A General Complaint & Rant

[Beatrix Kiddo]

I'd like firstly to thank all the coders that have created some of the excellent mods we use on our boards. Most of you guys are great when it comes to help with your mods!!

But I'd also like to ask ya'll to start including more in-depth set up/settings/ and usage instructions. Some of the more complex mods seem to require a deep understanding of coding to get them to work properly. And I think most board owners don't code for a living and many of us just don't understand codeese or the associated lingo. In most cases one or two more sentences explaining things more toward the amateur (in lamens terms) makes a difference.

And if someone asks for help with an issue they are having with your mod then please take a few more minutes and do a step by step tut vs. assuming we will understand an abbreviated explanation designed for someone that does this for a living. It just annoys users as well as you guys when we have to ask the same question twice because the first answer assumed we understand this stuff on your level.

Rant over...

[ProFifaLeagues]

Most of the mod coders here are pretty good overall and will help in any cases you have issues with there mod.In the odd cases they don't the rest of the members do generally try and help out

[SNATCH3R]

Yes..I have got most of my queries responded in no time from the coders here....all are very helpful.

[Lazorbeam]

TBH, setting things up can be hard at first, but it's the same thing every time once you get used to it. Before you know it, you'll be modifying code.

[Christos Teriakis]

Originally Posted by Beatrix Kiddo

But I'd also like to ask ya'll to start including more in-depth set up/settings/ and usage instructions. Some of the more complex mods seem to require a deep understanding of coding to get them to work properly...

Everything should be fine for all, if you accept a very simple thing. That here is a community. What community means? For sure not a place where you're coming, selecting the mod(s) that you like, download them, and then forget (in most cases) even to click install.

My dear friend, sorry, but this is not the meaning of community. You can do it in a commercial site where you're paying, get the product, and then you're going. Community means that EVERYONE gives from FREE, anything that he is able to give. eg. Maybe I know coding, so I'm share here the valuable time that I spent (not say wasted) to develope it. Someone else, who maybe has experiance on installations etc, must help other members on installation problems. Some others who're maybe knows to write documentation, can offer a documentation etc etc. This is the only way to have a real community.

And now let's see face to face the reality. Nothing of them is happening in real. Worst of all, there are members who don't like to spend sometime to search the thread to check if their problem/question has already replied (believe me, common questions like I can't upload, 99% have been replied and more than once).

I've seen that you're member here since October 2010, which means 15 months now, and you have just 16 posts. That means 1 question per month, something that makes me feel sure to bet that all of them were questions, and none was a reply to someone who has a problem. I'm here just for 6 months and I've 550 posts. Is this a fair comparization? Then how you dare to ask me to spend more time for writing manuals. Please, think your pots again.

Thank you and Happy New year
Chris

[fmgrowit]

Originally Posted by ChrisTERiS

Everything should be fine for all, if you accept a very simple thing. That here is a community. What community means? For sure not a place where you're coming, selecting the mod(s) that you like, download them, and then forget (in most cases) even to click install.

My dear friend, sorry, but this is not the meaning of community. You can do it in a commercial site where you're paying, get the product, and then you're going. Community means that EVERYONE gives from FREE, anything that he is able to give. eg. Maybe I know coding, so I'm share here the valuable time that I spent (not say wasted) to develope it. Someone else, who maybe has experiance on installations etc, must help other members on installation problems. Some others who're maybe knows to write documentation, can offer a documentation etc etc. This is the only way to have a real community.

And now let's see face to face the reality. Nothing of them is happening in real. Worst of all, there are members who don't like to spend sometime to search the thread to check if their problem/question has already replied (believe me, common questions like I can't upload, 99% have been replied and more than once).

I've seen that you're member here since October 2010, which means 15 months now, and you have just 16 posts. That means 1 question per month, something that makes me feel sure to bet that all of them were questions, and none was a reply to someone who has a problem. I'm here just for 6 months and I've 550 posts. Is this a fair comparization? Then how you dare to ask me to spend more time for writing manuals. Please, think your pots again.

Thank you and Happy New year
Chris

Frankly, I think you've got a lot of nerve suggesting the OP is not fulfilling his "community" obligation. I'm not a coder or installer or writer or any other titled computer geek. I'll be the first to tell you I don't know anything about what makes a computer tick, but now that I know the perimeters for asking a question here in "your" community, I know to keep my mouth shut.

One of the most narrow minded things I've read in a LONG freakin' time.

90% or MORE of the visitor to my site are totally clueless about what they're doing there....THAT'S WHY THEY'RE AT MY SITE!

What a great attitude that would be for a site designed to help people. Who wants members anyway? All they do is ask the same questions over and over.

I came here with a question, but I tried to find the answer before I asked for advice. Since you despise non-computer savvy asking for help, why don't you do something constructive and index the questions so us dumbies can find the answers without bothering you?

[TheLastSuperman]

Well another thing to consider is this, some who release mods here don't speak English as a first language HOWEVER that does not mean they can't code like lightning in a bottle! That does mean that you may not find a in-depth guide or manual though however sometimes you can it's just dependent on the coder and where else he participates in a community i.e. vBulletin-Germany etc (You could find a more in-depth guide in their native tongue for example).

Also Christeris... this is a community however there's only pretty much two very simple requirements which are 1) Licensed vBulletin Owner 2) Account verified here so you can participate. So truly they can come here and never post in fact I bet my bottom dollar we have avid users who download and mark as installed that have never posted, if they don't have a problem then why post and if they have anything else in life to tend to then that's their excuse for not posting imo. I also try not to speak out at times just like you fmgrowit as many misconstrue that for being unprofessional by stating so when they tend to forget and look in the mirror although I go by my favorite quote:

"Sometimes you must speak out even if others don't want to hear it, otherwise your not being true to yourself"

So it seems you and Christeris did the exact same thing... so did I therefor we're not that different it's just that we always don't see eye to eye .

Everyone, you contribute how you feel it's best to do so, if it's via questions or helpful replies or lack there of, your still contributing by keeping the site alive regardless and the community overall does appreciate it including me!

[fmgrowit]

The most I can contribute to the "community" is offering help with what I know. So, if anyone needs help with building a house, let me know. I can recite to you how to do it (better add some minutes to your phone before you ask for that one)...does this disqualify me from owning and operating a forum? I don't know the first thing about this forum, but I often feel (even before today) that I don't have the right to have a forum because I don't know how to write script (if that's even a term). I'm still learning the difference between a header and a banner...just can't grasp the concept.

[Adrian Schneider]

ChrisTERiS: Food for thought... without questions then nothing here would exist. Questions ultimately fuel and build software communities.

Questions show us that our documentation sucks.
Questions catch bugs.
Questions suggest new functionality.
Questions tell us what to build or do next.

Sure, you need people answering them as well, but don't attack people for being users rather than developers. For what it's worth, I've been here almost 8 years, and probably answer questions or help people in 90% of my posts.

Regardless, given that it is a community, we should be helping each other. Without bug reports, questions that drive our documentation, and all the users here, the site wouldn't exist.

Back to the OP, I think a fundamental problem is that all these plugins used to require file edits, template edits, and a lot of tinkering. Very few people here are professional software developers that understand software release process. It's people hacking their own site and sharing it with the rest of us for free. There are also very few tools connected to the site that allow us to do it effectively.

A lot of the long time coders here used to tinker on vb2 or vb3.0 before the plugin system was so flexible. What we really need is a proper modification site or store where they are treated as releases with the quality really pushed. I'd be confident to say that the vast majority of the things here are abandoned or aren't actively maintained by the original people. It's an old community.

Cheers