Posted by Mark Linden on August 15, 2008 at 12:19am
I find it rather irritating that in two recent cases, where so-called "developers" have provided their modules and have asked for us to help test it. And when we ask for some guidance, they are MIA. What gives??!!
Comments
I agree to a certain extent...
I do agree with you, but don't really think the blame rest on awjrickards and kenuck. They're easy targets, but the whole group/community seems disinterested in development for drupal real estate, though more and more real estate sites seem to be drifting towards drupal integration. So, yes it's really frustrating, and i personally wish I could help out more. Though, i do think kenuck's need to 'sell' his modules isn't really open-source friendly or helpful to the group ;P.
www.newmediadenver.com
home from vacation.
hi paradiddle,
i just got back from vacation and am for the first time seeing your comments. i'll be responding to your post about guidance for testing when i finish this post but first - i understand your frustration, but remember that drupal, and the module i've been working on are FREE. i have a job, and i imagine that most other developers building drupal modules also have other jobs and as such time that we have to devote to not just development but support, bug fixing, etc. is absolutely minimal. releasing a module to the drupal community does not come with any guaranteed support or ongoing development.
as a developer who believes deeply in open source software and fostering open community around software, i appreciate open and candid dialog about the software itself as well as the community around it. but being publicly shamed for not responding to your posts inside of a week does not give me much incentive to respond to posts or keep involved in the community around this module. please read the following post on open source support etiquette: http://opensourcestrategies.blogspot.com/2005/09/how-to-get-support-from...
in the meantime, if you need professional level support and/or want to see more rapid development/improvement of this module, feel free to hire me - i'll certainly respond much quicker.
thank you for your reply
and I appreciate that you have provide this group with your module. I did not know you were on vacation and for that I am truly sorry. Please accept my apologies.
What had originally set me off was after reading the notes on another recently released module where the developer was telling us that we have to pay for it: If this had taken place on a more visible group, I'd bet there would be a much larger degree of public outcry. I can only speak for myself but it seems like this group is/was on the verge of becoming - for lack of a better word - bastardized?
Just chillax and give it all time
The group is not becoming 'bastardized.' Yes, richards is a bit of an odity and a bit ridiculous in using drupal as a base to market his software. But, overall, real estate development is a bit different than other areas of the web industry. It's never been very open source friend, which is why things like Ken are doing should be applauded. The group is just small, and with time as more interest in drupal and real estate occures, i'm sure it'll get more organized and popular.
www.newmediadenver.com
As a real estate broker and
As a real estate broker and prior computer programmer, I am very familiar in both real estate and "normal" ways of open source code.
The real estate community is VERY demanding and also one of the most difficult to code because of the differing "standards".
I have been working with RETS now for about a year and have ran across 5 different "standards" for it, which I find hilarious since RETS stands for Real Estate Transaction Standard, basically meaning that it should be the same across the board.
Open Source solutions are done, mostly, free from developers who wish to help a community, grow expertise in a field, make a name for themselves, or drive business to their full time jobs. These guys are volunteering their time to help you obtain a good (free) solution.
The other developer said that if you wanted it quicker, you could hire him. He obviously can not jeopardize his time developing a free module when he has bills to pay as well. Paid works comes first. I think that you could agree that saying the community is bastardized is a bit selfish just because he can't put out the code quick enough for you freely? Had you been on a more public form, I think you would have been the one that would have received more criticism.
Their are a lot of good programmers out there volunteering their time to bring open source solutions and generally work for free or off donations. MANY of these programmers eventually get tired of being hassled by end users because something is not working for them or because they are not hammering out updates quick enough and this is greatly reducing the amount of coders who will take on these projects. No one likes negativity and to be publicly "called-out" because they have other obligations only pushes them further away from wanting to do anything with the project(s).
For the sake of the community and the coders who are graciously giving their time to bring you a free solution, I urge you to be a little more patient with them as there is a lot more to deal with on these solutions than you might imagine.
Damion Flynn
Damion Flynn
+1
thanks damion, well said!
+1++
well stated.
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Matt J. Sorenson (emjayess)
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matt j. sorenson, g.d.o., d.o.