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I have to say that I am totally dismayed, disheartened and my confidence regarding this project is at an all time low. I know I said I would not be political again here, but this is not a political stance as per say, but more a gathering of my thoughts over the last week about the ‘winter of discontent’ of Xoopland. Once more, we are subjected to the never ending saga of soap opera style framework, which seems to dominate the public landscape with open wounds for everyone to dissect and give their public judgement and only taints this project in the manner of a child’s playground at playtime.
The saying ‘Someone’s knocking at the door, the lights are on, but no one is answering’ seems to fit what is exactly going on here right now. The tension here at XOOPS can be cut with a knife and like any boiler, if this tension is not released in small gaps then you will have an explosion and I believe this is about to happen here at Xoops.
Right now, we have fragmentation in just about every aspect of Xoops, fragmented code, fragmented ownership and most of all, a fragmented community that is at war with its self, blaming each another for that sorry state of affairs that we call the XOOPS Project and when the said fact is, this is the symptom and not the cause of this disease that is spreading quicker than a brush fire in the middle of summer.
It is Ironic, but to me we seem no more further forward than we were 4 years ago, we are still here talking about creating council, more councils, foundations, teams and more teams and other teams to manage these other teams and when the sad fact is, we should be putting more of our attention in building community spirit, code and frameworks for the years to come, but, while we continue to debate and counter debate every single thing, the things that actually matter seem to me to be getting further put back and now seem less important to this project than ever.
Looking at this current situation and it is pretty plain to see that there are people playing games with Xoops, and I will not lay the blame solely at DJ feet for what is happening here. I believe there is other hidden agendas going on over the sole ownership of XOOPS and people are making it very hard for further progress to take place. I believe there is more going on here than what meets the eye, and if this is the case I am shocked (but not surprised) that people who state they only have XOOPS best interest at heart are doing this.
While I said I don’t blame DJ for everything, I however believe he has created his own mess with some of his actions and non actions within this community. I believe DJ is either very short sighted or very naïve. He has systematically destroyed many years of work that people put before himself and will be quite content to let the community do his dirty work and remove the obligations of the XOOPS project and place them firmly and unfairly onto someone else. His main concern is the XOOPS core code (And even that may not be the case with version 3, I’m sorry but his excuse regarding that, is just a major ‘cop out’ as you know well it is.) and everything else has become secondary and not important. In many respects he wont or doesn't listen to anyone else and will press on regardless and I can assure you that I am not the only one who believes this.
Dj has talk of fragmentation here at Xoops; I have to say he should stand back and admire his handy work and we should give him a pat on the back for a job well done. The alienation that took place in the first few months is now bear its own fruits for all to see and enjoy and how ironic, that many people who gave their services freely had their hand bitten off and were told we could do it better. Well, I will say, least they’re trying. Now, we have a divided and in many respects, a forked community and the only thing are missing is the re-branded XOOPS product. Can we blame them? In a word no, while they have remained true to their promise of their work, how far is the XOOPS counter parts? Left firmly at the door, stuck in its own mess and confusion.
I come here some days, and my first thought is not of what good things maybe happening here, but of the continuing downward spiral we are all caught in. I see more and more unanswered posts from genuine people requesting real help and no one answers, why? Because we are all engulfed in self destruction and blinkered loyalty, to a cause that might just not worth it and those really needing our help are pushed by the way side.
To those that believe we can ask for change and we will just get it from the two current leaders of Xoops, dream on. You are all being fed little bits in the hope of keeping you all happy and contentented. They do this in the hope that it keeps the pressure down and stops the boiler from exploding in their face.
I will say this again Councils don’t work, they never have and never will. Councils spend more time debating what we should be done and when it will be done. We now have had this council for 6 months and now ask your self ‘Are we really any further forward then we were before?’ The answer is no we are not, and I really don see any real changes in the future. I will not ‘Join’ any council as a member or as in anyother capacity as this would be contrary to what I believe would be beneficial to the future of XOOPS and I will not get myself ‘hung’ on the failure and incompatency of a body that is neither willing nor can listen to what they were put in place for and the recent posts have made that abundantly clear.
I will say this to DJ and this is on a personal note:
DJ, contrary to what you think, I do not dislike you or hate you. I respect you and I always have and while I believe that your intentions maybe true, I think that the way you are handling this project and the community, is not what I would have expected from yourself. This project is now to big for you to handle yourself and take the whole burden upon your own shoulders is very unwise and shows you may actually lack the required skills to handle such task at hand. Delegation is a very big part the job you are trying to do, and is ‘Not’ a hands on job.
I now am going to go back to working on my modules (which I may or not release) and the modifying of XOOPS for my own personal use.
ATB
Catz
