mahjongg, you seem to forget that all of the work done for CMSMS was done by volunteers, and that you get it for Free. This work is done by people in their spare time, and put up on the forge and other locations so that others may get some enjoyment and use out of it. Sometimes it's done so that others can help contribute to the project and keep it going.
CalGuy1000, you seem to be unaware that I am one those volunteers, and that I have offered my services many times, always for free, and contributed at least thirty times to bug fixes and create a new module, for which I offer same day support. I have registered on the Forge and ask many times to join development teams on several modules; Bookmarks is one of them. I never received any answer from the administrators of those modules. I was, and still are, willing to work on the module.
NamantH gave his word, more than once, and never follow trough. Like it or not. It tells a lot about HIS commitment (not yours). More than half of the modules, the ones you don't manage yourself, are abandoned. Bug reports are piling up. Patches are often ignored. And there is no way for us to contribute other than complain on the forum, since the original creator of the module has left and doesn't answer any more on the Forge.
Lately, quite a few people (or a few people quite often) have been griping about bugs, design flaws, or what they see as poor customer support in projects on the forge. Quite honestly, I'm tired of it.
I see you work like a crazy here. You have done more than your share for this project. Maybe, too much. It's time for you to learn to delegate work and take a small vacation. Because you don't trust others enough to work on your baby, you insist only a few of your close buddies touch the code. You are less than ten developers to do 98% of the work. No wonder, you can't keep up with all the growing demands and are, understandingly, tired. If you continue, you are headed for a burn-out. You have create a system where you funnel everything trough a few hands instead of opening up.
When we see somebody griping and complaining about 'promises not kept' or 'lack of service (I read this in another thread)' it diminishes us, our work, and the energy we have to do any more of it.
Absolutely not. People don't complain about your commitment and are extremely grateful for all you have done. People complain because they see how CMSMS is great and how easily it could become the best CMS around. They are frustrated the next steps, so near, are yet so far to be achieved only because of small details. You have simply created a monster. You have opened new fronts without adding new soldiers. Each day, more functionalities are added. The project becomes more and more sophisticated and the code become more and more heavy to managed. Meanwhile, you haven't really trusted new coders to join the development team. Now, you feel the pressure of being a close knitted, minuscule group of developers. And, because you are under pressure, you feel, to incorporate new collaborators, newcomers must know CMSMS inside out as much, if not better that you; be somehow your friends, available 24/7 on the chat so you can monitor them; and willing to sacrifice themselves as you do, to adequately respond to the growing demand. Your criterion has become so high, nobody qualifies. You have blocked to only escape that could free you from this impossible situation.
If you have a problem with the core, or with a module, and something doesn't quite work, or work the way you want it to, then please feel free to contact the developer to ask questions, or to request a change.
And, it's exactly what I and others do. We contact you and request changes. But, we are more and more numerous. And on your side you are still the same small team.
But don't cry or scream if it doesn't happen in your time frame.
I don't complain because it doesn't happen in my time frame, but because NamantH cannot be trusted to respect HIS OWN time frame. If he's unwilling to pursue development of his module, he should tell so and leave it to others to take the relay.
a) Learn to fix it yourself.
It's what I am doing from the start. I've submitted a very small number of the many corrections I made to the core, maybe 10%. I discovered submitting patches is very unproductive since it can takes several weeks before they are reviewed. Often, they are no even required when time comes to review them. Next, I asked to make the corrections directly to SVN, starting with small things without any major impact in the inner workings (small corrections to make the Admin panel and the output xHTML compliant, for instance). No answer to this day. So, there is no point for me to submitting more elaborate patches. The only thing that seems to work is to nag punctually some developer, at the right moment, when, by chance, he's working on the same portion of the code.
We appreciate all of our users, and try to answer as many questions, and provide the best support possible, but please keep in mind we have families, responsibilities and jobs. We welcome your input, and try to keep ontop of our various projects, but it isn't always possible.
Keep in mind we also have families, responsibilities and, some of us, are also competent programmers, willing to contributed our valuable time to relieve you from the small details. But, because the way you insist approving every single little details - everything has to go trough your hands, no matter how small and insignificant- , it often not possible to free you time and let you work on more important aspects of the project.
Thank you for your continuing support.
Thank you for all you have done. But, now that the project has grown, it's time for the team to grow also.
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