Can't they even have the decency?

[The Geek]

Its just as easy to return the PM requesting they post in the thread. Most 'seasoned' (with salt) users don't use a PM unless its urgent as they can see that support is a community concept.
Saying that, you can't expect everyone to be physic and already know that. Generally cutting them some slack is usually enough.

On that note, I have ignored PMs before simply because I didn't have the time to respond. They most likely thought I was a right ass. Then again. I suppose on some level I am

Everyone just needs to cut everyone else some slack and realise we all have lives (well, you guys do. I'm still working on that one). It's my next release: Geek Excellent Life Getter (or GELG for a short, punchy, clique' 'in the know' acronym). Sadly it will only be a commercial enhancement. So there.

[noppid]

Originally Posted by The Geek

On that note, I have ignored PMs before simply because I didn't have the time to respond. They most likely thought I was a right ass. Then again. I suppose on some level I am

Yeah, my most common instance to have to ignore PM's is when I'm knee deep in code and need to reference the API threads. They should be at .com IMO. But that's another story.

The flashing PM hack here is about the most annoying feature/hack in existance! So what ultimately happens is I mass click mark as read to shut of the flasher and the pms are forgotten about. :tired:

[The Geek]

Actually, that is a good point. I do loathe the falshing PM thing here. It makes it a lot harder to ignore it

[TeaTree]

Originally Posted by MPDev

In general, I would prefer that users ask for support in the thread which the mod is stored; why? you might ask. Well, others can then benefit from the help, others may have an answer and the user could get a faster answer and I really don't consider "support" on a free modification to be one-on-one kind of thing. Waiting for a reply from me for a question which has already been addressed or can be addressed by the community faster only increases the chances that you will be disappointed.

2 minutes for every PM can add up if every user felt that their question needed to be handled by PMs.

Why not just ask your question in the thread?

The problem that I have is that this is one of the only forums that get replies to threads in.If you look at un-answered threads, there's over 20 pages. I have asked in threads and they also get ignored. If a user is that ignorant, it doesn't really matter where you ask them.

May I also add that this is NOT a bash at the staff. I have said above how the admin's are very helpful. This is more of a thread that is where I am almost backing up the staff, in the case that some members need to do their own bit to improve vbulletin.org

Also, one of the PM's was to a moderator and was about vbulletin.org, not an actual modification

Thanks

[Rich]

One of the things I brought up before was that a lot of users feel they are entitled to getting a response from the users here. I placed 2 users on ignore today because of how they responded to their lack of responses to their questions.

Everyone here that donates their time to answer questions is doing just that, they are "donating" THEIR time. If they don't have the time to answer every question sent to them, its pretty tough to get mad at them as they don't owe anyone here a thing. If they do respond and give someone an answer you better be damned sure you send them a sincere thank you.

I think the staff here should explain how this site works in an auto pm to new users so they understand that they are not entitled to support and that questions pertaining to specific modifications should be addressed in that release thread. This may help everyone understand how this site actually functions.

[smacklan]

Originally Posted by Rich

Everyone here that donates their time to answer questions is doing just that, they are "donating" THEIR time. If they don't have the time to answer every question sent to them, its pretty tough to get mad at them as they don't owe anyone here a thing. If they do respond and give someone an answer you better be damned sure you send them a sincere thank you.

This is typical of the "attitude" I spoke of in the User Titles thread. All I've been hearing lately is "this site would die and be nothing if it weren't for the coders. Our stuff keeps this site alive...and we better be appreciated and bowed to". Well I have a news flash for you...if you are going to put something out there for someone to use, you absolutely have an obligation to support the potential problems you may cause someone's board. There are plenty of hacks published here that are nothing more than beta's and cause all kind of problems. If many of you were to try to develop your hacks into a business you would fail miserably within a short period of time with the attitude's I see on display here...it's shameful really.

[Rich]

Why did you bother to quote what I wrote to post what you did seeing as they having nothing to do with one another? The first thing you need to realize is that every modification installed from this site is being installed by the user. If you choose to install a modification from this site, you are accepting any and all responsibility of what could happen to your site. That includes if a modification breaks something. That has been posted more times than I can remember on this site.

Most of the modifications on this site are added because a user created it for themself and then offers it to the community. Others come from requests. No one on this site is "obligated" to give support for their mods. Thats why their is an option when releasing a mod to choose whether or not the author will support it. If an author chooses not to support a mod, and you anticipate support, you are wasting your time. If an author says they will be supporting their mod and then fails to comply, guess what, they are entitled to do that.

Comparing free mods from this site to a paid for modification is unrealistic bud. When you buy something, you are normally paying for the support that comes with it unless you are notified prior to the purchase. These modifications are free. They don't come with support as a standard.

Now Betas are completely different. If you can't debug code, you shouldn't be installing a beta modification. Problems are expected with betas and they are released as such to help find them and debug them. Again, you are installing them at your own discretion. if it breaks your board, then you either need to fix it, report it in the beta thread, or uninstall it and wait for it to be released out of beta.

THATS where users are getting confused on this site. They feel they are entitled to the support of the mod authors. It isn't guaranteed and neither are any of the mods on this site.

[smacklan]

but why should anyone be made to feel as though they should have to kiss *** and lick boot when someone posts a few lines of code and are then troubled to answer questions about it? Thats what I'm talking about.

[MPDev]

If everyone had an obligation to support their work and had the expectation to answer every question, then I would suspect there would be alot less Mods posted.

Sometimes a mod is just a framework to get someone started on something they want to do - there is no implied contract here, when you post something, you can either support it or choose not to.

[Rich]

Its not like that across this entire site. Run my name for instance. Look at all of the questions I have tried to help with. There are tons of people willing to help on this site but there are even more users that feel they are entitled to it and if its not there, well then the hell with whichever person they tried to get support from.

I have one mod released and it is as basic as they come. I am by far a coder like some of the users are on this site. I have yet to kiss anyones ass or lick boot to get support. I will ask a question and sometimes it gets answered, sometimes it doesn't. The complexity of the questions being asked dicatates who can/will answer them. If some of us, like myself, don't have the knowledge to answer a specific question, I obviously wouldn't be able to help with the question.

Since a majority of problems with mods are pretty complex, they can only be answered by the coders that actually understand the question in the first place. lol

If you read through all of the posts on this site during a 24 hopur period, you will find tons of people answering questions, several users complaining about the lack of support, and lots of humor and unanswered questions. It doesn't mean no one is willing to answer them, it means no one qualified to answer it is available or has the time/ energy to get into it.