Which next? [Poll]
[Plugin Screenshots] To Do List »
Poll

What should I write next?

A shoutbox/AJAX chat system
3 (15.8%)
An ad manager
7 (36.8%)
Something like vBookie (which will require a points/currency system to be written first)
0 (0%)
Something else (please reply, note I might add it as an option later)
1 (5.3%)
A tournament system
3 (15.8%)
Treasury/donation manager
5 (26.3%)
Total Members Voted: 16

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Which next? [Poll]
« on March 30th, 2012, 06:57 PM »
OK, so I've officially had enough of bug wrangling for the moment, having spent my afternoon wrestling with things unsuccessfully.

So, which plugin should I write next?
When we unite against a common enemy that attacks our ethos, it nurtures group solidarity. Trolls are sensational, yes, but we keep everyone honest. | Game Memorial

Dragooon

  • I can code! Really!
  • polygon.com has to be one of the best sites I've seen recently.
  • Posts: 1,841
Re: Which next?
« Reply #1, on March 30th, 2012, 07:00 PM »
I'd say pizza one but that'd be an old joke. I always liked the idea of having the ability to call the attention of an user to a topic(Similar to mentions in Facebook or Google+) without having to explicitly PM somebody or shout out loud in the Thoughts area. I always wanted to implement this but was waiting for some notification type system in Wedge(Basically this idea was the reason I started liking the whole notifications-api thing).
The way it's meant to be

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #2, on March 30th, 2012, 07:02 PM »
Yeah, there needs to be a notification subsystem and it needs to be core. I have some ideas on how to achieve this - and if I have anything to say about it, it will go in sooner rather than later. But I want a smaller goal that I can just work on in the meantime, just to gently ease myself into thinking about making awesome code again (since that's what the notifications thing really needs, a dose of creativity)

Dragooon

  • I can code! Really!
  • polygon.com has to be one of the best sites I've seen recently.
  • Posts: 1,841
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #3, on March 30th, 2012, 07:06 PM »
Well in that case:

1) A tournament type system
2) Ad management
3) Chinese takeout menu.

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #4, on March 30th, 2012, 07:11 PM »
Oooh, I've added a tournament system to the list (and reset all the votes)... though I'm not quite sure what features, specifically, it would need to have. But I'll figure it out, I'm sure, haha.

Chinese Takeout menu, that could be hard. That reminds me, I should post the picture I took yesterday of the Yum-Yum Oriental Restaurant...

MultiformeIngegno

  • Posts: 1,337
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #5, on March 30th, 2012, 07:22 PM »
I replied 'something else' because I was thinking about a wiki system.. :cool:

Dragooon

  • I can code! Really!
  • polygon.com has to be one of the best sites I've seen recently.
  • Posts: 1,841
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #6, on March 30th, 2012, 07:23 PM »
Damn, now I want to make a tournament plugin(Not that I will, I hardly got any time as is :P). Would be quite useful for clan gaming websites which conduct tournaments on a fairly regular basis. Although it will need to support various tournament formats(league, round-robin, knockout etc) to be useful.

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #7, on March 30th, 2012, 08:00 PM »
That does pretty much go without saying, actually, that it needs some options to be actually useful ;)

spoogs

  • Posts: 417
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #8, on March 30th, 2012, 09:04 PM »
Voted for the tournament system as I have a very strong feeling that AJAX/shoutbox is coming eventually anyway :P
Now to go dig up the ideas i had for a tourney system :D
Stick a fork in it SMF

Farjo

  • "a valuable asset to the community"
  • Posts: 492
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #9, on March 30th, 2012, 09:09 PM »
I voted for the chatroom because I didn't know it was coming anyway :lol: My 'other' would be a treasury system to take donations into paypal or similar. Thanks for asking :)

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #10, on March 30th, 2012, 09:16 PM »
Oh, all of these are inevitable at some time (even the treasury). Even if I were a betting man, I would not lay a bet on whether or not I'll be writing at least one variation on the ideas of each, since I have a very strong interest in making sure Wedge as a platform has the facilities to really make it worthwhile to move to.

It's more a case of which I look at next, and in some ways I'm glad to see that ad management isn't yet enjoying a run-away lead since while it needs doing, it's far less interesting than a tournament system... :whistle:

Mind you, a basic ad management system is probably a quicker job than a tournament system anyway.[1]

I should point out, also, that I'm strongly considering making all the main candidates here (shoutbox, ad system, tournament system and bookie system) being paid. Not because I want to profiteer, but simply because it will cut back my support hassle that will come with all of them. That said, the ad one in particular should really be paid, regardless of anything else, simply because if you're planning to make money on a Wedge-based site, I don't see why you shouldn't put some money in yourself, or build it yourself.[2]
Posted: March 30th, 2012, 09:15 PM

Also added treasury as an option, if people want to change their votes...
 1. Even if I just make it feature-comparable with Ad Management for SMF, it'll probably only take a couple of days, but settling for that is not in my to do list, because it isn't what I would call polished. It's functional, nothing more.
 2. Note, in all the cases I'm talking about, I'm looking at no more than $10 for a *lifetime* subscription. It's not about making money. It is about limiting support and I know I'll be putting at least some of that back towards hosting in the end, too. It is no accident that Wedge supports lifetime subscriptions as a core feature.

spoogs

  • Posts: 417
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #11, on March 30th, 2012, 09:24 PM »
As always paid work is fine by me.... hmmm come to think of it I still can't find that donate to Wedge button :hmm: :lol:


Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #12, on March 30th, 2012, 09:28 PM »
I don't think Nao or I are really keen on 'donations'. I know I'm not that keen on the idea, I'd much rather keep it as a true transaction, you pay for something, you get something. That way there's no 'but I donated so I should be entitled to...' drama, including the SMF Charter members debates over paid betas etc.

I keep hoping that the logo isn't going to change so that I can properly look into getting t-shirts and other branded merch that we can offer to sell, but every time I sit down and go looking for folks to trade with, a newer, better logo comes along!

It does also, sort of, raise the question whether some kind of store plugin is also on this list any time soon, and while I'll do one at some point[1] it probably won't be any time soon, though it would certainly make a paid mod site probably a bit easier to manage than using paid subs to do it >_>

This is why I like the idea of paid mods, but in the $5 to $10 bracket for a one-off licence. You get the mod, the author gets the cash, and there's no illusion over what you are or are not entitled to.
 1. And prettier, more rugged and generally better than that other pile of crap that a certain SOMEONE was selling.

Farjo

  • "a valuable asset to the community"
  • Posts: 492
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #13, on March 30th, 2012, 09:43 PM »
I've paid for an SMF mod and if I knew it was written well I'd be happy to pay for a Wedge plugin. To be honest it always amazes me that there's so much software for free, so paid for software always seems fair.

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Which next? [Poll]
« Reply #14, on March 30th, 2012, 10:17 PM »
I too am often amazed by the level and quality of free software, but one of the things that bothers me about free software is how so many problems get solved over and over again.

My favourite example is GIMP vs GNOME/KDE/Unity/XFCE. On the one hand we have GIMP. A strong, long established, but oft derided bitmap manipulation program. On the other hand, we have multiple different solutions at trying to solve how to make a usable desktop on Linux. Now, if a fraction of the effort that went into reinventing the wheel of GNOME/KDE/Unity/XFCE went into a GIMP competitor (or even core GIMP development), it wouldn't be seen as this half-baked PS wannabe (even though it really isn't)

That's half the problem with free software: people make what they want to make, not necessarily what is needed or desired, but what they want to make. In consequence, we see scenarios like we have with SMF: we have two ad management mods (one of which dates from 2006, and isn't even that heavily changed since then) and half a dozen portals - as compared to (AFAIK) no tournament mod, or half the calendar expansions people have requested, just as a random example.

This is where the paid market really exists: whereas the free market will only support what people are prepared to spend time building, the paid market will support people who don't *want* to write a given product but will do so to sell it if the demand is there.

I don't *want* to write an ad manager, but I know I feel a certain responsibility to do, because the demand most assuredly is there for one.

[Plugin Screenshots] To Do List »