status of the project or requests for further releases.
Once again I want to make clear, that I really, really appreciate all the good stuff you developers are creating and are openly sharing with us. I never did and never will claim anything from you besides the fact that you, too, have to be respectful and friendly, even to the "non-developers". Unfortunately not everybody has the time to improve his abilities in programming (I once was really good in Basic, Pascal and Assembler - but that is long ago). That does not necessarily mean that people are too lazy to do it, but they may have different occupations or their interests may also concern other (technical or non-technical) hobbies where they are also expected to develop some kind of knowledge in. If my car is broken I need a mechanic though I - of course - could have learned how to fix it myself.
There is so many different things where you could or even are supposed to develop some skills, but you simply cannot meet that claim everywhere. So we all end up concentrating on different things and developing different strengthes and weaknesses. That's why you might find yourself being the "noob" and "loser" in one forum or one discussion, and the "crack" or "expert" in the other.
Brgds,
FantasticN
Edit: Oooops. So many postings meanwhile. This was meant as a reply to Nessus' post no.24. Should have quoted it. But my statement already has become way to long and I apologize for that.
