Where vB is going wrong

[peterska2]

I'm going to jump in here and admit that I've not been quite my normal helpful self earlier today and have been borderline sarcastic with a couple of posts then.

In saying that though, on the whole, I give links where appropraite. Sometimes I'll tell people exactly what terms to search for and what options in advanced search instead of just searching for it myself and giving them the link, but usually that is with people who I have already given loads of links to already that day, or have been around long enough to know better.

As for support for my mods, I always make an announcement if something is coming up that is going to affect the support I can give. An example of this is the thread in the longue saying that I'm going back to school next week and have other things happening too so support time will be limited at least for a couple of weeks.

With regards to posts in the wrong forums, I tend to find I'm reporting a minimum of 5 posts per day for this exact offence at present. Sometimes I'll post explaining which forum would have been better suited, but not all the time. The biggest cuplrit for this at the moment seems to be service requests being posted in the modifications requests forums and even in general vB questions! Of course this changes a lot and flutuates between 'releases' that are requests, and services requests elsewhere.

IMO, it's getting a little 'too many chiefs and not enough indians' around here at the moment. I know that the majority of us are admins ourselves, but does everyone really need to be moderating this site? Sometimes it feels like the 150 logged in users are 10 lurkers, 40 users, and 100 moderators/admins, when in reality there are just a couple of visable staff members logged in. If something isn't in the right place or against the rules, report it. Don't be going off at the poster. If you want to run about with your admin/mod head on go to your own site and do it, otherwise take a chill pill, introduce yourself to the report post button, and enjoy the ride.

With regards to KTBleeding's post (post #10):

There are occassions where similar releases occur. This can be quite irrattating (sp?) when you release something then within sometimes as short a time as 5 mins someone releases something practically identical. There is nothing that you can do about that though. There are many coders here who are all looking at the same requests forum. Unless someone actually says that they are working on something, then it's pretty much a free for all, and different people can release the same thing at the same time but coded differently.

Of course there are also occassions where the exact same code is released by different people. Yes, there are only so many ways of dong things with templates, but for three different people to release the same thing for versions 3.5.0, 3.5.2 and 3.5.3 with the exact same code is just silly. Often this is done by newer members who think that this is ok as they haven't read the rules about releases being your own work and not copied from someone elses. It can be inspired by, but not a direct copy.

In addition to this, some advanced and master coders get too big for their boots and think that they are better than everyone else. TBH, they are just the same as everyone else.

The difference between a member and a coder?
They coded something and got a handful of installs. Wow! It's not rocket science, but some think they are God's gift.

The difference between a coder and an advanced coder?
They got a big break or two and got a lot of installs for some plugin or other. Good for them. It doesn't make you more of a person though, you just happened to tap a need before anyone else did.

The difference between an advanced coder and a master coder?
The've had a lot of installs for a lot of assorted code mods, usually over quite a period of time. Congrats to them, but it doesn't make them any better a person than the new person who has just completed their registration and is asking how they edit a template.

Every single person here has been the newbie who doesn't know anything about vB at some point. It might have been relatively recently, it could have been right back in the vB Lite days. The thing is that we all had to learn. Can anyone honestly say that they knew what every single option in the ACP did and what every single template controlled the very first day they installed vB? I know the answer to that, No. Everyone played with the settings, probably broke something and panicked, messed up a template or other, it's the way human beings learn.

So basically, what I'm saying is everyone should give everyone else a break. Help when people ask for it. Be tolerant with newbies. Answer the same question 10 times in one day. Who cares? It's not the end of the world. Relax and enjoy the ride.

Anyway, I'm getting on my high horse a bit here and I've got a lot to do (plus the kettle's just boiled) so I'm going to stop here before I end up with a mamoth post (it's big enough already!).

If you agree with me, fine. If you don't, fine. I'm not in charge, I don't make the rules, I just see it as I see it. Take it or leave it. Everyone has a part to play in this site, but everyone has to remember that if they have got their staff head on then they are best staying at their own site and not coming here as they are not staff here but just the same as everyone else.