"Coders discussion" forum is now a private forum.

[Freesteyelz]

Originally Posted by Darat

I'm confused - that section has now been made totally private as a reward? I didn't think that was the purpose of the section or the reason it has been totally closed to non-coders?

I've read the comments in this discussion and I have no issues with the reasons of wanting a private forum. My only reservation is the underlying bitterness that is transcending from both sides of the coin by some members of this community. Personally, I'd prefer investing my time more productively here. I'm in the discussion just because.

I call the coders private forum a reward/benefit because that's what it is; something positive. Constructive ideas can come about with members who are on the same wavelength. I'm not referring to skill but from collective thought.

I've been around forum communities for a while but with vB only a couple of months. I understand how things work and I'm not about to undermine decisions made, especially from one of the Admins I know and respect. *Sigh*...It's 4:07am now...

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Freesteyelz

I've read the comments in this discussion and I have no issues with the reasons of wanting a private forum. My only reservation is the underlying bitterness that is transcending from both sides of the coin by some members of this community. Personally, I'd prefer investing my time more productively here. I'm in the discussion just because.

Well I would say reading the comments the bitterness seems to be mainly one-sided - all I have said for example is that I think it is shame because it potentially reduces the resources available for everyone. Yet on the "other side" it appears that there is a lot of resentment (in albeit a very small number of people) that more of us are not "coders", that we aren't thankful enough, that we shouldn't use hacks and so on. So I would agree that is a shame - I know if I did release a hack I'd want as many people as possible to use it - not just those I deemed somehow "worthy" but hey different people different strokes as they say.

Originally Posted by Freesteyelz

I call the coders private forum a reward/benefit because that's what it is; something positive. Constructive ideas can come about with members who are on the same wavelength. I'm not referring to skill but from collective thought.

I've been around forum communities for a while but with vB only a couple of months. I understand how things work and I'm not about to undermine decisions made, especially from one of the Admins I know and respect. *
*Sigh*...It's 4:07am now...

I'm not trying to undermine any one and I've not even asked for the decision to be changed. Yet I do have have to say that personally it feels to me me that quite a few of the people who have participated in this discussion are of the opinion that non-coders such as myself should be grateful for whatever crumbs the "real Members" are willing to drop us and not even bother to express an opinion about something because our opinions are worthless.

I've just remembered that this is an announcement thread so perhaps if anyone wishes to continue this discussion we should do so in a more appropriate section of the forum?

[Freesteyelz]

I haven't named anyone nor singled anyone out. Discuss away is what I say. Anyway, I find that on the majority if you work with people they'll do the same in return. It's all cool with me.

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by JumpD

And found out there has only been two posts in there since it went private.

I think your counting code is a bit buggy

[Code Monkey]

Originally Posted by Paul M

I think your counting code is a bit buggy

Was a joke bud.

[Revan]

I could understand the arguments against a private forum if stuff was shared in there. But the forum is only for discussing projects. I don't understand what's the valuable resource in that. The point about seeing how a coder tackles a problem is null and void, because if you know enough to understand the coding problem, you know enough to release stuff and thus earn a coder title. If you don't know enough code, it's just like me reading stuff in the Hexing forum on this Lineage II development forum Im on. I don't understand jack when they talk about push dword and whatnot, and I learn nothing from there.
I dare anyone to give me one valid resouce that could come out of the Coders forum that doesn't have its own forum already.

[Code Monkey]

It's like this. Everything coders do here is done during their own personal time. This is not a paid job, it's used up free time for the bennefit of others.

It's not too much to ask that we have an area of the forums where we are not simply a resource.

[Princeton]

I can't speak for others; but, I'll give you the reasons why I support it.

• It's the Coders who make vb.org.
• It's the Coders who create addons and/or modifications.

In the long run, providing a private forum for coders will benefit vb.org as a whole.

Encourage participation amongst coders.

• Without making it publicly available ... coders can ask questions and/or get ideas from other coders.

Promote the creation of new addons.

• Participation amongst coders will ignite the creation of more advanced addons -- which in their own way promotes vBulletin.

Boost the time spent on vb.org.

• We want to increase "activity" time by coders. The longer a coder stays the more liklihood they will create addons and/or help others.

Entice past coders who have stopped participating.

• We want to encourage inactive coders to become active again.

Activity in this forum is already positive ... the more people become aware of the forum the likelihood everyone will start seeing the benefits. It's just a matter of time...

[Freesteyelz]

Originally Posted by JumpD

It's like this. Everything coders do here is done during their own personal time. This is not a paid job, it's used up free time for the bennefit of others.

Hehe...I think it also benefits them as well knowing that their effort, pushing themselves and thinking outside the box paid off. If you have the skill and the will to help others that is awesome.

[Xenon]

This thread is an interesting read really...

I will just make some final statements here, naming our reasons whay this forum has been added in the way it is now:

vbulletin.org was a board for coders at first, normal members were always welcome to get hacks/support and were thankful. Coders enjoyed the time here as there were a lot of them, so it was a meeting point of specialists.

that was the beginning, but that has changed, the ratio between coders to members has been strongly evolved into members direction, and so changed also the way of talking/posting on vbulletin.org. That's a natural thing on sites like this, and you cannot see it as a positiv or negativ aspect, just the way it is.

But that change leads to problems of course. Coders miss the "old days" where they could talk to each other on a professional base. That's why we wanted to give them a place where they could talk to each other like in the old days, and we made it the way it was, that anyone could join the group.

But that didn't make out as we want it. A lot of people just joined that group and asked questions which could have been in the other forums already, but they thought now they have more attention by coders, so we restricted it to coders only. And the reson it is private now, is because a lot of coders mentioned, that they want to talk about unfinished projects in there, which should not yet been known to the public. And as coders ARE the heart of vbulletin.org on the long run, it is the best to make their stay here as positive as possible, and so we made it a private forum, and as i can say from my own point of view: Regarding to the threads in that forum now, it was the best descission we could make, and we won't change it.