I’m not going to labor the point, I just want to clarify a few issues I may not have in my zeal expressed properly.
>>I have been working on open source software my entire professional >>career, so the question where to draw the line in community >>participation is really not new for me. I’ve worked on the code base of a few open software projects as well (Including Blender and Mozilla Sunbird) but not as extensively as you have. I agree if the core team answers questions all the time it just draws away from the product development but the solution is not to consider support at all. Our internet world is too small for that. >> I am afraid you'll have to >>trust me when I say that this is *naturally* a slow time in the >>project's life cycle, and that will change in time, as realXtend-NG >>becomes something worth using and talking about. I’ve no doubt that this is a slow time. My understanding is fairly clear. I think you have reached a road block in the development of the product because basically you currently have an extended clone of the Second Life codebase and its Rex 4.0 is a carefully crafted hack ( Looking at the way OGRE is grafted on!) so in order to have the new software completely clean you need to start over with fresh code. That’s a challenge because a lot of coding went into the second life Client and the feature set is rich. (It’s like declaring year zero and starting again) >>If it really happens >>that no one wants to come back and use realXtend-NG when it is ready, >>then the project had no hope at life in the first place. I think you miss my point, why have it that you need to dump everyone that loves it in order to give birth to the new software? Your existing forum was pushing bounds in ways that the Google list isn’t capable of. Ie. In world Browsing, support, X10 support, pet projects. All the dynamics you need to see in test mode that will help your own roadmap. My point is the team making a self fullfilling prophecy >>I am not sure I can support any implication that I or other developers >>don't "care". Nor can I accept implication that we read email in order >>to look busy. I invite you to come join us in Oulu some day and see >>how we work. I didn’t make my point clearly enough, and I’m sorry if you felt this was an insult. I was making a general point that programmers can be very busy without being necessarily being effective to the overall goals of a project. I’m not convinced that leaving the existing forum up and appealing for the users to (under a little screening) to both police and contribute to it is the most effective thing to do no matter how busy you are. >>I would like to point out that realXtend is not a company. There are >>companies that are part of realXtend, but they should be contacted >>outside of this channel. Moreover the people who fund realXtend do no >>do so for short term goals, and have fully authorized this rough patch >>with knowledge that it will cost some momentum. Agreed, but the stakholders presumably will be looking for some sort of ROI on the money invested. Leading everyone to the top of the hill and running off to find another one won’t win you friends when you need them! >>I am sorry you were >>not consulted on this matter, but it was the right thing to do for >>realXtend. Consultation with me as a person means nothing, consultation with those that care passionately about what you do means everything. I think anyone with some business sense would realize that realxtend in its current form has reached a natural conclusion but all I’m saying is why didn’t you consult your userbase about dropping the forum? >>If you wish that 0.4 series continues to be supported, you should work >>to gather some funding in order to assure that. I know for a fact >>companies in realXtend would happily receive more funding to do so. >>Conversely if anyone is interested in taking over maintainership of >>0.4 from us, I will gladly help them with the setup and continuation >>of the 0.4 series. As it stands the current funders no longer wish to >>invest in 0.4. Yes, but somebody switched off our forum without asking us and we now have nowhere to rally! >>Community takes more work than you imagine, partly because you have >>never had to support one. I’m a moderator of two forums, have been for about five years. I chase out the bots, kill the spam and apply water to the flames with the odd email.. takes me about two hours a week for both of them. The support comes mostly from the users themselves but again my point is you didn;t ask! >>You want for forum. The next guy wants >>something else... I'm not askin for you to design a forum. we already had a forum , somebody turned the lights out without asking. The realxtend team for some reason didn’t even ask what we want .. so how do you know? >> A real community is able to self-organize and meet >>their own needs. It doesn't depend on centralized support. We are not >>selling a product, we are giving away tools to make things for >>yourselves. Well we could self organize if we had a rallying point! >>I too lament the loss of several formerly active participants, but if >>there was desire for a community forum after it was announced that it >>would shut down, then those elements should have banded together to >>either host the server on their own, or migrate to the CTN site as >>proposed. I feel the failure for the community to organize itself to >>help itself is meaningful. Well to be honest it was a bit fragmented, but people where still where posting to it before the lights went out! >>In conclusion, if you would like a larger say in what realXtend does, >>then I invite you with open arms to begin contributing whatever you >>can. The more you contribute, the more your contributions make you >>indispensable. It's the nature of community. Well if you want I will happily lead the charge in an email to the forum.. (oops someone killed it before we could ask!) >>I am looking forward to see the restarting of the reX forum just as >>soon as you are able to resuscitate it. Well it’s got a stake through the heart at the moment. Would it really cost you that much to put a link to it from the website or the wiki and allow a few of us to post up a rallycry? If no one has said this yet. Your team has done something pretty miraculous with very little, against the odds and have taken the right direction to build upon what you started. Just give the space to those that care about you and it and the next stage will be easier than you think! Cheers back ��,:-) Moni --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ http://groups.google.com/group/realxtend http://www.realxtend.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
