[Revan]

Disclaimer: I don't speak for all the coders. I speak for me, but I take liberties of assuming that to a certain extent, some of my fellow coders agree with me.
Also, when I use the term coder, in all cases where designers feel affected by what I say (for better or worse), I mean both coder and designer. I just cba to write "coders and designers" 572 times. Sue me.

Originally Posted by Zachery

They are not, they are just part of the community, the other 99.99% of the users on this site are its lifeblood. Not a few users who do happen to code hacks.

Not to harp specificly on LiveWire, PAul, or The Geek. But I could possibly say that about most any coder here. One coder does not make or break this site, the entire community does. If EVERY signle person on this forum up and left, it'd be a differnt story. But they arn't and won't so I'd rather not worry about it.

Is it sad? Sure, but things will move on and people will get on with their lifes. Anyone who leaves this site for whatever reason should do so and not need to make a post about it.

This post has a level of ignorance I hardly thought possible.
Not to mention the fact that I find it offensive.
I don't want to appear as having a "holier than thou" attitude but it is a fact that it's the coders that make this site. As others have stated, what would vBulletin.org be without the coders? Check out the 3.5 Modification Requests forum. 25% of the threads on the first page (at the time of writing this) has no replies. 50% of the remaning threads have 1-5 replies saying "I second this request". Exactly 3 threads have more than 5 posts which would indicate either a whole lot of "seconded" or maybe actually some serious discussion.
My point? The fact that none of these threads gets any involvement from the coders because they don't feel like it's worth their time. I count myself in that group. Every coder that reads a request and lets it fly Ill wager thinks something like "meh, this isn't worth my time".
Why do coders think like this? Because of the attitude depicted above. Coders are replaceable. Guess what, we don't come in an infinite supply. Surely you all must have noticed that the coder count dwindles and the number of "help me plix" increases.
What makes a newbie into a coder? Willpower and motivation. The newbie is responsible for the willpower, vbulletin.org (I mean everybody. Staff, coders and other members) is responsible for the motivation. vBulletin.org, at this point, is unable to provide the motivation.

I refuse to believe the willpower of the members has changed simply due to the fact that the plugin system appeared. If people want to learn how to code, then they will learn how to code if they are supplied with motivation.
What I feel that vBulletin.org is doing wrong, is not offer any form of incentive for coders to help supply motivation. There are a few points which could help amend this:

1. Make the coders feel wanted and needed.
   It may sound stupid and make the coders sound selfish, but guess what, we aren't all commies. Recieving more positive feedback from users that installed our hacks goes a long way since we are all doing it for free.

Now I am not saying the staff alone is responsible for the abovementioned. But as I stated, all of vBorg need to help with supplying motivation, and I believe that what of the above members could do, they should do.
Now I know what some of you equalists are thinking. "z0mg, coders aren't worth more than Bob or Jane" (no offense to Boobiefool or his 16 year old girlfriend), but guess what, on this site, coders are the only ones who contribute to this site in any worthwhile amount. This is not a bloody Sports site where you argue whos going to win the Super Bowl, people! This is a place where coders can share their work and rest easier knowing that all them Jack Sparrows of the world (Pirates) don't get their dirty hands on their work as easily as they would if this was an FTP directory. Give me one good reason why vBorg shouldn't cater more to the coders (yes, this means the hack db, commercial scripts, and more than just a cozy little private forum).

To return to the first statement in the quoted post from Zachery:

Originally Posted by Zachery

They are not, they are just part of the community, the other 99.99% of the users on this site are its lifeblood. Not a few users who do happen to code hacks.

Allow me to match this segment up against another statement made:

Originally Posted by Xenon

vbulletin.org was a board for coders

I believe it's time for the coders to take back vBorg. We are the backbone of this board. Yeah, I do believe we should have a greater influence on how this board works, mainly because we are directly generating income for Jelsoft. It's been said over and over again, many people buy vB because of the amount of great hacks that can do whatever they would want their bbs do beyond threads and sigs.
If coders were put in a different usergroup, with a colored username, I believe this would be a bigger incentive. It would be more than just 9pt text that changed. It would be something more significant. It would mean you are a contributor to this community. Tell me, my fellow coders: How many of you look upon your "x Coder" title and feel that you are being recognised as a valuable contributor to this site? I sure as hell don't, not anymore.
Also I believe that such a change would offer at least part of the motivation the users would need to become coders. You would feel like you were noticed. So I don't see how this is bad for the community.

vBorg need to stop thinking so much about the vast majority of people that only come here to get support for their hacks and post questions. Take the commercial hacks thread. 90% of the posts from normal members were as ignorant as Zacherys post or close to it, or just sheer dumb. That skewed the results. What the members think is not always what is going to incent the coders to stay here. I can sit here and claim their opinion hold little value to me (beyond royally pissing me off) because they don't contribute. Most of them come here to leech. Who cares if they dont agree with coders wanting to get a little money for their countless hours of work? If you want to talk replaceable, you should look at the members. I don't actually remember the username of a single regular member, but I know the names of a fair few coders.

vBorg is no longer a community of coders. It is a place where those that don't have the energy to commit to the commercial world or don't want to lose the anti-piracy security come and release their mods. That is what has been degrading this site. This decline will continue. Coders will not be infinitely replaced.
I don't like where this is going, do you?