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I agree with Mithrandir about the tighter developer community, the only alternative we had previously was sourceforge where we were further from the XOOPS community. In a way the dev.xoops.org site is bringing the developers closer to the XOOPS community. We try to keep the same usernames as in the larger community and if someone from the outsite the forge reads public information they know where we come from and are able to contact us directly in the http://www.xoops.org site. Everyone is still able to get their hands on the latest betas, but until a module is released from the forge the newby is not going to expect it to work. There is also much better control of every module in the XOOPS stable and it will only increase stability. As for the developers getting out of touch with the rest of the community, I can give all xoopsers the assurance that I see all the names in the dev who's online here all the time.

my 2cents
Grotmis
Riaan

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Hi WarDick,

First of all thank you for your kind words, this actually means a lot to me.

I agree with you that WF-Sections V2 was a long time in coming along and I do know that the release date did actually take longer than I had intended. This was partly due to two reasons:

1, Life: This last year in my private life has seen many changes etc etc (won't go into detail here) But it surprising that I have had time to code at all. I do this in my spare time and if someone was to pay me for the development of my modules, there would be a new release every week lol. But the reality is, I can only do what I can

2, Module Development: WF-Sections is now not the only Module I am currently writing, the last count I think there where about 10 of them (Not all have been released or are for clients) and I try to give as much support as I can when I can.

When it came to re-writing WF-Sections, I purposely took my time over the writing, coding and implementing the ideas that where given to me from the many users out there. I vowed I would not make the same mistake with WF-Section v1.0.1 by releasing it before it should have been and the result was that WF-S v1.0.1 unstable. I knew it at the time but I released it anyway.

Anyway, to the actual point here. When I was at the head of the module development team, I was the one of the member who believed that the separation of the different departments of XOOPS would only benefit XOOPS Members.

The fact is a development site for XOOPS and module developers would help bring together developers more and help share idea's, resources etc etc that would otherwise get bogged down in users plea's for help etc.

Before I created X-Mode and had the fundamental structure going, XOOPS Module developers where on their own and scattered all over the place. Each developer was talking their own path and nothing was co-ordinate. This would mean that each module was written, designed and a lot of modules would use functions, classes and object that where already available to them via the XOOPS Core.

Now what is happening here is that many developers are getting involved in either asking questions or answering them and talking more interest in how to use these core functions and that could only be a good thing for the users out there.

The whole idea is 'Getting the correct information' to the 'correct people' and making sure that the information 'flows'. The fact is this, this site and forum, is used by many beginners, non-coders and people wanting quick answers to their questions and they do not want to have to 'wade through tons of 'geek' talk and developers showing off their latest coding skills (that 70% of people probably don't understand and don't want to understand).

But to be honest, I think that the separation has gone too far, and this causes 'thinning' of information that need not be and thus makes it want harder for everyone to find.

I see no point in having the arsenal that is on the 'Dev' site just to start using source forge as well, a bad idea in my option. Strangely enough, many of the developers would not have three of four functions or classes to do more of less the same thing, yet it has been done here.

Also I feel that the Module, Theme and Documentations sites could have been one site only, thus making it a whole lot easier to manage and for users to find the 'thing' they are looking for easily.

Thanks for the reply Mithrandir,

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I think we can both agree on these two points - 2 out of 3 this is a good start.

1. Separation meaning posts go missing or get overlooked
2. Developers get out of touch with the community

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On these points I disagree!

1. More focused posting - What about groups, permission and private forums.

2. Every post is worth reading in a development context - Every post here is worth its weight in gold. The questions that pop-up here are a clear indication of the direction development needs to be focused.

3. Better management of projects with trackers etc. in the XoopsForge module - Doesn't this module runs under any XOOPS site?

4. Tighter developer community - Then why is there so much duplication of effort.

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Clutter?? Look to your right the mugshots this is clutter and what about the Tracker block is it really that ugly or even necessary. If we had a better way to add custom pages this would not be worth discussing![/quote]

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Good point here I agree - To receive, you need to give

Every member of this community gives when they post in the forums. Each in there own way. Not everyone here is interested in writing another database query. But they are interested in building a better XOOPS.

Remember a true community has a butcher, a baker and candlestick maker. It takes a contribution from everyone. Each contribution being valuable in it own unique way.

One last thought;

Sir, you have help me on more occasions than I can count. Please my reflections are not meant to be spiteful or demeaning anyway. I am simply concerned about the strength of our community.

Again thank you for all your help.